Fair will offer riding school classes and a chance to mingle with MotoGP riders such as Dani Pedrosa.

BARCELONA - This week in Barcelona, fans of the motorcycling industry will be able to take part in a weeklong fair, dubbed MotOh!

BCN, which is dedicated to all aspects of the sport - from the economics of the industry, to exhibitions of vintage machines and bike and helmet art.

The fair will also offer riding school classes, and a chance to mingle with Spain's MotoGP heavyweights Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Also featured at MotOh! BCN, which runs until Sunday, is the area of motorcycle security, which has grown substantially in the past few years.

Over the past two decades, protective items for motorcyclists have come on at the same quick pace as their machines. Cyclists no longer have to wear heavy leather suits, but instead ones reinforced with carbon fibres.

But there are two main articles that have driven security innovation of late: the neck-brace and the airbag. While the neck-brace has been made available for the past few years, and is used almost across the board by off-road professionals, the airbag for motorcyclists is still in its experimental phase.

The Italian brand Dainese has been at the helm of airbag production for the past few years, but at the present moment is still ironing out the kinks.

The D air, as it is called, has been incorporated into the regular gear of some 125cc and 250cc riders. The apparatus is essentially a deflated cushion that is hidden in the hump of the suit which opens and inflates by sensor the moment that the motorcycle is in an illogical position.

While not yet used in MotoGP, Spain's young driver for Yamaha Jorge Lorenzo (right) has deemed it "an interesting idea."

However, the young Spaniard, who recently suffered a spectacular fall from his bike that catapulted him into the air, did register one doubt. "What I'm not that sure about is if you can get rid of it quickly if you want to get back on the track."

But his doubts are quickly assuaged by Lerrj Piazza, one of the article's inventors. "You can take it off in two or three seconds," he says.

However, there are still other issues as stake, such as calibrating the sensors correctly so that the bag doesn't open when it is not necessary, which the inventors admit could be very dangerous.

[El Pais / Oriol Puidgemont / K.R. / ANP / Expatica]