We’re all familiar with All The Gear All The Time as a reminder to wear protective apparel every time we ride. Taken literally, we’d don an Alpinestars GP Tech V5 or Dainese Mugello 3 D-Air suit to ride up and down the block after a wash. I will admit to simply putting on a helmet to ride a couple of miles through my neighborhood to shoot static photos of a bike. Regardless, ATGATT is a good theory and one worth aspiring to meet.
Now, off-road is something different. When I’m riding a dirt bike, I’m pretty much covered. I’ve suffered enough major injuries in the dirt that I know it’s not somewhere I want to skimp on protection.
I was reminded of that last week while testing the 2026 Beta 430 RR X-Pro across the desert landscape of the California City Riding Area. Recent rains have brought significant changes to the experience, as I discussed in last month’s Editor’s Letter. More rain meant another trip to experience the magic of a wet desert!
While the washes and sand offer premium traction, the hills that dot the landscape do not fare so well. The topsoil is washed away, leaving treacherous rocks exposed. Rocks that used to be embedded are now free range. Hillclimbs develop nasty, rocky ruts. If you’re a hard enduro enthusiast, it’s great. For the rest of us, it’s ugly.
That didn’t stop us—Associate Editor Kelly Callan was on the ’26 Beta 390 RR X-Pro—from riding up and down the hills, as our jobs require. Easy climbs become challenging and satisfying to conquer. It’s all part of riding dirt bikes and dealing with whatever nature throws our way.
Early in the ride, I hit a classic unexpected washout at the bottom of a hill, even though I was watching out for it. This required a full-throttle attack. I pinned it and leaned way back to try to clear the double-step. Despite my efforts, I still cased the Beta, leaving my right elbow and ankle a bit tweaked, though nothing close to day-ending.
As the ride was winding down, I took on a hill that’s usually a nice challenge. The rain upgraded it, but the Beta 430 RR X-Pro had given me plenty of confidence. I motored right up! Yeah!
Now, we’ve all learned, what goes up, must come down—and that includes dirt bikes. What had been a smooth enough trail was littered with sharp and rolling rocks of various sizes and body-destroying shapes.
All was well on the downhill until my boot slipped off the rear brake pedal. Momentum increased significantly, and traction did not favor braking. My only option was to ride it out, and I did, until I didn’t.
Near the bottom, when I was thinking how nicely I was pulling this off, I lost the front end. Over the bars I went, landing in a field of rocks and slamming my helmet into a rock the size and shape of an elephant’s kidney.
I lay there for a second, making sense of it all. I moved everything and told my brain to search for pain. Strangely, there wasn’t any.
I let Kelly know through the Cardo Packtalk Neo that I was okay. Yeah, I was as shocked as she was.
I got up and started to feel a bit dizzy. The hit on the helmet was on the chinguard rather than the brain-protecting area, so I had a minor g-force concussion rather than an impact concussion. Still, that’s not good, and I dropped to my knees for a few moments—long enough for Kelly to take a picture.
Once I was up again, I realized that the airbag in my Alpinestars Tech-Air Off-Road System had deployed. It was my first time crashing big enough to set it off, which was kinda exciting. I have “tested” airbag systems, but never tested them. Now I know what the experience is like, and it’s a good one.
By my estimation, the Alpinestars airbag, at the very minimum, saved me from broken ribs. So, instead of intense pain and an inability to breathe, I felt fine—not even minimal soreness. I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that if you ride dirt bikes, you want to wear the Alpinestars Tech-Air Off-Road System. Yeah, it’s $1100, and it was worth every penny in that single fall.
However, it wasn’t simply the airbag that saved me. Every piece of protective gear I had on took care of me. Let’s go from the top down.
My Arai VX-Pro4 took a brutal hit from the rock. Without it, I would have shattered my jaw into countless pieces. The chinguard didn’t just minimize the impact to my jaw—it prevented injury. A lesser chinguard might have failed to protect me.
The Cardo Packtalk Neo allowed me to immediately alert Kelly of my condition. The Neo also took a hit, and I was impressed that it survived, even as it was displaced on the helmet. That’s durability most of us would not expect.
There’s a reason the Alpinestars Tech-Air Off-Road System is called a system rather than an airbag. In addition to the airbag, it also has CE-certified protection for your back, chest, elbows, and shoulders. In this case, I took a solid hit to my left shoulder—hard enough to imprint the pattern of the armor on my skin. Yet, zero pain. Wow!
Moving down, my Alpinestars RK-7 Plasma knee braces prevented any injury. The patella guards took hard impacts, saving my knees from catastrophic impact damage. The bracing prevented any twisting as I tumbled down the hill.
I love my Alpinestars Tech 7 Enduro boots, and they were there for me again. Even though I already had an injured ankle, nothing was made worse. My feet, ankles, and shins were no worse for wear. As someone who suffered a shattered fibula and tibia about five years ago, that’s greatly appreciated.
It was all held together by the Answer Racing Akron jersey and pants. Nothing moved out of place, and that’s critical for protective gear to do its job. Answer’s Peak gloves left my hands unscathed, though they only protect from abrasion.
The only thing I wasn’t wearing —and I got away with it —was hip and thigh protection. I guess it’s time to look into a pair of Alpinestars Bionic Action Protection Shorts, just in case.
As they say, All The Gear All The Time.
