• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
     TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Best Skid Plate for my new '2010 TE 450?

Which is better....Aluminium, Plastic or Carbon?

  • Total voters
    8
Thor

Thor

Husqvarna
A Class
I realize this is a bit personal preference BUT.....I'd love some opinions/arguments for what is best.

I live in N. California and will ride mostly in the Mountains of The Sierra in Calaveras-Alpine county with many rocks but plenty of mud in the forrest so I'm thinking I need somthing to protect the frame rails better. I'm 44 and will be mostly recreational trail riding, so I won't be doing any major rock bashing, I will do some dual-sport events too.

I see the merit of an aluminium plate and the benefit of all the vetilation a plate like the Uptite provides,(will I run hot without all the holes???) and the toughness of a plastic Zipty or Hyde....

I have to admidt though the Carbon Fiber "Bling" option like a Moose or P3 is tempting but will it do any better than stock?

Have I missed any options?

Which is best?

Let the debate begin!
thinking.gif


Thanks,
Thor.
 
I think the zipty may be a Hyde... not for sure though. I have the Hyde and absolutely LOVE it. I wanted the P3, but my dealer had one on his bike that he had taken off. Once the carbon fiber gets bashed a few times, it doesn't look too hot.

I've had aluminum ones on other bikes. They're great, but personally, I just love love love my Hyde racing one. I've bashed it A LOT. other than scratches, it's good as new.

I live in Mid-Tennessee if that helps.
 
ZipTy is Hyde, I have one on my 08TXC450 to me chassis feel is better than my previous CRD Alumininum plate(which was a high quality HD piece). The Plastic is also a little quieter and more slippery. Its purely a choice of your preference. I say that because I have never seen anyone's skid plates as hammered as my crews, most of us have used metal and CF but most of us now have plastic type ones. I am actually due for a new Hyde, the back sections are getting torn away. I have been converted to Hyde plastic for my skid plate needs.
some skid plate photos,
the Hyde has taken alot more hits since this shot, and yes I drilled it for cooling and drainage.
Hyde3.jpg


CRD (04-07 model)used on my 06TE450 and 08TXC450 doing its job as well, but after using the Hyde I will stick with Plastic (lighter, quieter and slippery)
TXCa.jpg

DSC02798.jpg

CRD (04 model fit -07)used on my 04 TC450 and 06 TE450
P1010541.jpg
 
I have the Up-Tite aluminum plate I haven't had any problems with it and I think it looks really nice too. It has taken some good hits and still looks good. I just wish it had better foot peg protection. I have yet to see a skid plate that will protect the lower outside part of the frame. You can see in the pics above where the frame has taken hits by rocks and the lack of protection there. I don't know if the plastic ones have better coverage there or not, but might be something to look into.
 
Wow, thanks for all the responses and pics.....So the last comment brings up an intresting question, does anyone make a skid plate that actually covers all the frame from damage? If you look at the pics abouve the frame by the foot pegs is pretty banged up. Anyone??
Also anyone have anything good to say about the carbon/kevlar plates?
 
The hyde covers the lower frame in its entirety. It's hard to see from the pic of the drilled one, but it actually has wings that stick out on the back that cover that wider part of the frame where the footpegs are. You can see in the pic I attached that the guard wraps up around the frame. I take mine off regularly for cleaning. Frame is dirty but not damaged.

IMAG0464.jpg
 
In your pic I can see where it covers the frame extension. Mine was already damaged by rocks before I got my skid plate. I may see if I can add to the Up-Tite plate for the better coverage.
 
andyman said:
The hyde covers the lower frame in its entirety. It's hard to see from the pic of the drilled one, but it actually has wings that stick out on the back that cover that wider part of the frame where the footpegs are. You can see in the pic I attached that the guard wraps up around the frame. I take mine off regularly for cleaning. Frame is dirty but not damaged.
Click to expand...

Bike looks great, nicely farkled.
 
Motosportz said:
Bike looks great, nicely farkled.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kelly. If it had a kickstand it would be perfect. Had I had panned the camera up, the crowning jewel of my bike would have been visible: The Motosportz Damper****************************************! LOVE that thing!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top