Frame Sliders-Words of Wisdom!

[Tufbusa]

After much experience with frame sliders I am no fan of long sliders. Those are great for parking lot tip overs. However, if you drop that puppy at 50 mph and ends up off the pavement as soon as the slider digs into the dirt, you prized busa will usually flip over and many times it takes off the wind screen, guage cluster, fairing stay, tank gets whacked and then works the opposite side over before coming to a hault.

After spending a small fortune on crash repairs, we now use the stubby Vortex sliders which poke out about a half inch past the plastics. Since, we have had very good success in keeping the bikes on one side after it's down. Far less money in repairs.

These are Frame Savers not Plastic Savers!

Yesterday I made the above post on another thread in our 2008 busa forum. As luck would have it, last evening a friend brought his freshly crashed busa over and we spent the evening disassembling the beast to evaluate the damage. At first it looked as though it was mostly cosmetic. However, when we finished there was a long list of items to be replaced.

All plastics including front fender and tail section
Left clip on
Both rear sets
Subframe
Cracked right motor mount
Fairing stay
Bent fuel tank
Wind screen
Both mufflers
Tripple tree
Questionable forks???????

As you can see the damage is substantial but fixable. Now here is the kicker. Like most, he had the three inch long frame savers like most of you have. He had a simple lowside in a righthand corner, laid it down gently on the right side and watched it slide just like it should until it cleared the pavement and hit the grass. The right side frame saver burried itself and the mighty busa flipped into the air and tumbled to a hault.

The long leverage of the slider caused he engine mount to crack through the upper weld. It's not distorted but has a two inch crack through the weld so it's fixable. The tumble is what created the lion's share of the damage. If it would have stayed on it's side, the damage would have been minimal.

When I get it back together, it will have stubby sliders installed. I've posted this to point out the misfortunes of long sliders during some crashes. They are GREAT for crashes on asphalt, especially slow tip overs or falling off the kick stand, but as you can see, create extensive damage on some occasions, when they hit the dirt. On this occasion, replacing the right side plastic would be a welcomed treat!

As I stated in the original post, we have repaired lots of crashed bikes and it took many crashes and tens of thousands of dollars in repairs to figure out the long sliders are great on asphalt but can be expensive when they hit the dirt. We have not had a bike tumble since we began using the vortex stubbies!

Knowledge is like money in the bank, you can never have to much!

 

[suzuki4life]

Over and over...frame sliders are not to protect your plastics or even your frame.

Their intention in racing is to protect your motor....nothing more.

Busas are too wide for a slider to work properly.

If someone can not handle the bike and fears parking lot drops then they need to check out the pogo stick sliders made by st machine.

Maybe if they increase the spring pressure you can create a "hopper" effect

 

[MidnightBusainSD]

I've had good luck with my yoyo dyne sliders been down 3 times on them and only once did i have cover damage and that was monstly it and that was cause how the bike came down outta a wheelie that dumped me off at the drag strip. And well i like them mostly like them for the tie down points they offer over canyon dancers.

 

[Pine]

Thanks Tufbusa food for thought. I was at the point of putting on long sliders but I now have my doubts.
Pine

 

[rubber2burn]

This is my theory with frame sliders on a Busa. After my first accident back in 2006 on my first Busa were a knuckle head decided to run me off the road and destroyed her after reviewing the damage I decide at that time I will never install frame sliders on a Busa ever again like Gary said the Busa is to wide and it is also heavy so even if you do have a parking lot tip over you are still going to have to spend money to fix something. If you are in a actual get off though I am going to let the those full fairing just slide. On my old busa they (Frame Sliders) tore to much stuff up if they would have not been on the bike it would have not suffered as much damage for sure and Tuf they were not the long sliders either they on stuck out maybe an inch or a little more past the fairing that darn dirt gets ya every time with sliders.

 

[the_1]

I am new to the busa world. I was talkn this over with my dad (Which is a hard core Harley dude) well like he said about the crash bars for harleys. They stick out so for that its goona make them tumble. The only use for them is parking lot use. Helping to pick the bikes off the ground and such. If u weigh the good with the bad, they arent worth the $$$, cause if u actually lay it down its gonna cost u 2 times the amount. Another thing he added. If u do just lay it down on the asphalt r u gonna replace the sliders r keep it where it has road rash. Then there is more $$$. I have good insurance through State Farms and if it cost 2 much when it goes down then im makin a claim.

 

[Wag]

My wife had two different get offs on her Gixxer 1K. Neither time did she have more than just a scratch on the plastics. Not even enough to worry about and hardly even visible. Of course, different bike, lighter, smaller, etc.

My get off a couple weeks ago was low speed, stayed on the pavement, the slider allowed a few minor scratches and that was about it.

I think I'll stick with the sliders but I may use the other ones you're suggesting going forward.

