V7 Frame Sliders

[Kev M]

I've always preferred to have some form of crash bar or cylinder protector on my bikes and they've paid for themselves at times.

But as much as I don't mind the look of crash bars on some bikes I've started to embrace the more minimalist look of frame sliders in some applications.

Considering that my new Stone is going to be decked out with HBs, I easily could have gotten away with crash bars. But I saw some sliders from Over Racing in Japan and thought to myself WOW, that's looks pretty good. I bet a number of the V7R guys would like this solution, ESPECIALLY since the new valve cover design precludes the use of the head mounted guards.

They're available in one or two different styles/mounts. My wife Jenn decided to order a set for me for X-mass and opted for the slightly more expensive but beefier set. I think along with an inexpensive pair of goggles (ordered so she'd make the free shipping) they came to about $400. Not a cheap solution, but again, kinda neat - smaller, lighter.

This is nicest – AND IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'VE REDUCED THE PRICE SLIGHTLY FROM - $352 - to $311

http://japan.webike.net/products/20310046.html

These are the cheapest at $275 (but they don't look at sturdy)

http://www.satoracing.com/framesliders_motoguzziV7.htm

Ironically the first guys also sell the same ones and have reduced their price on that too from $314 to $278 (almost the same as Sato)

http://japan.webike.net/products/20890873.html

Shortly after installation I realized that the NEW SINGLE THROTTLE BODY MOTOR appeared to have thicker/wider jugs and therefore the stock width of the sliders which was FINE for the dual-throttle body motors might be insufficient for the new V7 Stone/Special/Racer editions.

My solution was relatively simple - I had a local machine shop cut me two new spacers about 25mm in length and the same thickness as the center part of the slider mounts, I think it was about 30mm in diameter. Along with a longer mounting bolt it extended the sliders just enough to better protect the cylinders but helped to keep them from becoming a visual eyesore. I'll have to take a better photo of the overall bike to show how they still seem to disappear into the overall look.

I'm pretty happy with the results.

Here are some shots detailing the before and after changes to the mounts. Please excuse the poor photography and quickly cobbled-together photoshop. It was the easiest way to get multipe shots uploaded to one source. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

Here's a close-up 3/4 shot after the spacers were installed.

Here's a shot BEFORE the spacers were installed, I'll replace it with a new one as soon as I can, but honestly, this view really hasn't changed appreciably and it gives you an idea how small the sliders really are visually.

 

[gccguzzi]

They look awesome!

 

[GTM®]

Kev, nice job... thanks for posting. I'll be curious to hear about a post crash test (not you hopefully). I was a slight fan of them at first, but I've repaired bikes where they did more damage then good. I can't clearly tell, what are they bolted to? Lower frame or just the engine cases?

 

[Kev M]

Hey Todd,

Yup, as I've said, I hope I never get to report on their effectiveness.

To answer your question, the slider and spacers all bolt to an aluminum plate mount.

The mount is then bolted to the frame using longer versions of the upper-to-lower frame joining bolts.

I would THINK that the aluminum of the mount itself would fail before the frame was damaged.

But like I've suggested on the subject at other forums (WG), I also suspect that once you start talking about those kinds of speeds/impacts all bets are off anyway and the bike might be totaled regardless.

These, like crash bars, are really just in case you have a standing or low speed OOOOOPPPPPPsssss.