Background: I have a Motosportz skid plate, with ‘wings’ (front/side protection) which I *really* like. Works awesome! It adds to the structure of the bike which is important to me because there is no frame member under the engine, and is a 1/4” aluminum plate so it is really beefy and I can use my standard dirt bike lift to raise the bike for easy garage maintenance. Then someone from ALTRider called me up, and wanted my thoughts on the new ALTRider Skid plate they were developing… but I replied I was extremely happy with the skid plate I already had, and there was absolutely no way I was interested in any other skid plate. They sent me one anyway - bottom line: The ALTRider skid plate will stay on my bike. For more on that, read on…. Shipping was quick, professional, and I was automatically emailed a tracking number, and even an email telling me the package had been delivered. That may not sound important, but I did appreciate it. Packaging was top notch. Packing foam all over the plate, carefully placed in a bag with a T55 bit for an 8mm socket (standard screw driver size), black zip ty, and instructions on how to install. Overall look prior to installation was top notch, fantastic color, and the welds looked perfect. It was well machined and the “2 bolt” installation was flawless, a 2 bolt install is a huge plus for me. The standard OEM mounting bolts were used, and it was easy to slid the bolts into the engine mounting holes, and easy to get the washer & nut on. That may not sound terribly exciting, but the TR650 is a incredibly asymmetrical bike if you really start to examine it, so designing parts for a TR650 is not easy. Near the chain there was a lot of room, and unless the chain was really worn out, there is no way the chain could ever touch the skid plate, so in this area, it wins out over Motosportz a bit. What also made me quite happy is that it is *definitely* solid enough to use a standard bike lift (as shown). The frontal protection is really nice as well, and it complimented the ALTRider crash bars perfectly. Side protection is a bit better than the Motosportz skid plate, at least prior to me installing the wings. As you might be able to tell from the pic, the clutch cable was routed perfectly (clutch cable routing on a TR650 is a bit problematic) Another bonus: air can pass through it. Fitment in general: The plate fit perfect. There is no space in the rear between the plate and where it slides over, so in that regard it should protect in the event of a major head on to the plate, but in theory not quite as well as the Motosportz skid plate which is more structural in nature. The oil line that connects at the bottom of the engine with a banjo bolt has a lot of clearance (good) and the asymmetrical (oblong?) hole to access the oil drain plug should make changing the oil easy because the bike is leaning when using the kick stand/oil changing and should have enough room to allow for screwing the oil drain plug back in. Riding: The skid plate sounds great. Rocks hitting it had a nice tone, and the engine actually sounded better, almost more refined, than no skid plate. It is too early to tell, but the plate, at least in the color I have, should age well after a lot of rocks have hit it. My down tube is full of marks from riding without protection from small rocks hitting it, and does not look good any more… for those of you with no frontal protection at all, highly recommend you get something to protect your bike. As stated earlier, the ALTRider skid plate will be the one mounted to my bike, and that is the largest compliment I could ever make for a product. The Motosportz skid plate with wings is a perfect product and shares much of the positive attributes the ALTRider skid plate has, in addition the Motosportz skid plate is 0.25” thick whereas the ALT is 0.2”, but the ALTRider skid plate is even more perfect. Nice to have choices! (hope none of this offended MotoSportz) Pic of the other side:
Skid plate....is strong, bike sat on two cinder blocks for a day and i rolled bike off them...no damage no bending of plate and looks like it will protect well up front also. My plate did need a little kiss from a hammer and rod to bend support away from chain because it was rubbing it when unloaded...I run a loose chain...it rests on cross bar when on stand...with panniers on. The small space bmw/husky left for the chain to run is 2nd to the air filter design...was this designed also with......measure with micromator mark with caulk cut with ax ? WHOW Like coffee said...oil change is easy with a 24mm socket as I tested that last week. Well done! altrider
Coffee....... "(hope none of this offended MotoSportz)" I'm sure Motosportz isn't offended. However, I am. Nice of Altrider to send the unsolicited skid plate while the rest of us are awaiting some resolution to the crash bar fiasco.
It's called politics. And we know where that goes. Personally I would not buy an aluminum bash plate. I don't own any aluminum hammers, aluminum bulldozer blades or aluminum horse shoes. Go figure.
I'd still rather ding up an aluminium bash plate than my motor case. I also prefer to ride my Terra as a motorbike, not as a bulldozer or a horse. It doesn't run so well on diesel or hay.
The skid plate and crash bars are 2 completely separate subjects, so I would appreciate everyone treating them as such.
Great review! Far more thorough than mine on seven different skid plates I considered, but great affirmation that I made the right choice too. Thanks.
I like the altrider plate although I do like motorsportz plate connecting into the other side of the frame. Still not too excited about the hanging motor design but since we all need skid plates do like the frame tied in design. I think if ALTRider would have tied into the frame with the skid plate it would have sealed the deal for me.
Just to be clear...it uses the stock bolts. You could look at your TR and see the same bolts. But a picture is here.
Wish I would have remembered about the way the rear attached when I ordered, I probably would not have went with it. Aside from that, it really does fit nice. Amazing how easy things can be to install when they fit properly (cant say that about the Nomadic rear rack). The anodizing is good quality, although all the edges from water jetting should have got the once over before anodizing. May put some thought into seeing if an attachment like some of the other plates is doable. Oh ya, the bolts. The original bolts are barely long enough. I put some threadlocker on them. Probably will change to a 1/4" longer bolt.
If your talking to me, ya, it's fine. But if I was to do it again, I still like the B&B better, but I procrastinated, and went for the Altrider
Are you saying the B&B is out of production? I have a factory one but the lack of wings is causing some damage here and the floating rear design (plus dents in the plate) allowed my drain plug to be exposed. I caught a rock just perfectly and it actually spun the plug about 1/4 turn deforming it and casing the bike to leak a bit of oil. Thankfully I discovered the damage fairly quickly but I don't want to go through that again.
Certainly not. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Husqvarn...35?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item3a86f963d7 But it does take some tweaking to make sure something like this doesn't happen: (typical B+B damage caused by over-specced accessory bolted straight onto factory item, a BMW 650GS rack in this case). I've weakened the mounting points of the B+B plate by about 50% to make the plate sacrificial, not the parts of the bike it is bolted to. Same for an extensive re-design of the B+B top rack to add frame-based mounting points rather than just bolting it to the plastic factory rack, doooh!
I also purchased this plate. I'm a fan so far, after a couple... adjustments. It took a hard impact on a cement stair, or two, maybe four, and bent the rear right mount into the path of the chain, just slightly. The impact also broke the cheesy nylon guards. I removed the plate entirely, and readjusted the rear mounts to that they were both properly 90 degrees up from the bottom, then split some 1/4 fuel hose to go where the nylon bits where, and used a racing fastener (zip-tie) to secure it. Sliding the rear mount into place is a nice tight fit with the fresh rubber, so use a little lube and slip it into place like a gentleman. A little masking tape can protect the front frame scratches. 500 miles later, it's still in place, taken a few impacts, and there is no rattling or clearance issues. A+ (should you decide to do this, don't be a fool, clamp a razor blade in a bench vice and slide the hose over the tip. If you try to split hose barehanded with a knife 'you're gonna have a bad time.')
I like the looks of that one but not sure about shipping it to the US. Now I know why you Aussies are always going on about shipping.
And we're feeling the pinch even more. The value of the Aussie $ has dropped about 30% against the USD since I bought my Terra 2 years ago. I just got back from a 5 week bike trip in USA and Canada. Going to be going to a job I hate for 30% longer to pay off the CR cards !!
