[wbsprudels]

Uggghhh! Took my bike out yesterday evening–weather was perfect. Explored some new backroads and found myself going down a hill that had turned into a sandbox! I was able to engine brake down to about 20 mph but the hill ended with a sharp left turn and too much sand. Next thing I knew I was on the ground and my left leg was pinned under the bike. I was able to lift it off my leg (with a ton of effort) and stand it upright.

No serious injuries to me or the bike, fortunately. I hurt my right thumb as I put my hands out to break my fall. My left leg had a couple of minor scrapes. As far as the bike goes, the left floor board was bent straight up (but I guess they are made to do that because I could kick it back down into place), the left front turn signal was bent back (but I was able to bend it back into place and it still works), the left mirror was bent (but easily fixed), and the toe shifter was bent (beyond me being able to bend it back). Cosmetically, scratches on the front fender, headlight, and tank. I was able to ride it home, but…Uggghhh!

I’m hoping writing about it will be therapeutic–I am still mad at myself. Ride safe!

[Kellisanth]

Glad you’re safe!

Now you’re making ME nervous. And worst part is, I don’t live in the country anymore… All these cars!

[Munch]

2 words…. freeway bars. Glad both of you are ok!

[Kellisanth]

Freeway bars??

[megaspaz]

Suck it up buttercup… it happens

I dropped my brand new bike less than a day of owning it. So you’re already 6 days better than me…

#17084

[briderdt]

..

[bigguybbr]

I need to get some frame sliders for the FZ6R. I hear that unfortunatly most of the ones where you don’t need to trim the fairing are crap

[Clay Dowling]

I definitely like having mine. I’ve had one zero-speed drop, when I stalled the bike in a U-turn. The crash bars kept my chrome off the pavement, and my bike makes Elwood’s bike look light on the chrome.

[kirk]

Very interesting conversation. I’ve been considering getting the slider bars for my Honda CBR. The local shop tells me that they have to drill them into the frame of the bike and cut into the fairing. Does this sound about right?

[Munch]

makes sense. The fiber glass fairing will do nothing but buckle and completely render the purpose useless. Attach it to the the frame which is substantially more solid and the sliders can keep the damage off the fairings by being able to better support the bikes weight.

[megaspaz]

Keep in mind that frame sliders are different than what you want to think of as fairing sliders. As a matter of fact there is no such thing really as fairing sliders. Fairing sliders would just be frame sliders that have the possibility of protecting your fairings. The main object of the frame slider is to protect your frame and there’s much debate on how well they do that. When it comes to crashes, you can’t really control what kind of crash you’ll be in that will result in a best case lowside scenario. The best case scenario being that you lowside, the bike slides, and the sliders result in no or very minimal cosmetic damage (like clear coat scuffage). Worst case scenario being you ruin your frame from the frame slider bending with force in the frame. And if the slider catches on something, it can flip your bike into a tumble (more damage) or bend into the plastic and gashing it open (useless protection). That being said, I still use them, but I don’t expect much with the plastics being saved.

And yes, for the CBR (as with certain ducati, suzuki, kawasaki, etc.. models), there’s 2 kind of frame sliders – no cut and through body. No cuts rest on the inside of the fairing. Through body requires cutting the plastic allowing the puck to be outside the body.

[Author]

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