Inspired by a thread about DIY axle sliders and a descriptive of a crash, how about real world advice on what works and what does not if you crash.
I had an off when the front wheel went away from me on mud. I came off my Versys at about 35 mph and it slide for about 30 feet turning back to face the way it was going before it came to rest when it went off the road onto the grassy verge.
I had fitted the Kawasaki engine protectors and it worn away as it slid taking about 1cm off the end of it. There were slight scratches to the radiator cowl. The Kawasaki (Givi) pannier was scratched but held fine. There were very minor scratches to the wing mirror end, indicator and bottom of the fork and brake.
The main damage was the hand guard bent and broke the end off the brake lever and snapped off at the bit that fit onto the handle bar. That in turn hit the screen and snapped it down the middle.
The pannier has had a replacement coloured insert and the other part has been sanded and covered with some stuff used to protect car sills and bumper edges
The scratches on the cowl have been covered with the same stuff
The other scratches have had a gentle sand and touch up with paint and I have fitted axle sliders. Most impressive was how well the pannier held. Least was the hand guard snapping and breaking the screen. The Kawasaki engine protector worked well but I suspect that crash bars would have worked better because they would not have worn away causing the cowl to get scratched. But they saved actual damage to the engine.
I had an off when the front wheel went away from me on mud. I came off my Versys at about 35 mph and it slide for about 30 feet turning back to face the way it was going before it came to rest when it went off the road onto the grassy verge.
I had fitted the Kawasaki engine protectors and it worn away as it slid taking about 1cm off the end of it. There were slight scratches to the radiator cowl. The Kawasaki (Givi) pannier was scratched but held fine. There were very minor scratches to the wing mirror end, indicator and bottom of the fork and brake.
The main damage was the hand guard bent and broke the end off the brake lever and snapped off at the bit that fit onto the handle bar. That in turn hit the screen and snapped it down the middle.
The pannier has had a replacement coloured insert and the other part has been sanded and covered with some stuff used to protect car sills and bumper edges
The scratches on the cowl have been covered with the same stuff
The other scratches have had a gentle sand and touch up with paint and I have fitted axle sliders. Most impressive was how well the pannier held. Least was the hand guard snapping and breaking the screen. The Kawasaki engine protector worked well but I suspect that crash bars would have worked better because they would not have worn away causing the cowl to get scratched. But they saved actual damage to the engine.