Frame Sliders

[jcbell1007]

done a lot of research lately (mostly pertaining to ducs and sliders) and found that there are a lot of differeing opinions on sliders. Whether they are just for parking lot tip overs, to nice things to catch and catapault a bike in a slide, that they are to "protect the frame" not the plastics, etc...

Where do you stand? I personally have had more good results from sliders than bad, though only for tipovers and not at speed.

I did search and couldn't find another poll.

[Pittenger5]

I crashed at about 10mph, and my plastics got damaged, but not much, the slider took MOST of the brunt. So that was nice.

[nerijusj]

Lowsided in a bowl at loudon. Slid very nicely, no damage to plastics or frame on the left side. when it reached the shoulder it flipped. Messed up all right side plastics. Did slider cause this? I don't know....could have been peg, handlebar etc..
I still put the sliders on a new bike

[butcher bergs]

Frame sliders are like seatbelts, most of the time they do their job but in certain instances they can be the cause of additional damages.

[schleppy]

The motosliders I have on my SV KICK ASS. They made a 10mph lowside into a non-event. The only damage was the shift lever. They did exactly what they were supposed to.

I'm a frame slider convert, at least for a naked bike.

[Doc]

Look at Cyclecat or Woodcraft.

Although if AXL Jax makes em for your bike I would go with those.

[Kitt]

when you buy them to protect the plastics you risk damaging frame bosses or motor mounts.

PMed you

[burnham]

My sliders saved the bodywork on my bike a couple times. OK, a few times.

[DucDave]

Axljak are what I swear by.....

[be4tnut]

Frame sliders are to protect the frame in the event of an unfortunate event. They can protect the plastics on a parking lot tip over also. The most important thing if that you get sliders made of derlin plastic. These will slowly shave down as they are sliding and absorb a lot of the energy of the crash.

A big NO NO on them is to get the fancy metal ones off ebay that look like bullets, or just chrome or whatever. These do not shave down as they slide, instead they dig in and WILL flip your bike turning a low-side into your bike doing flips smashing it up real good on whatever it lands on.

Also note that in the event of a serious crash they can damage the bolt hole they go into probably making it necessary to re-tap that hole... but remember this is a much better fix than finding out your frame is bent and needing to replace the frame.

[noxin]

Does axljax have a website?

[BMFR6]

i don't like sliders for anything more than a parking lot tip over and i think thy do nothing more than attempt to protect plastics. do i have them on my streetbike? yes. did i have them on my racebike? yes. ask me how that ended.

as far as i am concerned, if your bike is sliding down a racetrack at speed you want as little as possible to catch on anything. clip ons spin on the fork tubes. levers break. after market rearsets grind down, bend or break. IMO in a crash the only thing that is bolted to the frame that could really damage the frame in an incident is the rearsets, but in the end they are mounted down low and wouldn't really be a "structural" feature. frame sliders, mounted "right", are going to involve a motor mount bolt 9 times out of 10. they catch something while your bike is sliding and you could have real issues.

[ThisBitch]

My sliders probably saved me a few grand. I crashed once on each side with very minimal damage to the plastics. The sliders were absolutely mangled. Well worth every penny.

[jcbell1007]

I twice have had sliders save my plastics. Once on the ninja 650r and the other on the gsxr. Both were parking lot tipovers. the 650 had not damage to the plastics, and the white metal footped (factory) broke like it should have. the gsxr, had some very small rash on the fairings where the momentum carried the bike, so that it pivoted on the slider, and the upper part of the bike hit the pavement. also broke the tip off the stock clutch lever.

never had a down at speed. was just looking to see what other peoples experiences/preferences were.

[BLACK SQUIRREL]

Handguards and radiator guards are all you need.

Oh wait, not a dirtbike?

Get em. Because dropping a bike is too easy to do. if you fling it down the road hard enough you will have insurance deal with it anyway. so if the frame gets bent INSURANCE,

but if its gets dropped in the parking lot ect. It will save you the hassle. I low speed dropped an GSXR I owned with sliders the was no damage at all.

But get real sliders not that No-cut trash

[Honclfibr]

The further they stick out, the more likely they are to protect the plastics. On the other hand, the further they stick out, the more torque they will present to the mounting bolts. Some sliders replace engine bolts, which tend to be thicker than the ones that mount to fairing points and so will be stronger, but if they break or bend you're in worse trouble than if you snapped a fairing mount.

Basically, it's all a tradeoff, there is no perfect solution.

[brewmaster]

I have "tested" a few sliders before... Cycle cats and axljak.com .

I would also recommend the Axljak sliders! They survived a T9 crash on my SS that would have destroyed Cycle cats. I have also broken off a set of Cycle cats in T3 at about 20 mph.... crap in my opinion.

They (a good set of sliders) are worth installing, but they do not cure all crash damage.

[nerijusj]

jcbell1007- all your poll answers could be right based on individual case. I buy sliders to protect the frame, but as it turned out they can protect fairings as well. Givven the right environment ( or run off ), bike could of walked away just with a broken rearset on my Loudon T6 crash ( if there was an additional 20 ft of pavement ). And that's @ 55-60 mph. So sliders ain't that bad. They can do their job, but can also make it worse I guess, depending on where and how you crash. Also, most offset "no-cuts" are POS and break right away on impact.

[banzairx7]

Went down on my Ninja 650r at ~35mph. I had RG sliders(they are a no cut slider). Bike slid down the road nice and smoothly. The tail and the generator cover got some slight rash. The front fairing was untouched. Slider was ground down about halfway and folded over. It turned what would have been a $1500 crash into a $250 crash.

[jcbell1007]

jcbell1007- all your poll answers could be right based on individual case. I buy sliders to protect the frame, but as it turned out they can protect fairings as well. Givven the right environment ( or run off ), bike could of walked away just with a broken rearset on my Loudon T6 crash ( if there was an additional 20 ft of pavement ). And that's @ 55-60 mph. So sliders ain't that bad. They can do their job, but can also make it worse I guess, depending on where and how you crash. Also, most offset "no-cuts" are POS and break right away on impact.

I tried.

at least we got a discussion going.

[nt650hawk]

Lets just say the amount of times my sliders saved a bunch of parts and $. They also totaled my bike by launching it 20'-25' in the air. In the end it all washed out to be an average net loss.


You could also add to protect frame/engine/plastics.

[DuncanMoto]

I personaly think plastic should be sacraficed for the good of the frame and engine. For that reason I say go for the sliders that protect the important parts at speed. Woodcraft makes excellent kits including some under body mount kits for 848 / 1098 Ducatis.

[union]

A few of those options apply depending on what you get. Frame sliders are meant to protect the frame. If you get junk ones or ones that are too long then they can protect plastics if youre lucky but they can also damage the frame, engine, mounts and even do nothing at all but blow into a million pieces on impact.

If you buy a quality slider like the woodcraft ones then they will do what they are intended for. I highsided in turn 4 last year pretty hard. Bike probably slid a good 15-20 yards. Aside from the typical R6 smashed tank and some beat up plastics they did exactly what they were designed to do. I was racing the bike the next day and when we got it back to the shop it meausred up straight. If I want the bike to look mint again I just need to buy a new puck.

[crowspeed07]

seems their design was to protect the frame hence the name. but a question i have is i see alot of people saying to get the cut ones instead of no cut. any reason is that even true or more peoples formed opinions?

[SVRACER01]

i use Intuitive sliders. on the SV sliders save it all...radiator,tank,frame, plastics (for most part). ALWAYS get plastic ones...metal ones are BAD NEWS