Are Frame Sliders Good Or Bad? | MC Garage

Nobody wants anything bad to happen to their motorcycle, which is why lots of us consider bolting frame sliders to our bikes. But will frame sliders save your bacon, or could they actually cause more damage in a crash? We’ll investigate in this video from the MC Garage.

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Frame sliders, crash bobbins, fairing protectors—whatever you call them, they’re designed to help protect expensive and vulnerable parts when your motorcycle tilts off its tires. The theory is that by positioning a sacrificial friction point on the side of the bike, that part will take the brunt of the impact and abrasion instead of your tank, radiator, fairing, frame, engine cases, and other parts. We dive into the topic of motorcycle frame sliders and their pros and cons in this MC Garage.

What Are Frame Sliders?
This whole crash-protection conversation would be so much simpler if the parts were just called “tip-over protectors” because even the crappiest kits on the market are going to do something to reduce damage if your bike falls over at a standstill. And let’s be honest—tip-overs in your driveway or at the gas pump are common ways for a motorcycle to succumb to gravity. And for those scenarios, frame sliders are definitely a good investment.

Do Frame Sliders Protect Your Bike In A Crash?
But motorcycles are made to move, and once you crank up the kinetic energy by adding speed to the equation, things get a lot harder to predict. How well frame sliders work depends on a lot of things, like how your bike hits the deck. Did it go down violently in a high side, or was the crash more gradual, like a front-end lowside in a sweeping corner? The surface your bike slides across affects the outcome too. Asphalt may be abrasive but at least it’s flat. Soft stuff like a grassy highway shoulder or a gravel trap at the track are almost guaranteed to cause a wheel or handlebar to dig in and cartwheel your bike, and that’s when things get really damaged. The point is that high-speed crashes are capricious, unpredictable SOBs, so it’s important to have reasonable expectations.

What Are The Different Kinds Of Frame Sliders?
So now that we recognize that frame sliders aren’t a magical force field, we can talk about these accessories like reasonable people. For starters, sliders come in two styles: Cut and no-cut. Cut kits require sawing holes in your fairing for the slider to pass through, whereas no-cut kits use brackets that position the slider around the fairing.

If the goal is to help protect your bodywork, why would you ever want to dremel a hole in it? Well, in general, cut kits are more structurally sound. The location of the slider and the strength of its mounting system haven’t been compromised to work around the bodywork, so the slider is more likely to stay put and do its job in a tumble.

No-cut kits are usually easier to install, but they aren’t always as strong because the slider is offset from the mounting point, sometimes by a lot. That gives it leverage to bend the bracket or whatever it’s bolted to.

Slider kits also come in varying lengths, from pucks that tuck in close to ones that extend way out there. As a general rule, longer sliders are more appropriate for the street and shorter stuff works better at the track. Let me explain. Street protection is more about avoiding damage due to tip-overs and low-speed falls, and being able to ride home instead of having to call a tow because of a cracked radiator or severely bent handlebar. For those purposes, a longer slider is better since it props your bike up and keeps more stuff off the ground. However, that long slider is more likely to bend and break or damage its mounting point if a lot of force is applied to it in a faster crash.

Racers and track riders are dealing with a different scenario. They’re liable to crash at higher speeds, which often means a harder impact and a lot more slide time. In that situation, you want a shorter slider, which is less likely to get wrenched off the bike and also keeps the motorcycle closer to the ground so it’s less liable to tumble. Shorter sliders might not do as good a job keeping your fairings pretty, but they’ll still help preserve the really expensive stuff like your frame and engine covers.

Do Frame Sliders Cause Bikes To Flip Over?
Now, whether you ride on the street or the track, frame sliders won’t do jack for a motorcycle that’s cartwheeling toward the horizon. And that brings us to that contentious bit of forum folklore about frame sliders actually causing bikes to flip over and tumble.

[foil]

Are frame sliders good or bad?
Short answer: yes.

[oesaccessories]

I would say that the comments to this video accurately reflect what we have seen since we began making frame sliders in 2003. Most riders who crash with them are glad they installed them. We have had customers who were grateful for our products and we have had customers for whom the sliders did not meet expectations. There seems to be an unusually high number of physicists who ride sportbikes and have pre-calculated the results of all crashes they will have and thus sworn off frame sliders. I have crashed with and without frame sliders, so I can say from experience that in certain events they will work as expected, but of course there are crashes where the sliders will not help. Keep your expectations realistic and don't waste too much good riding time thinking about it.

[brandozoc]

So glad someone actually talks about slow speed or stationary drops/tips. Thought it was just me.

