Frame Sliders

[DWit]

Just wondering about peoples crashing experience with respect to frame sliders. I have heard mixed things about whether they are a good idea or not. Based on what I have heard:

Frame sliders are great if you low side and the bike slides across flat pavement. They can greatly reduce the damage to your bodywork, exhaust, and case covers.

Frame sliders are bad if your bike is sliding and still carrying speed when it hits the dirt or rumble strip or some other small obstruction. The idea is that the sliders can dig in and possibly flip the bike causing more damage. In this situation they are also more likely to break the frame or motor mounts they are bolted to which will be much more expensive than replacing some bodywork and case covers.

I have personally crashed twice. One time was a lowside on the street with sliders at low speed. They worked great but it was an ideal situation for them. One time I highsided at the track in the grass but was able to scrub enough speed before hand that it was also relatively slow and not a good "test" of the sliders.

After asking around I decided to take the sliders off of my track bike since I am less concerned about my track bodywork and more concerned about the frame and motor mounts. I still keep them on my street bike though since I don't ride as hard on the street and generally stock plastics are pretty expensive.

Anyone have some more insightful "test" results on frame sliders and if they are a good idea or not? Obviously the intent is never to use them but... just in case right?

 

[AFMR1]

I had Sato frame slider's on my 03 ZX-6R 636 (R.I.P)

I took a turn to hard with cold tire's and lost it. My bike ended up sliding & my slider caught a small curb & ripped the mount from the frame & bent it back hitting the motor.

That's my experince with slider's

 

[HareRacing]

sliders are great for tip overs! in some cases sliders are great for crashes, keeping most of the bodywork safe, but in other cases from what we have seen at the shop, sliders can bend and rip the frame. not good! in any case i have them on my bikes, mostly cuz of tip overs, which has yet to happen.

 

[Mortifer]

I ground halfway through one of my Intuitive sliders in a 35mph slide on the street. It slid for a while on the slider and tires. My lower and exhaust had some damage, I believe the tank, tail and upper woulda been toast without them.

 

[clutchslip]

I had Sato frame slider's on my 03 ZX-6R 636 (R.I.P)

I took a turn to hard with cold tire's and lost it. My bike ended up sliding & my slider caught a small curb & ripped the mount from the frame & bent it back hitting the motor.

That's my experince with slider's

Satos suck. I know from experience, too.

Good sliders, like Vortex, are great. Yeah, you could catch something and flip it over, but that could happen without sliders.

Watch enough bike slides and you'll see how unpredictable things get when the bike is on it's own.

 

[fubar929]

I agree with HareRacing: sliders are great for tip-overs, but not necessarily useful for anything else.

I've had three racetrack crashes on slider-equipped bikes. In all three cases, the bike sustained serious damage and the slider didn't offer much protection. As a result, I'm not longer spending money on sliders. My current bike came with sliders, and I haven't removed them, but I won't be buying any more...

 

[afm199]

Depends on the bike and the crash. The Satos saved my 636 from much damage in a lowside at Laguna.

The SV650 slders are all so long I quit using them. The two times I have gone done hard on the long ones they don't help. The first time it bent a motor mount tab. i got the ones that bolted on the ends of the through bolt after that. Then they just snap off, doing absolutely no good in a crash.

 

[Holeshot]

Let's discuss what frame sliders are, first:

Frame sliders are intended to allow the bike to "slide" after a crash, and not catch bits in the ground, nor drag metal, allowing the bike to flip violently after you and hit you. The idea isn't so much to protect farings (at all in fact) and rather to keep the frame off the pavement, to protect frame/ engine integrity and to keep the bike somewhat normalized in a crash situation.

Why you wouldn't use them is beyond me, and beyond crazy, IMO. I've destroyed some nice bike with them on it...then again, the only thing that would have helped there is an 84' Delorean at 88 mph...

Not all frame sliders are made equally. The short fatter ones seem to distribute load and hold up better. Anything bolted on not directly to the frame mount bolts (at an offset, etc, to avoid cutting farings) never seems to work well at all. Yosh makes good sliders, as does harris and yoyodyne. I tend to like the ones with the replacable caps. But yeah, I'm almost always replacing the metal brackets...it's worth it.

