I came accross this company that makes bolt on sliders with no drilling of any kind required. They seem reasonable. I haven't seen anyone mention them, so I was wondering what everyone thought of them or if anyone has installed them.... cool.gif Looks like they fit all years, 750's and 800 VFRs.
Not a very informative website and I hate buying overseas? The VTEC they show has it bolted where the fairing stay is, they must have some sort extension? If its no drilling than the metal where it meets the fairing is no thicker than the bolt that goes through the faring? Thats not very thick, is it thick enough for a lowside?
They look weak as hell. I bet they'd snap right off if you took a fall. Part of the reason you drill is so you can get access to the engine mounting bolt, which provides a very strong mount point to the sliders. The EngineeringSolutionz sliders look like they just screw to the aft fairing mount bracket w/ a long M6 bolt.
Yep...They'd break right off if you fell. Save your money.
That's kind of what I was thinking... If the bike was just dropped, they may be ok but I would definitely think they would shear right off in a lowside. ohmy.gif
These are not frame sliders - they are fairing sliders.
Fairing sliders are OK for zero-speed "oopsies" in the driveway because the bike generally falls slowly and you can bend the fairing bracket back out. However, because these things mount to the fairing bracket, any significant impact will bend or snap the protector off because it is using a very small bolt with a short thread. The fall will also bend or snap the fairing mount and damage or destroy the plastic where the fairing connects to the bracket.
In other words, not much chop.
EDIT!: I'm wrong about the R&G racing sliders not needing any fairing cuts, and have removed these statements from this post. Check it out here at R&G Racing.
The main problem with the R&G sliders for me are the price. At 125 british pounds PLUS shipping, it would probably cost me something in the order of $400 Australian dollars.
"....solution available that does not require fairing cutting, and also includes a bottle modification in the kit. Check it out here at R&G Racing. Basically, it uses a tie bracket that pokes out from where the radiator hole is, and you mount the sliders to that bracket."
Kaldek:
I have installed this very slider on my 02 VFR...and while I'm not sure what you call 'fairing cutting' , you DO have to drill about a 1 1/2" hole in both side fairings...there is no 'tie bracket' involved...these mount directly and solidly onto the upper engine mounting bolt which goes all the way through the chassis from one side to the other and through a couple of large 'ears' connecting to the main frame. As I said, a very solid mount.
When you drill a hole that big in the fairing, I call that 'cutting'! My gallery has photo's of these installed on my bike.
Best regards,
BurmaWolf
Whiskers long Made Samson strong But Samson's gal She done Him wrong --Burma-Shave--
BurmaWolf, Oct 25 2005, 12:18 PMI have installed this very slider on my 02 VFR...and while I'm not sure what you call 'fairing cutting' , you DO have to drill about a 1 1/2" hole in both side fairings...there is no 'tie bracket' involved...these mount directly and solidly onto the upper engine mounting bolt which goes all the way through the chassis from one side to the other and through a couple of large 'ears' connecting to the main frame. As I said, a very solid mount.
When you drill a hole that big in the fairing, I call that 'cutting'! My gallery has photo's of these installed on my bike.
Really? Wow, I always thought those didn't mount directly to the frame.
So I guess then, for the big increase in price over the motovation sliders, do they provide any better protection? Somebody has already said that with the Motovation sliders their fairings were still scratched at 50km/h and 80km/h drops. I wonder if the location of these R&G sliders would avoid that?
Couple of things. First about the original post question. FWIW, on my first VFR I had the "Thurn Panel Protectors" which mount in the identical spot as the set listed here...i.e. same kind of thing exactly. Due to their (fairing bolt with aluminum bracket) mounting location, they really have no strength to be able to withstand anything more than a tip over(if even that). They won't help you at all in a get off and will just end up with a bent fairing bracket as well tongue.gif
A friend with R&G's went down a few weeks back and he still had some fairing damage as well. This was a relatively low speed(45+/-) low side and the slider to take some damage and bent a bit. He also had to replace their modded coolant bottle as it cracked. Bottom line though is that the sliders protected the "hard" parts and saved a lot more potential damage. He's reorederd the replacement slider parts he needed from R&G.
Sometimes sliders can protect fairings etc. .....depends on the crash. In reality they are callled "frame sliders" for a reason....they are primarily designed to protect hard parts like the frame, engine, radiators(in our case), etc. Fairing protection is an added benefit when it works out that way.
So, both the MV's and the R&G's are designed with the same basic premise...they both mount to solid engine mount locations. There are pros and cons to each but both are "real" frame sliders as opposed to the Thurn's and the other type listed above that may help you a bit in a tip over but not much more.
Das Bone, Oct 25 2005, 10:21 AMSo, both the MV's and the R&G's are designed with the same basic premise...they both mount to solid engine mount locations. There are pros and cons to each but both are "real" frame sliders as opposed to the Thurn's and the other type listed above that may help you a bit in a tip over but not much more.
Can anyone summarize the differences between the MV and R&G sliders? It's not clear to me if the mounting locations are the same or not. My priorities would probably be: 1) Protection of hard parts, plastic. 2) Less obtrusive visually (possibly mutually exclusive with above). 3) Ease of installation. 4) Cost, and availability of replacement components.
Any photos allowing comparison of the two? Which would you recommend?
fallzboater, Oct 25 2005, 11:35 AMCan anyone summarize the differences between the MV and R&G sliders? It's not clear to me if the mounting locations are the same or not. My priorities would probably be: 1) Protection of hard parts, plastic. 2) Less obtrusive visually (possibly mutually exclusive with above). 3) Ease of installation. 4) Cost, and availability of replacement components.
Any photos allowing comparison of the two? Which would you recommend?
I'll see if I can answer some of those questions.
Mounting location: They both use solid engine mount locations with the MV's being the more rearward of the two. That's part of the reason I went with the MV's is the mounitng location as the angles of the fairing further back are not quite as extreme in terms of drilling.
Protection wise....hard to know for sure as every crash is unique but they both probably offer similar protection in that regard.
The MV's are a bit less obtrusive visually.
Ease of install.....pros and cons here. I'd say that the MV's are probably a bit easier to install slider wise for the above mentioned reasons. But, the MV's require modifying the coolant recovery bottle(drilling and sleeving as Kaldek showed) where the R&G's come with a pre-modded coolant bottle due to their more forward mounting location.
Cost: Pros and cons again. R&G's are about 4 times as expensive as the MV's but do come with the pre-modded coolant bottle so you don't have to mess with that. The coolant bottle mod is(from my experience) the most difficult part as you've got to be sure that you've got it sealed properly. I think that availablitly of replacement parts are probably about the same for the two but cost would again most likely be higher with the R&G's.
For pics you can go to my gallery and look at Kaldek's thread on his install on the home page for the MV's, and I believe Teleskier recently did a writeup on his R&G install.
Thanks, sounds like the MV's are the way to go for me. If the cost difference is that much it will outweigh the bottle mod issue, which I'm not that worried about. At least, I haven't read that anybody is having a major issue with their drilled 'n sleeved bottles.