BENT SLIDER

[lucky]

My friend Joe with a 06 FJR dropped his bike while walking it to the end of the street. It rolled down a slight ditch and fell over. The slider bent (Alum bolt) & it stripped the first few threads, he called the company to order another bolt, they said it was designed to bend. What would happen if he was riding at 40 or 50 MPH and he low sided.

I say something is wrong, he belives the guy. Need your opinion. Thanks

Lucky

 

[teerex51]

My friend Joe with a 06 FJR dropped his bike while walking it to the end of the street. It rolled down a slight ditch and fell over. The slider bent (Alum bolt) & it stripped the first few threads, he called the company to order another bolt, they said it was designed to bend. What would happen if he was riding at 40 or 50 MPH and he low sided.I say something is wrong, he belives the guy. Need your opinion. Thanks

Lucky

I agree with the manufacturers' statement. The whole assembly is designed to absorb impacts and torsion, hence it will bend.

If a metal was ever invented that would not bend when stressed in such a way, then it'd crack your engine block :blink:

Sliders are there to protect your fairing when you drop the bike and they do a good job in such cases.

If you fall while riding, the faster the fall, the less effective they become.

They'll eventually fail while dragging along the asphalt and carrying the whole momentum of your bike.

Stef

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

I agree with the manufacturers' statement.
Stef

+1

 

[vectervp1]

Sliders are there to protect your fairing when you drop the bike and they do a good job in such cases. If you fall while riding, the faster the fall, the less effective they become.

They'll eventually fail while dragging along the asphalt and carrying the whole momentum of your bike.

Stef

Sorry Stef but your wrong here. "Frame Sliders" are not designed to save your fairing. They are designed to keep your frame from taking damage in a low side. They were never designed to save any bodywork. The intent behind a frame slider is to help your bike from being totalled in a get off, and to possibly allow you to ride your bike home instead of towing it home.

In my opinion the bolts should not have deformed the way they did in a small tip over. They should have held true so when they are taking the asphalt ride they do hold up.

 

[madmike2]

They were never designed to save any bodywork. The intent behind a frame slider is to help your bike from being totalled in a get off, and to possibly allow you to ride your bike home instead of towing it home.In my opinion the bolts should not have deformed the way they did in a small tip over. They should have held true so when they are taking the asphalt ride they do hold up.

But, the "glancing" stress when one falls while moving as opposed to the stress that bolt encounters if it digs in to soft dirt and tries to stop the weight of the bike would present to entirely different scenarios.

The slider bent (Alum bolt).......

I thought they were steel bolts inserted into an aluminum frame.

I know of an FJR that low-sided @ 15mph (Front tire washed out in some water in a left turn lane) and merely ground the bobbin, the bolt remaining straight. Go figure.

 

[Captain B]

OK, great discussion. A neighbor with an FJR has had his 2004 simply fall over in the garage when on the kick stand. He says it's a bit off-center (the kick stand - not the garage). My 2007 seems not to be that way. Anyway, he strongly suggested I get frame sliders to help protect faring a bit - as well as the frame (so that it's rideable as noted above). I have sliders on my to do list of farkles, but am also considering adding engine armor for a bit more protection (see bikejohnny.com) when doing Deals Gap or end-of-day traffic. Opinions?

 

[dean]

B) -->

QUOTE(Captain B @ Apr 22 2007, 09:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
OK, great discussion. A neighbor with an FJR has had his 2004 simply fall over in the garage when on the kick stand. He says it's a bit off-center (the kick stand - not the garage). My 2007 seems not to be that way. Anyway, he strongly suggested I get frame sliders to help protect faring a bit - as well as the frame (so that it's rideable as noted above). I have sliders on my to do list of farkles, but am also considering adding engine armor for a bit more protection (see bikejohnny.com) when doing Deals Gap or end-of-day traffic. Opinions?
are the covers offered on bikejohnny.com really going to protect the engine in a slide? i've often wondered why there aren't engine case guards for the fjr. is it a matter of no place to bolt them on?

 

[TexBahn]

There's my BikeJohnny slider after a 45mph lowside through gravel. Probably saved my right knee.

EDIT: Got it!

 

[vectervp1]

But, the "glancing" stress when one falls while moving as opposed to the stress that bolt encounters if it digs in to soft dirt and tries to stop the weight of the bike would present to entirely different scenarios.

True, but for a manufacturer to say that the bolt was designed to bend seems wrong to me.