[fivespeed]

Frame sliders saved my R1 in a low speed crash. I clipped a sidewalk curb while turning in an intersection, both sides hit the pavement. The damage was almost exactly $100 thanks to EBay, including the new sliders.

[AR-tlcf]

If I ever get me an R1 I would put two extra small wheels on the rear.

[VeeFour]

I'm a trackside marshal for British Superbikes, and those guys seem to favour the flush fitting kind with multiple securing points. The bodywork is sacrificial but they seem to protect the frames and engine without digging in

[ChrisR]

On my own racebikes I only mounted case covers. I consider the fairing as a disposable part. If your bike slides on the fairing that's a big surface and a lot of friction. It will slow your bike down fast and prevent it from high speed impact into barriers. I saw live crashes where bikes with frame sliders hit walls/barriers and got totalled, because they didn't slow down much while sliding. I also saw bikes with long frame sliders locking into curbs and damaging the frame and/or the engine.
I would only mount short racing sliders when it's absolutely necessary, like on the new R1 where parts of the frame aren't covered by the fairing.

[notabhi]

*YOU GUYS MAKE ALOT OF INFORMATIVE VIDEOS* 😌
Keep up the good work😀

[HeroRR]

I personally prefer no-cut sliders. My thinking on the matter is this. I've read many bad reviews on the no-cut sliders, most of them saying that at a low speed crash the things just snapped off and did nothing. Where as with cut sliders they are stronger and most likely will not break off. Problem is, like you mentioned in the video. Sliding with a frame slider is bad news, because if there are any divets in the roads, it will send your bike flying. I would rather my frame sliders protect my fairings in the event of a standing drop, and break apart in the event of a slide, rather than risk them catching pavement and sending the bike flying. I know sliders and race rails are completely different, but I've seen many examples of race rails catching pavement and sending the bike flying. I've seen it in person from other riders with those kits and sliders are also capable of this.

[finalcoyotefly]

Some of the best MC content on YouTube comes from this channel - especially your instructional / maintenance-based vids. Looking forward to new 2018 content guys!

[strongocho]

I have only ever dropped a bike one time and I was not even riding it. I was moving it in my garage and when I moved it the kickstand pushed back a bit and I didn't notice. When I went to lean it on the stand, the stand slid back and it fell to the ground. I was terrified and sure the tank was going to be dented, but it was actually just laying on the frame slider the previous owner put on. Zero damage whatsoever. So happy they were on there.

[nicholaslask]

Short answer, YES they are a MUST. I let my bike sit outside for a couple hours so the tires got extremely cold, and when I hopped on I naturally turn the traction control off, I’ve never dropped a bike but literally 10 seconds after I leave I’m taking a left and my back tire spins out and I drop it. Frame slider protected my whole left side of the bike. I was super suprised. Only damage was obviously to the frame slider and to my pegs. Can’t guarantee the same situation but literally not a scratch anywhere else. Saved me a whole lot of money

[maskedmotorsdiy]

Crashes where the engine impacts the ground should be evaluated on a (drumroll) case by case basis.

[Showmetheevidence-]

Having 10 years of racing/track school/riding & road riding these are really a 50-50. I’ve seen them save expensive bits.... and seen them hook into grass or gravel and make it worse by flipping them over, etc.

Great video dudes.

[francis]

My view (I think) as a returning rider after 20 years is that I need to re-learn low speed control and frame protection is a good idea for that.

[jacksiscavage]

I hit a big bump in the road and my bike launched in to the air. The frame slider got hung up on the power line. When they finally got the bike down it was like new. Hail to the frame slider!👍👍

[kuiperdasniper]

Hit the nail on the head. A 2 point low height slider is the best choice. After a few tries I figured this out, keeping the important bits such as forks, frame, engine are far more important than extra plastic protection at the cost of structure damage.

[themystx]

This video is so spot on. Oldie but goodie; tipped over the bike parking on an incline, the frame slider got beat up, but no body damage, just a tiny scrape on the bottom of my rear brake pedal and a busted bar end mirror. It would have resulted in an ugly scratched/dented tank that would’ve cost hundreds to replace over a $20 frame slider. If you don’t have them, why not?

[one-of-us]

I have sliders, they were used 1st lap on Gratton racetrack. Because of them I could finish the day and the next day too. Worked for me.
In fact I reccomend them.

[DearMajesty]

You covered it all. Bravo! Surprised I didn't see a sponsor for this video...who wouldn't want this exposure from arguably the best journalists catering to North America (and beyond).