Fork Sliders

[Rossi86]

I use my street bike for the track as well, so I was wondering if fork sliders make much of a difference at protecting the front parts (forks, rim, calipers, fender) from damage when the bike hits the ground? Obviously you can't predict exacly how the bike will fall, but lets say in a simple lowside... I'm thinking of getting them for my 02 GSXR 750, but I can't find these anywhere on the internet for my bike year.
Right now I have extended delrin swingarm sliders/spools and vortex frame sliders installed. I thinking If I should get the fork sliders and bar end sliders as well to protect as many parts as possible...

 

[Fiery254]

After my last crash my fork slider bobbins were half ground away but i didn't have any fork damage.


MOTWYW.

 

[ShiftyEh]

Yeah I have them on my bike too. Just bought cheapo e-bay ones, lowsided at the last track day and they held up suprisingly well. Mine stick out over an inch, the tech guy (Don) jokingly mentioned they'd be good for standing on when your doing stoppies cause they stick out a fair bit. They did their job on the lowside.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawa...9777587QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

If you think of the physics, the smaller radius part where it screws together is a tight fit into the axle opening and would take alot of force for it to shear off. On the contrary, the extended swingarm spools are completely useless, it busted off almost immediately when it started sliding. Its just not meant for lateral stress on the tiny bolts holding them on. If you want to protect your swingarm/axle I recommend driven's axle slider blocks: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Driv...rcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item33626fef90

Don't know if they make them for your year but they're a million times better then extended swingarm spools. If not I would swap the extended ones out for regular length spools, less leverage to snap. As for bar sliders, if your worried about the looks after a crash, your basically SOL as your either going to end up with scratched metal bar ends or ground down delrin bar ends. I personally don't consider them a necessity. No cut frame sliders are useless too, the direct bolt on sliders are best.

 

[Rossi86]

Yeah I have them on my bike too. Just bought cheapo e-bay ones, lowsided at the last track day and they held up suprisingly well. Mine stick out over an inch, the tech guy (Don) jokingly mentioned they'd be good for standing on when your doing stoppies cause they stick out a fair bit. They did their job on the lowside.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawa...9777587QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

If you think of the physics, the smaller radius part where it screws together is a tight fit into the axle opening and would take alot of force for it to shear off. On the contrary, the extended swingarm spools are completely useless, it busted off almost immediately when it started sliding. Its just not meant for lateral stress on the tiny bolts holding them on. If you want to protect your swingarm/axle I recommend driven's axle slider blocks: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Driv...rcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item33626fef90

Don't know if they make them for your year but they're a million times better then extended swingarm spools. If not I would swap the extended ones out for regular length spools, less leverage to snap. As for bar sliders, if your worried about the looks after a crash, your basically SOL as your either going to end up with scratched metal bar ends or ground down delrin bar ends. I personally don't consider them a necessity. No Cut frame sliders a must!

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm no longer worried about cosmetic damage to my street/track bike LOL! The fairings have already been beat up at the track. But on a lowside at cayuga last year, my stock left rear spool took a beating and got bent severely, I had to straighten it out with a hammer! This was mostly to my NO CUT frame slider on the left snaping right off and not protecting anything. The left peg bracket broke right off and it ruined my day. So I put a cut frame slider now, the extended swing arm spools. I ordered protectors for the engine cases, with the front axle/fork sliders the bike should be ok for minor drops. And I'm not worried about bar-end rash, I just thought a bar-end delrin slider would probably soften the impact to protect the clip ons from breaking...

I just want to protect the bike mechanically as much as I can so I don't miss out on street riding to repair damage from the track. But can't find any fork sliders for my bike, 00-03 GSXR 750s have a big diameter hollow axle...

 

[ShiftyEh]

Sorry your exactly right with the no-cut sliders. I mis-worded my original statement wanting to make a point that no-cut sliders are useless as well and the direct bolt on's are the way to go. It does make sense with bar ends to soften the impact and suppose it wouldn't hurt to have them on there, my stockers held up pretty good though, just rashed.