 

[JimLor]

Zero speed drop in my garage, twice, once each side, R&G sliders. Drop #1 right side, bolt did not bend, but it drove the "bobbin" into the bolt - replaced "bobbin.". Drop #2 left side, slider undamaged. Only difference was that Drop 1 no sidebags, drop 2 w/sidebags.

I would think that the slider/bolt has to take some punishment to absorb the energy that would otherwise be transferred to the frame/engine. That said, I would also assume that the slider/bolt could actually cause some damage to the engine/frame if it were too rigid and instead of taking abuse, would simply transfer that energy (abuse) to whatever it is attached to - engine! I frankly thought the slider was to protect bodywork and keep it off the ground.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

But, the "glancing" stress when one falls while moving as opposed to the stress that bolt encounters if it digs in to soft dirt and tries to stop the weight of the bike would present to entirely different scenarios.

True, but for a manufacturer to say that the bolt was designed to bend seems wrong to me.

I would hope they designed the bolt to be weaker than the frame. In other words it will bend before the frame bends or breaks.

 

[RadioHowie]

Jebus! Can't you guys keep your feejers vertical?

(of course, I've just seriously jinxed myself )

 

[teerex51]

Sorry Stef but your wrong here. "Frame Sliders" are not designed to save your fairing. <snip>

That's OK vectervp1, that's been known to happen The question is, was a Frame Slider installed on our friend's bike?

Or was it your garden-variety Moko, Motovation or Meissner TOG? I re-read his post and could not find a reference to a frame slider.

Stef

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Jebus! Can't you guys keep your feejers vertical?
(of course, I've just seriously jinxed myself )

I refuse to put sliders on my FJR. It's a juju thing for me now. I'm sure I'll regret it if I drop my bike.

 

[Geezer]

For my FJR, the frame sliders serve both purposes, they protect the frame from serious damage in case I drop it hard enough to cause that damage, and they protect the plastic from minor damage if I drop it in a low speed maneuver. That's why I prefer the lower mounting position of the sliders which go through the fairing on the Gen 1 bikes over the ones which use a bracket and mount the pucks higher up. I use R&G sliders.

A good slider will absorb some of the shock of initial impact, and it will allow the bike to slide along the pavement rather than allowing parts of the bike to catch on the road surface and cause the bike to flip and roll. Hence the name 'slider'. Without a better understanding of the forces which cause that aluminum bolt to bend it is hard to judge if it would have allowed the bike to slide in a higher speed get-off.

 

[daddysbike]

I thought I just put sliders on mine to protect fairing from a low side or tip over or other jar head manuver I may pull.

I did drop my ST1300 once coming out of the driveway half asleep and hit the rain gutter in the road while turning at 2 mph and not giving it any gas the bike just stalled and I dropped it. The ST1300 built in slider got a little scratch but not the hardbags or any other part.

Steve

 

[madmike2]

B) -->

QUOTE(Captain B @ Apr 22 2007, 06:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
.........but am also considering adding engine armor for a bit more protection (see bikejohnny.com) when doing Deals Gap or end-of-day traffic. Opinions?
I have the engine armor. The issue with the FJR is that the alternator is bathed in oil. That means the left cover is only a fraction of an inch from dumping vital engine fluid on the ground. Once that happens there is NO chance of riding it home. During my little "adventure", it slid through 2 layers of the carbon fiber, but no metal and no dripping oil. I rode the bike 90 miles home with no left mirror and a scraped left side case.

YMMV.

 

[gr8eyes]

+1 on Mikes comment. It may save a hole in the cover on a low speed get off.

 

[TexBahn]

Per the previous comments and my previous posted picture, the frame slider absorbed energy by bending the bolt instead of transferring it to the frame. It did leave a dug out trail through the culpable gravel which initiated the lowside (of probably 20 - 30 feet) and did not catch on anything causing it to flip (which I have seen my bike do without sliders). I was riding without saddlebags. The bike did hit the ground hard, and I probably would have been pinned under the bike as it drug along - or at least hit the ground with the bike crushing me - if I hadn't the extra couple of inches afforded by my slider. In fact, the bike was ripped from my grasp, as I was slowing down painfully faster than the bike (thanks to a pair of jeans). There were no scratches of any kind to the right hand side of the engine. The plastic was fubar, yes. If a car hit you and the frame slider helped prevent you from getting smashed by your own bike, would you be mad at the slider that your plastic got damaged? I hope not. The slider did it's job. Like a helmet, it's meant to be used ONCE.

Anyone else whose actually used/tested their sliders on an FJR in an at-speed get-off care to chime in/show pics?