Crash bungs, frame sliders, etc

[SMOKEU]

Do many of you use them on your bikes? I've heard that they can do more harm than good in high speed crashes. Have any of you experienced damage caused by these?

[ducatilover]

All depends on how they're made, what they are mounted too and how. They can be handy though. Do it wrong = cracked/fucked frame.

[Gremlin]

Used them before, current bike has big crash bars standard, so not necessary (except I added more extensions). They work damn well, but it's an adventure bike.

Crash bungs, if the bike is sliding, perhaps onto grass, they can catch and flip the bike (with the expected destruction). They can also be pulled/punched out of the frame, and frame damage usually = write off due to huge labour costs stripping and re-assembling the bike, not to mention cost of frame.

At the same time however, countless people have dropped bikes (stationary, low speed, perhaps medium speed) and the crash bung has saved huge damage by being the sacrificial point.

Really, you can't plan for how you will come off, so it's your call. I would suspect the majority swear by them, but a minority have had bikes written off because it had crash bungs (including a mate).

[gatch]

I made some bungs for my vfr400. The idea being they will protect the engine cases if I take a slide at the track. They are not held captive by any bolts, the bungs themselves are threaded onto a stud and will (HOPEFULLY) be pulled off the stud in a big off. Though I think if I am involved in an incident at highway speed, the state of my bungs is going to be the last thing on my mind.

I think if your bike sustains more damage than is prevented by having them installed, you need to look at how they are mounted. They should be like a car bumper, or a helmet even. They should absorb the damage, rather than transmit it on to the thing they are meant to protect.

[Brett]

They saved my GSXR serious damage when I had an unfortunate highside at about 40kph on gravel. the bike flipped and landed square on the crash bung (Oggy Knobs) and slid down the road resting on the knob and the rear wheel. All that was damaged was my carbon fiber bar ends and my gear selector/lever that got bent. Had one tiny scratch on the fairing and a scratch on the mirror. That was it. Damage would have been far worse had the Oggy not taken the hit. I have however seen a mate highside (also on gravel) at about 30-40kph on his ZX10 and when the Oggy hit the ground, it broke the engine mount. Personally, i will always fit them to my bikes.

[Captain_Salty]

n.b. to self - don't ride superbikes on gravel

[Denniso]

I run crash bungs on all my bikes as I occasionaly ride faster than I can ride , they work well at low speed and sliding , but in a high speed dismount you are going to root the bike , bungs or not , so may as well run them .

[EJK]

Just bubble wrap it.

[MaxCannon]

They came in handy when I dropped my Bandit in the driveway (Remember kids - stand goes down first then you get off to open the gate).
Got a set from here http://rapidartnz.com/ and they were a bargain price and well made.

The BMW already has two big crash knobs sticking out the side....