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Lets lay it all out there as this topic is always talked about.
1. They won't stop damage to the plastics all the time and they are not designed to.
2. There are thousands if not millions of physics variables in a crash so no two crashes are the same and you can't say frame sliders are great or bad based on a crash or two.
3. Frame sliders are designed to bend, grind, shatter, and twist as this is how they absorb energy and do not pass it on to the frame and engine.
4. A slider made too weak or too strong can cause damage to the frame or engine. Every crash is difference so this middle ground isn't the same for every crash so they try and find a balance where there is good middle ground for most crashes.
With that said race railz are made out of metal. They suck at absorbing energy and instaed they transfer it. They also can snag and catch on things and flip a bike.
Most frame sliders that are good are made out of delrin. Most any of the major brands work just fine. It's just as safeguard anyway.
There are cut and no cut frame sliders. Cut sliders require cutting a hole in your plastics or trimming the plastics in order to install the frame sliders. These normally are a more direct bolt on. In other words they are a piece of delrin with a hole in it and a bolt attaches it. Very direct and simple design. The no cut sliders often come with brackets. This is so that you don't have to cut your palstic. Yout bolt the bracket to the engine mount behind the plastics then the bracket moves around so that it pops out behind the plastics then you install the frame slider there. Some people swear by no cuts and they are normally a bit stronger, but you also have to remember that too strong can cause damage also. No cuts and cuts normally do very close to the same job. the nice thing about no cuts is that you leave your plastics stock so that if you sell the bike and the buyer doesn't like the sliders he can take them off without having a hole left in his plastics.
Imagine putting a metal rod that is 6" long to the outside of your helmet. You wouldn't want to crash and have that rod get shoved through your helmet. Metal transfers energy and doesn't absorb it. Now what if that rod was some delrin or even weaker plastics? it would absorb the energy and slow your head down before you fully met contact with the pavement. Stupid example I know but it gets the point across. The same is said for race cars. Everything blows apart when a race car hits the wall because it's not designed to stay attached to the cockpit of an f1 car. If it was then all the energy would be transfered. It's designed to have parts crush, rip off the cockpit, shatter, etc. this way the cockpit slows down before the cockpit and rider meet the wall.
This should cover most questions about sliders.
So you can't bash a pair of sliders because they didn't hold up because you might have had so much energy on the slider because the slider met the pavement first and if it didn't blow apart then it might have damaged your frame. You also can't say they are the best because they saved your ass in a crash. They are designed to save most people in most crashes, but with every crash different you might be in one of those categories where no frame slider would save your bike or just that type wouldn't. Depending on a crash the best frame slider in the world could be the worst for the crash and yet another crash could make the worst slider in the world the very best one for that crash.
Ride safe guys
1. They won't stop damage to the plastics all the time and they are not designed to.
2. There are thousands if not millions of physics variables in a crash so no two crashes are the same and you can't say frame sliders are great or bad based on a crash or two.
3. Frame sliders are designed to bend, grind, shatter, and twist as this is how they absorb energy and do not pass it on to the frame and engine.
4. A slider made too weak or too strong can cause damage to the frame or engine. Every crash is difference so this middle ground isn't the same for every crash so they try and find a balance where there is good middle ground for most crashes.
With that said race railz are made out of metal. They suck at absorbing energy and instaed they transfer it. They also can snag and catch on things and flip a bike.
Most frame sliders that are good are made out of delrin. Most any of the major brands work just fine. It's just as safeguard anyway.
There are cut and no cut frame sliders. Cut sliders require cutting a hole in your plastics or trimming the plastics in order to install the frame sliders. These normally are a more direct bolt on. In other words they are a piece of delrin with a hole in it and a bolt attaches it. Very direct and simple design. The no cut sliders often come with brackets. This is so that you don't have to cut your palstic. Yout bolt the bracket to the engine mount behind the plastics then the bracket moves around so that it pops out behind the plastics then you install the frame slider there. Some people swear by no cuts and they are normally a bit stronger, but you also have to remember that too strong can cause damage also. No cuts and cuts normally do very close to the same job. the nice thing about no cuts is that you leave your plastics stock so that if you sell the bike and the buyer doesn't like the sliders he can take them off without having a hole left in his plastics.
Imagine putting a metal rod that is 6" long to the outside of your helmet. You wouldn't want to crash and have that rod get shoved through your helmet. Metal transfers energy and doesn't absorb it. Now what if that rod was some delrin or even weaker plastics? it would absorb the energy and slow your head down before you fully met contact with the pavement. Stupid example I know but it gets the point across. The same is said for race cars. Everything blows apart when a race car hits the wall because it's not designed to stay attached to the cockpit of an f1 car. If it was then all the energy would be transfered. It's designed to have parts crush, rip off the cockpit, shatter, etc. this way the cockpit slows down before the cockpit and rider meet the wall.
This should cover most questions about sliders.
So you can't bash a pair of sliders because they didn't hold up because you might have had so much energy on the slider because the slider met the pavement first and if it didn't blow apart then it might have damaged your frame. You also can't say they are the best because they saved your ass in a crash. They are designed to save most people in most crashes, but with every crash different you might be in one of those categories where no frame slider would save your bike or just that type wouldn't. Depending on a crash the best frame slider in the world could be the worst for the crash and yet another crash could make the worst slider in the world the very best one for that crash.
Ride safe guys
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