‘S
upertech S-M10’ – there’s a clue there
in the name. The ‘10’ bit – just as with
Alpinestars’ Tech 10 boot, that number
denotes top of the range. Alpinestars is
entering the dirt bike helmet market at the
top, with an ‘all bells and whistles’ offering
that’s set to go head-to-head (of course) with
the current market benchmarks such as the
Bell Moto 9 Flex, Shoei VFX-W and Arai MX-V.
Getting to this point hasn’t been an overnight
process. At the launch of the helmet at Milestone
MX Park in California, Jeremy Appleton, head
of Alpinestars’ communications, explained the
S-M10 is the result of a five-year development
and testing process undertaken by their helmet
specialists. Set against Alpinestars’ goal to
continually pioneer in moto-safety, it does
then come with every conceivable top-drawer
protection facet on the market today, plus a few
more.
So what is the tech?
Three-layer shell
Carbon features, as you’d imagine. So there’s
a high-density carbon outer layer, then a
unidirectional carbon composite layer and
finally an aramid fibre layer. So it’s super-strong,
so strong it exceeds regulation standards by
41% for direct impacts and 48% for rotational
acceleration–oblique impacts. There are four shell
sizes too, so the helmet is always optimal for your
head size. And with carbon being a light material
this all makes for a comparatively light shell –
1260 grams for a medium helmet.
Four section EPS liner
EPS – that’s expanded polystyrene – is that energy
absorption layer that we know is so important in
reducing the forces that’ll reach your head in a
crash. In this instance Alpinestars has specified
four densities of the EPS to suit the different
zones around the helmet.
MIPS
MIPS – here we go again, that’s Multi-Directional
Impact Protection System – is fairly well known
to us now as it exists in competitors’ top end
helmets such as from Bell and 6D. Essentially
it’s a slip layer between the comfort lining and
the EPS, which allows the helmet to rotate very
slightly on the head in an impact, thus reducing
the acceleration stresses which lead to common
brain injuries such as concussion. As a byproduct,