 

[afm199]

Berto I like them on most bikes. On the SV they are five to six inches long and are just long levers to snap off. The last time I went down on them was my T1 crash at Sears two months ago, The fairing actually keeps the SV frame for hitting the track surface. The frame slider snapped off as soon as it hit the track. I'm not putting them back on, though I do like the fat woodcrafts for my 636 and will keep using them.

 

[ALANRIDER7]

Let's discuss what frame sliders are, first:

Frame sliders are intended to allow the bike to "slide" after a crash, and not catch bits in the ground, nor drag metal, allowing the bike to flip violently after you and hit you. The idea isn't so much to protect farings (at all in fact) and rather to keep the frame off the pavement, to protect frame/ engine integrity and to keep the bike somewhat normalized in a crash situation.

Sliders are very much a double edged sword. No two crashes are the same. They each have unique elements to them that determine the amount of damage done. Just because you have sliders on a bike doesn't mean that certain bits won't drag. In a perfect world, the slider is supposed to sacrifice itself for the benefit of the more expensive stuff.

One of my customers had sliders on his bike and he lowsided getting on the 101 at 10mph. What should have been minor rash turned into a totalled bike because the ALUMINUM slider caught a crack in the pavement and dug in. BAM! Bent frame- totalled bike. If there were no sliders, it would have been some rash and most likely repairable.

You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you tip your bike over in the parking lot, a slider can easily prevent $1000 worth of damage.

 

[DWit]

The sliders I have are pretty beefy and don't lever too far out that they will snap easily. What worries me is my frame and motor mounts though. These sliders have an internal aluminum shaft with a through bolt which threads into the mount on the motor. If the sliders catch, I am concerned that the pinch eye on the frame or the threads in the motor mount will get damaged before the bolt breaks... making the potential for repair more difficult.

So its hard to say what will really happen and at what speed what parts will actually break. Thats why I wanted to ask around instead of "experimenting" myself.

 

[Holeshot]

Alan, come on...you're smart enough to know Aluminum sliders aren't sliders, but rather disasters waiting to happen. NO shit it totaled out his bike! Delrin, yeah. Aluminum....dipshit's ville!

 

[Climber]

Alan, come on...you're smart enough to know Aluminum sliders aren't sliders, but rather disasters waiting to happen. NO shit it totaled out his bike! Delrin, yeah. Aluminum....dipshit's ville!

I have to agree with Berto on this, WTF would anyone get Aluminum sliders (besides just the bling factor)?

It just makes no sense at all! If you get sliders to protect your frame, then when you go down you just focused all of the force of the fall onto a single point on your frame! Then to make matters worse, you have a rigid object sliding along just waiting to catch an edge and either break off and/or bend the frame!

 

[ALANRIDER7]

I didn't put the fucking things on, he did.

 

[JMack]

This was my frame slider after a day at THILL.

I have since sawed it off two inches shorter :laughing

 

[redline]

Well, I feel like once the tires leave the pavement, all bets are off.

I use sliders. Lots of bike parts can "catch" and pole-vault the bike, so, I take my chances with sliders and hope they'll help in a parking lot tipover as described in above posts.

One thing nobody seems to mention is that you can also get bar end sliders and spool sliders. Sure, those are more parts to catch, but you have bar ends and, probably, spools, already anyway. Instead of metal, the sliders are plastic. Of course, now your bike can REALLY slide quick on the pavement with all that derlin to coast on. Anyway, I've seen bar sliders keep levers from breaking in a tip over. Yup: "damned it you do..."

 

[Charmed]

This was my frame slider after a day at THILL.

I have since sawed it off two inches shorter :laughing

Dayum, JMack!!! That's not a slider...its a marital aid!


I put sliders on my bike for the first time last year, and I finally had my first low side. As a result of mounting the Sato sliders, the bike sustained ZERO damage to anything but the puck...which I replaced for $25. :thumbup

 

[TheBestName]

This was my frame slider after a day at THILL.

I have since sawed it off two inches shorter :laughing

Are those shogun sliders?

 

[CRAWLL]

I think the cheaper softer sliders are the best they give as bit more before they bend or break your frame motor mount and really do work more often than not. Just be careful of long sliders length = leverage and that’s not good. I can't vote because there's no Yes for track and street!

 

[pepperell]

in a simple tip over or gentle low side, sliders will usually save tank, radiator and muffler from damage. worth it in my book.

in a more violent crash, as was mentioned, all bets are off.