--Wag--

 

[Mr Bogus]

have never run frame sliders or crash bars on my bikes... I am thinking about a short set before I head for the track on the busa... yea? nay?

If the point is the engine cases, then doesnt my woodcraft side cover sort of cover this issue a bit?

 

[Tufbusa]

I have found it depends on the crash as to whether the standard length sliders work or not. I was following GregBob on his busa at the track with a camera last year when his pilot power rear simply exploded. Happened right at the end of the straight at around 140mph. He had standard frame sliders and the bike traveled several hundred feet into a runoff area that was paved. I followed the bike with the camera until it stopped. It was sliding on it's right side slowly spinning in circles. The results was minor damage but the frame slider was ground down to a nubbin. The long slider worked perfect on that crash but the bike never hit the dirt.

However, most getoffs outside the city limits usually end up with the bike off the pavement. In my view, this is where the stubby sliders will serve you well.

By the way, GregBob had no sliders on his arse so he did not spin in circles. The pavement pretty much ate his pants and jacket but he was unscathed.

 

[memorex]

When My girlfriend at the time had a parking lot dump. The sliders I had helped. All it caused was a little rash on the left side mirror and clutch cover.

 

[semperfi]

I have found it depends on the crash as to whether the standard length sliders work or not. I was following GregBob on his busa at the track with a camera last year when his pilot power rear simply exploded. Happened right at the end of the straight at around 140mph. He had standard frame sliders and the bike traveled several hundred feet into a runoff area that was paved. I followed the bike with the camera until it stopped. It was sliding on it's right side slowly spinning in circles. The results was minor damage but the frame slider was ground down to a nubbin. The long slider worked perfect on that crash but the bike never hit the dirt.

However, most getoffs outside the city limits usually end up with the bike off the pavement. In my view, this is where the stubby sliders will serve you well.

By the way, GregBob had no sliders on his arse so he did not spin in circles. The pavement pretty much ate his pants and jacket but he was unscathed.

I'll bet he had to change out his shorts though!

 

[MelodicMetalGod]

So, it's a lot like protective gear -

"Tell me what kind of crash you're gonna have and I'll tell ya what gear to wear."


Roll the bones and wish for the best!

 

[Tufbusa]

So, it's a lot like protective gear -

"Tell me what kind of crash you're gonna have and I'll tell ya what gear to wear."


Roll the bones and wish for the best!

For me, I wear the best gear all the time and it takes the guess work out of the equasion!

I think your point is, there is no way of knowing what type of crash you'll have (If you have one)?

From my first hand experience, I much prefer to equip the bike with the best equipment for the serious crash that's most common within the environment I entend to enter. The slow tip overs are easy on damage, it's the ones that include speed that gets deep into the wallet. For me, a wise choice in sliders reduces the damage to my wallet.

 

[Pinky Winky]

So just put a cage on the bike and go have fun.

 

[MelodicMetalGod]

For me, I wear the best gear all the time and it takes the guess work out of the equasion! Same here.

I think your point is, there is no way of knowing what type of crash you'll have (If you have one)? A point or a crash? Yes, no way of knowing how, when or exactly where one might crash.

From my first hand experience, I much prefer to equip the bike with the best equipment for the serious crash that's most common within the environment I entend to enter. The slow tip overs are easy on damage, it's the ones that include speed that gets deep into the wallet. For me, a wise choice in sliders reduces the damage to my wallet.

I too, would prefer to prepare my bike for the worst (and hope for the best). I've been bandying this frame slider thing around since the day I got my bike (11/01/08) and I've yet to come to a solid conclusion other than you have to pick what you wish to prepare for the most since each solution can help or hurt depending on the scenario encountered. Here's what the options seem to be:

a) Long Sliders = Good for driveway drops and super low speed pavement slides, possibly helpful for any slide on pavement, Bad for any slide off-road

b) Short Sliders = Good for high speed slides and ok for off-road slides, may be helpful in driveway drops, still may potentially cause additional damage if hooked during a high speed slide.

c) No Sliders = Good for all slides, lowest likelihood of causing additional damage due to flipping or hooking, Bad for driveway drops - fairing/cases/bars will take full drop.


I think that about sums it up. So the question we each must answer is where do anticipate the greatest likelihood of a drop/crash and for that type of drop/crash, what will offer the greatest benefit/cost savings?

No perfect answer, I'm afraid.

For now, I'm without sliders.

Best of luck!

 

[Pardini]

I would expect that any bike sliding off the pavement on to a softer/uneven shoulder is most likely going to turn over. Crashed=damaged. There are far too many factors involved to second guess what would or would not have happened either way unless it's a simple parking lot tip over.

 

[EarlyBird]

They help in some cases. I have seen where they saved the whole left side of the bike. But that was on a low side. Anything else is pending!