Sliders

[Bob the Fish]

I bought a pair of sliders on Ebay yesterday. This morning the guy who sold them to me sends me the following email:

I want to warn you

before you cut holes in your fairing

Your crash bobbins are more likely to damage the

frame than save it.

The fairing is a very good sacrificial frame slider

and the fairing to frame mounts offer another 10mm of

sacrificial metal. Honda's design criteria is torque

x 10mm over a 30mm base, while bobbins produce torque

x 100mm over the cross section of a 8mm bolt. They can

twist the bolt pocket out of the frame, bend the

engine hanger bolts, even crack the engine case. It is

better to reserve the left side attachment points for

a steering damper mount.

The attached images are my Blackbird. The most

striking modification is the inverted Kayaba fork- but

it was the brakes that drove the modification. The

most significant performance upgrades are forged

wheels. The gryo effect of the stock rims made the

bike almost impossible to turn above 90 mph.

I thought this was really honest of the guy to tell me this. But then why sell the damn things on Ebay if their not useful, or for that matter, destructive to the XX?

Anybody got any insights into the use of sliders on the Bird?

[Byrdman]

He's right!

The little 6mm bolts that mount the bolt on type sliders are never going to be able to take the kinds of stress encountered in a slide.

The best ones are the ones that require utting of the fairing. I think they use either an 8 or a 10mm bolt. They will at least be able to survive a slide.

[Ronnie]

PM mickcbr11 he does some nice work and is good to deal with.

for some pics http://www.ixxra.com/bezzersbling.htm

[matey_peeps]

I sure shit wouldn't put them on that little post that holds the topmost bolt on the fairing lower. I've seen much more damage caused by sliders mounted there than what they prevented. If you want to go with frame sliders, they need to be mounted on at least an M10 bolt (in my experience) and you'll most likely need to drill your fairings to find an appropriate motor mount bolt.

[John01XX]

R & G Racing make great sliders for the Bird.

[Guest rockmeupto125]

Lots of people do things just for looks that actually degrade performance. Think chromed rotors.

Its pretty well know that upper fairing mount sliders carry the dangers your gent describes. They can also protect your fairings in a parking lot tipover, making the difference between a repaint and a good buffing. Note as well that later models have upper frame mount bosses that are NOT an integral part of the frame.

Well designed and built FRAME sliders are made to bend when they impact rather than transmit the entire shock to the frame.

I'm sure it will come as a shock to many of our readers that the bike won't turn at speeds over 90 mph.

Sounds like a real expert.

[Clinton Horn]

I may be a one-off case here but the xx I have enjoyed greatly for 3 years came to me as a "rebuildable" total because the upper - lower fairing mount was punched out of the frame on a low- side crash. As silly as it sounds, the insurance companies view this as a damaged frame and not repairable. A 5/16 bolt, double nut, drill bit and metric tap solved this huge crisis for me. No doubt my resale is affected. I will remember that after I put another 50,000 on it.

[duncan]

PM mickcbr11 he does some nice work and is good to deal with.

for some picshttp://www.ixxra.com/bezzersbling.htm

mick admits that his sliders are more for parking lot tip overs than anything ,but they look good

[mrsquirrel]

I was warned that all sliders pose a risk of damaging my frame - is this true or not?

I would love some fitted just because I know what I am like - touch wood.

[Ronnie]

PM mickcbr11 he does some nice work and is good to deal with.

for some picshttp://www.ixxra.com/bezzersbling.htm

mick admits that his sleders are more for parking lot tip overs than anything ,but they look good

True, any crash at higher speed and I couldn't care less about the bike..I'm old and bones are like eggshells

[jswjr600]

I was warned that all sliders pose a risk of damaging my frame - is this true or not?

I would love some fitted just because I know what I am like - touch wood.

depends....i just layed down my aprilia tuono, which comes with integral frame sliders, and they bent the steel bracket they were mounted to. this was a good thing, as the bracket was bolted to the engine mount bolts....better the bracket to give that the engine mount.

on the other hand, frame sliders can mean the difference between cracking a 450 dollar fairing in a tipover, or minimal paint to no damage.

it all depends on the situation you encounter. lowside on the pavement might be alright, but when that bike goes into the dirt and the frame slider digs in (like mine did) things might start bending and breaking

[Mr dos equis]

I'm still laughing about the not turning at 90mph comment. Does he like to

ride slalom courses at that speed? My bird does fine for what it is when cranked over at 90. I'm of the same opinion as Rockme

[willxx23]

Slider's aren't for crashers :wink: