View Full Version : Crash knobs
Floppy disk
7th January 2014, 10:02
I am not your “expert” biker but I thought it might be helpful to some to share this little experience. Last week while washing my bike, the water hose got caught under the front tire after I moved the bike around a bit. Being a big fella (strong, handsome, sexy, smart, intelligent, good looking, etc.:not:) but also a lazy one, I did not bother moving the bike again and simply pulled the hose strongly from underneath the bike's tire and the bike fell off violently :facepalm:. BANG!! straight away I thought the fairing and a lot of other stuff would now need fixing. But those crush knobs I bought a few years ago took all the hit, plus a little dent in the clutch pedal. I tested the bike, checked it carefully. That was all the damage. I was thrilled. They were right! Crush knobs do save you money. :niceone:
Floppy disk
7th January 2014, 10:04
Sh*t! I meant Crash knobs. LoL :whistle:
p.dath
7th January 2014, 10:05
I'm a big fan of "crash" knobs or frame sliders as well.
Did you just have centrally mounted ones, or did you also have the axle versions?
Grizzo
7th January 2014, 10:05
At least ya did ne crush ya nob!
BigAl
7th January 2014, 10:34
"Clutch pedal" is that instead of clutch lever?
I also think crash knobs are a good idea and will protect plastics in stationary/slow drops as you have experienced.
MrItalian
9th January 2014, 09:49
I am not your “expert” biker but I thought it might be helpful to some to share this little experience. Last week while washing my bike, the water hose got caught under the front tire after I moved the bike around a bit. Being a big fella (strong, handsome, sexy, smart, intelligent, good looking, etc.:not:) but also a lazy one, I did not bother moving the bike again and simply pulled the hose strongly from underneath the bike's tire and the bike fell off violently :facepalm:. BANG!! straight away I thought the fairing and a lot of other stuff would now need fixing. But those crush knobs I bought a few years ago took all the hit, plus a little dent in the clutch pedal. I tested the bike, checked it carefully. That was all the damage. I was thrilled. They were right! Crush knobs do save you money. :niceone:
Cool story bro, glad they saved your bike..
pritch
9th January 2014, 10:29
Glad your story had a happy ending. There are both pros and cons where bungs are concerned, I have had them on some of my bikes. I didn't fit them to the VFR because those were very expensive, and the thought eventually occurred that I would only be spending all that cash to save the insurance company money.
In a crash at speed some designs can break the engine cases, but if I'm flying through the air or sliding up the road on my arse the engine cases won't be my top priority. Mine are on the bike for the potential low speed drop such as happened to the OP.
A year or three back BIKE magazine recommended all riders of "tall rounder" bikes: BMW GS1200, Triumph Tiger 1050, KTM Adventure, etc etc, to have bungs as the high seat height resulted in a higher incidence of low speed drops.
SMOKEU
9th January 2014, 10:57
I've got crash knobs on my GSXR (they came with the bike), but be warned, in a high-ish speed low side the crash bungs can dig into the ground, flip the bike over and rip themselves out of the frame, as opposed to just sliding on the ground and doing mainly cosmetic damage.
Floppy disk
9th January 2014, 14:08
I've got crash knobs on my GSXR (they came with the bike), but be warned, in a high-ish speed low side the crash bungs can dig into the ground, flip the bike over and rip themselves out of the frame, as opposed to just sliding on the ground and doing mainly cosmetic damage.
Yup. I agree and I have seen that on a few race days. They save you money in the situation where the bike is standing but could be dangerous when it is running. Mine are designed to actually come off quickly in a riding crash. Here is something interesting about them: http://biketrackdayshub.com/are-crash-bungs-worth-it
I'm a big fan of "crash" knobs or frame sliders as well.
Did you just have centrally mounted ones, or did you also have the axle versions?
Not sure what you mean by centrally mounted but these are only screwed tightly against the side of the bikes, and from what I read back then they are designed to come off quickly in running crashes to prevent them causing havoc.
mrchips
11th January 2014, 07:32
I agree. My knobs have saved me $.
I'f you're like me & do stupid shit while stationary & daydreaming.... pricey, but can save you thousands.
Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk
R650R
12th January 2014, 06:37
Yes pros and cons. Hadn't made a doofus mistake in years then when heading off to a trip year or so ago I ended up pushing the GSXR down drive from other side due to rubbish in the way, thought better check the oil... Put back on side stand which wasn't down, full tank of gas and fully loaded tankbag... Got to point of no return, let it down gently but Tank took the brunt off it killing a crockery garden knome in the process LOL
You can make your own too. For $50 got half metre roll from local plastic factory that has all sorts of stuff. Think this was the mk 1 version of motard style sliders for the DR.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7249/6977418766_a0304a20df.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77819625@N08/6977418766/)
DR4_9932 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77819625@N08/6977418766/) by DR650NZ (http://www.flickr.com/people/77819625@N08/), on Flickr
festus
27th January 2014, 15:09
I've got wally knobs on both my bikes, low speed oppsy on the R1, not a scratch anywhere (except knob), binned the race bike a couple of times, broken rearsets only........they work!
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