Just thick metal plates designed to take a beating, skidplates don’t see a lot of innovation. Touratech’s upped the game with replaceable polyamide nylon sliders – important for under-protected bikes like the 2013 R1200GS.

Mid-day riding the Bradshaw Trail and Red Canyon just south-east of Palm Springs, and I’m struck by a “hot weather” realization, the Macna Alpine Pants I’ve paired with the Geo jacket have vents. Not just vents, but 3D mesh vents mid-thigh. Hitting 50+ kph in the sand washes, standing there is a lovely cooling vortex sweeping my thighs and around to my buttocks.

The Triumph Tiger 800 XC’s front tire hits a ridge under the fine silt dust and washes out to the left. There is no warning, no chance to correct, only my plowing sideways off the bike towards a large rock and a gate post, while the Triumph flops to its side. The rear spoiler of the Icon Variant Battlescar Helmet connects with the rock, absorbing the impact and leaving the shell unscathed.

The bike goes down in an instant, there is no feedback through the chassis, no squirm from the tires, one moment my KTM 690 Enduro R is upright on La Honda road outside San Francisco. The next the bike and I are sliding through the corner, only to separate with me stopping face first a few feet from the barrier and the 690 considerably further down the road. It is in the intervening time that the Alpinestars Scouts do me a world of favors; from the initial impact through a good portion of the slide, the bike’s weight has been resting on my ankle. To quote a bowl of petunias, “Oh no, not again.”

The standard top rack that comes on the back of your KTM 950/990 Adventure or Super Enduro may fit with the look of the bike, but it’s not overly useful.  Face it, there’s a battle to be fought even attaching KTM’s own tail bag to the thing, which is where the Moto Overland Top Rack comes in.

When it comes to following GPX tracks of trails, the Icon Justice Touchscreen Gloves, Touratech iBracket for the iPhone and MotionX GPS are three products that work in concert to solve your navigation needs off-road. With a few minor caveats that is.
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Yep, I know that the Alpinestars SMX-2 Air Carbon Gloves are meant for street riding, but I’m keen on the extra protection offered in comparison to the majority of off-road offerings. Add good ventilation, and the SMX-2 has become my go to glove for hard adventure.