Well here are some pics of the skid plate a friend custom built for me prior to my Transamtrail trip last summer. I have some friends who would like one and we are trying to figure out how to make them less expensive, better, and more efficiently. This one was a one off and cost about $400, but it took the weight of the bike on several hits and never had any troubles. oh, and the underside looks so rough because we were not paying attention when we were plasma cutting the shape and accidently put the rough side down. This plate was made from a used rally skid plate...hence the roughness. If we could get the price down to the $250 to $300 range what would the interest be? Stock mounting points....1/4" aluminum underneath with 1/8" wings. I removed the neutral safety switch on mine for more coverage but it could be designed to work with stock switch. The white post is a delrin bushing.
You know I'm interested but it needs to accomodate a lower front SW-Motec crashbar mount. Would send you mine to check. Dave
Possible interest here, but I too have stock KTM crash bars. As long as it is clear of front mount points on the bars, I may be interested if the cost were right. I have two bikes and would do both bikes. I'm willing to bet the cheapest way to do this (bulk) would be to find a fabricator with a flowjet, and send them the patterns. Then just press and weld the wings on when you get the cutouts. I know a guy that did some frabricating on a car manifold adaptation last year and it was MUCH cheaper to just part it out to a flowjet shop rather than having someone custom cut each one with tool and die. Much more consistent too. If you contact Flowjet (flowjet.com) they will send you a listing of all fabricators that will part out. My understanding is that once the set up fee is covered (scan pattern into the computer), most fabricators will cut pieces for the cost of the material plus approximately 10% since labor is SO much less (it could cut all parts for one pan in less than 2 min.). If you get enough pre-orders, that could really bring the cost down. From the pictures, it doesn't look like that much material, just a lot of cutting if done by hand and of course the welding. Those flowjet machines are incredible! Saw one cutting some 4 inch thick aircraft aluminum once and it cut it like butter! It would have no problem with 1/4 and under thickness. Just a thought. Rick
Hey Seth S, This is a tough project. I took this on for another fellow rider on this site and I managed to use the OE KTM bash plate and I got made Aluminum sides. It really turned out good and they are still in use now. The one you have built looks great and will sell if you take it on or choose to sell more. Price is right. Just my 2 cents worth. Rick
If you have any pictures of things that might interfere like tank guards or other accessories they would be helpful to see. As far as cutting the cost down goes we would definately go the mass production route, or at least the job shop route. I live about 1 mile from a shop with the waterjet that has very reasonable rates...basicaly I will determine the shapes needed to make the plate and then just create cad files and go from there. Cutting the shaped out is easy, Now I am working on finding someplace that will do the welding and any bends at a reasonable rate.
IMO the better plan is to build a cheaper version of the slab-surfaced Touratech plate. It seems a clean and rugged design for hard rock contact, yet simple to manufacture. Those of us that like the rallye-style rounded plates would probably stick with the stocker. On the other hand, if you come up with an inexpensive piece that strengthened (or replaced) the cast aluminum section of the stocker and retained the stock shaped plastic sides, you could probably sell a few.
It would be very easy to make a plate to replace the stock plate and then just bolt on the plastic sides. The other possibility is a carbon fiber plate which I would have done, but at the time we didnt have carbon on hand and time was limited. I thought about the touratech design, but figured that touratech already builds one for $200. So if We could come up with a stronger one that has a better shape for similiar money then we might have some interest. I know several friends have been poking me to get several more made. I know this one is strong enough: I was decending Timichi Pass (I think thats how its spelled) in colorado with the bike fully loaded. I crossed a stream and the front wheel rolled over a rock and flipped it up in the process...the skidplate took the hit as the bike slide up onto it. The bike stopped moving forward and was pretty much balanced with the rear wheel slightly touching....then the bike rotated on the skid plate about 30 degrees counterclockwise and I fell over...I was pissed at the time but it was a funny situation. Does the Touratech bolt to the stock cross member in the front or does it replace it with a stronger cross member/brace? The stock casted aluminum seems a bit like crap to me.
I'm kinda at a loss as to the object of this venture , I have had a Touratech skid plate that list for $267 on my 950 for over a year , Way better than stock . SEYA <table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="840"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="5"> </td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffcc"> <!-- Product name and part number --> <td id="left" colspan="2" width="640"> Skidplate KTM LC8 Part Number: 370-0130 </td> <!-- This starts the price, add item, see cart section --> <!-- This is the price section --> <td id="mid" align="center" valign="middle" width="80"> $267.60 </td></tr></tbody> </table>
Well last summer when I bought my 950 the touratech plate was out of stock and it remained so up to the point of my trip departure. Plus I didnt like the looks of the touratech plate. I wanted something smoother that would be more likely to glide over an obstacle. My friend made me one and it worked great. Several friends with 950's who also didnt like the touratech unit started getting me to make more of mine....and its been going from there.
Andrew Fekete has a 950 skid plate design on the go right now. It will be available soon through the Adventurer's Workshop and I imagine it's going to be quite trick. My two cents worth.
NICE !! Like the extra protection for the stator and clutch area !!! If i hadn't spent the $$ on the Touratech, I'd grab one of your creations. Even if the welds wern't perfect. Hope you do well in your adventure into the world of aftermarket parts. Looks to me that the Stock KTM crash bars wouldn't fit missing area to mount the two front bolts.
Hi - I have a question here - why didnt you extend the bashie to include the stator and clutch area? Jest a question...
Once you get your new price and final Rev. Please contact me. Also I need to get something before spring or 5-1-06. I would prefure to buy sometime in March. Regards
Well my friend made it for me though I had input on the design, i think we thought about covering the stator and the clutch cover but decided that it wasnt necesary. also, the rear brake lever would have had to have been modified to clear the aluminum. As it is, the only way to hit those to covers is to fall over on a rock....which is possible, but haven't come close to that yet. The plate does a pretty good job at directing debris passed these covers as well. But consider this plate to be Rev 0, production units may differ to allow for fitment of other crash bars etc.
You should probably send me one to see if it will work with my motech crash-guards so I can give a full evaluation to post here. I promise to test all the crash-guard possibilities out there! Honest!
Anything guys? TT is still out of stock, Adventure Workshop does not seem to have a listing for a plate.. time is right to move some product.. I for one am very interested, although I too have the stock KTM crash guards. Is there are Rev. 1 yet? Bueller?
If any one is planing to build a skid plate for the SE here is my version FWIW. I glued some compound rubber onto the sections in front of the clutch and ignition covers. Also glued some to the engine casing and front of oil reservior other than onto the bash plate, this way any crudd and oil will not build up under there, and is easier to hose out. Included space for an alloy container , (oil or coolant), cap 600ml.for emergency use, will be secured by 2 stainless hose clamps. Cheers.