Motoracer
17th June 2005, 12:47
Hey guys and galls, what you do with your own bike is up to you but here's my advise from experience about crash knobs.
The really long crash bungs that stick out a lot and have thoes skinny alloy mounts that go between the crash knobs and the engine are just asking for trouble in a real crash IMHO. If you drop it at very low speeds like doing 15kmph or just off the stand, then they are great as you really shouldn't get much damage if any on most bikes, with long knobs (excuse the pun). This is obviously because the longer crash bung the further away from the ground the bike will stay once it lays on it's side.
However the longer the bungs the more leverage it gets for sideways bend and the eaiser it becomes for the Bungs to bend or break the alloy mount along with the bolt inside. When they bend, they don't protect your bike at all and in some cases they make matters even more worst. In the worst case senario, which happened to my bike, the long bungs will have so much leverage that it'll rip out the engine mounts, which leads to repaires way bigger and costlier than measly little cosmetic repaires.
So what to do? If you want to use crash knobs, make sure that they only stick out from the body work a little bit so that they are not too long and end up having too much leverage during a crash. Get rid of thoes skinny little alloy mounts and get a big as solid flat washer to go on the back which will work as a solid base for the bungs. This will ensure maximum resistance to bending sideways movement during a crash.
Also, once you do crash, check the bungs and the bolts and make sure you replace the bolt, as it probably went through a lot of stress during that crash and it wouldn't survive the next crash.
If you have no crash knobs, you won't reck the frame where you put your knobs but will most probably damge the bike a lot, cosmetically. If you have crash knobs too long and big, you can almost be sure that they will work perfectly at low speed crashes but in most cases it'll make matters worst during a high speed crash. So I say, compremise and have short and stubby crash bungs with a solid base so you kind of get the best possible protection for the bike with minimal repair bills.
Choice is yours but that's my advise if you want to use it. Please note that, crashes are one of the most unpredictable things about bikes, even if you play it safe 100%, the bike could still be f#ked depending on how unlucky you are after you hit the deck.
The really long crash bungs that stick out a lot and have thoes skinny alloy mounts that go between the crash knobs and the engine are just asking for trouble in a real crash IMHO. If you drop it at very low speeds like doing 15kmph or just off the stand, then they are great as you really shouldn't get much damage if any on most bikes, with long knobs (excuse the pun). This is obviously because the longer crash bung the further away from the ground the bike will stay once it lays on it's side.
However the longer the bungs the more leverage it gets for sideways bend and the eaiser it becomes for the Bungs to bend or break the alloy mount along with the bolt inside. When they bend, they don't protect your bike at all and in some cases they make matters even more worst. In the worst case senario, which happened to my bike, the long bungs will have so much leverage that it'll rip out the engine mounts, which leads to repaires way bigger and costlier than measly little cosmetic repaires.
So what to do? If you want to use crash knobs, make sure that they only stick out from the body work a little bit so that they are not too long and end up having too much leverage during a crash. Get rid of thoes skinny little alloy mounts and get a big as solid flat washer to go on the back which will work as a solid base for the bungs. This will ensure maximum resistance to bending sideways movement during a crash.
Also, once you do crash, check the bungs and the bolts and make sure you replace the bolt, as it probably went through a lot of stress during that crash and it wouldn't survive the next crash.
If you have no crash knobs, you won't reck the frame where you put your knobs but will most probably damge the bike a lot, cosmetically. If you have crash knobs too long and big, you can almost be sure that they will work perfectly at low speed crashes but in most cases it'll make matters worst during a high speed crash. So I say, compremise and have short and stubby crash bungs with a solid base so you kind of get the best possible protection for the bike with minimal repair bills.
Choice is yours but that's my advise if you want to use it. Please note that, crashes are one of the most unpredictable things about bikes, even if you play it safe 100%, the bike could still be f#ked depending on how unlucky you are after you hit the deck.