Serious Design Flaw: Super Enduro!

[LoFlow]

G-iT... problem solved.

[KTMSER]

Originally Posted by Misery Goat

I'm running the Adv Spec bash plate and it doesn't bend the radiator mount. It mounts like the stock bash plate (ie to the subframe) which I think is the only way to avoid the bending the radiator mount. This thing has taken some huge hits and hasn't moved.

That's one of the best built ones out there.. Mounts to the lower frame solid and back to the motor like the stock one did and supports the oil tank and radiator, nothing moves..

It is what I am running after loosing a radiator with the Blackdog skid plate...

[LukasM]

Originally Posted by Yellow Pig

Who sells G-it in the States?

Just order it directly from them in the UK, it won't cost any more in shipping and will be there in a couple of days.

[Team Longriders]

I'm pretty sure the design flaw is the lack of frame under the engine to bolt a skid plate to.

[charlie264]

Originally Posted by the boy

i'm pretty sure the design flaw is the lack of frame under the engine to bolt a skid plate to.

+1.

[Yellow Pig]

Originally Posted by THE BOY

I'm pretty sure the design flaw is the lack of frame under the engine to bolt a skid plate to.

+2


I see the 690 has this same issue. Why in the world they dont put a small subframe for a skid plate on these dirt bikes is beyond me.

[mountain eagle]

Hmm, costs less than the black dog one..... Says Grand Total $331.80 shipped.............

Guard it skid plate....

Good thing I've not bothered to get anything beyond stock as of yet. Also good that I've not done that much real off road with it too......

[offworlder]

Originally Posted by THE BOY

I'm pretty sure the design flaw is the lack of frame under the engine to bolt a skid plate to.

What about a wrap around brace that (the plate mounts to that) mounts to the "X" shaped engine mounts, as they're the closest support structure ?

[Misery Goat]

Originally Posted by mountain eagle

Hmm, costs less than the black dog one..... Says Grand Total $331.80 shipped.............

Guard it skid plate....

Good thing I've not bothered to get anything beyond stock as of yet. Also good that I've not done that much real off road with it too......

You can't go wrong with this bash plate imo. I have absolutely punished mine and it hasn't moved and it's saved my clutch cover too. We have a big crew of SE riders in the valley here and every one of us who used the BD plate got bent radiator mounts. Not so with other bash plates. The design flaw is not with KTM.

[David P.]

That is one of the first issues I addressed when I acquired my SE back in 2007. I built an aluminium bracket that removed the connection between rad and tank and simply held in the rad against the frame in the lower brackets. Also removed the bracket to the oil tank altogether.

Even if you don't remove it, the rubber bushes holding the oil tank will give way after a few years and make impacts worse and worse, they were one of my normal check-ups during service.

I've beaten the crap out of that BD during many rallies and hard enduro sessions and trust it with my life!

[Navin]

Ah, the curse of a trellis frame! I learned to live with it and avoid logs and big rocks. Sand doesn't seem to bother it much, even when clipping whoops. Far from ideal for sure. I excused the 690 from ever being on my "serious" off road list for this reason among a few others.

[pfdskipper]

Originally Posted by David P.

That is one of the first issues I addressed when I acquired my SE back in 2007. I built an aluminium bracket that removed the connection between rad and tank and simply held in the rad against the frame in the lower brackets. Also removed the bracket to the oil tank altogether.

Even if you don't remove it, the rubber bushes holding the oil tank will give way after a few years and make impacts worse and worse, they were one of my normal check-ups during service.

I've beaten the crap out of that BD during many rallies and hard enduro sessions and trust it with my life!

I have been meaning to attend to this situation for some time. With all of these warnings about the BD bashplate floating around, my sense of urgency to attend to my "impending event" just went to level 7.

No need to re-invent the wheel. Your alteration sounds pretty thorough and effective. Could you post up some picks of your brackets?

Many thanks to you in advance!!!

[hilslamer]

It's not a design flaw at all, it's just not designed to be outright abused. I don't know what you hit, but with both ends fully bottomed and the tires flattened out even the BD skid plate still has ~1.5" clearance on flat ground. You probably bottomed both ends with rocks or other undulations between the wheels. The "shock block" probably prevented what would have been much more damage by buffering any further hinging of the plate about the rear mount bolt axis into the radiator/forward mounts.

While the mount points are questionable for that kind of load, you are going to find a lot of other "design flaws" if you keep putting the bike through circumstances like that and not noticing the noise or the carnage beneath you. I don't mean to sound callous, but IMO you are expecting a bit much from both the bike and the skid plate, stock or not, to be landing on whatever you did that hard(and most likely, multiple times).

Look into much stiffer springs(especially forksprings - go with ~.64kg/mm or more(stock is .59)) if you want to take an SE skyward consistently and land on flat ground, and expect not to end up in this scenario again with any skid plate installed. More bottoming resistence/progressivity in the suspension will help more than you might think, although it will still bottom somewhere and you will still need to be more consious of where/how you are landing.You will also find that the rear bumpstop is going to have a very short lifespan if you are bottoming it that hard and that consistently.

Another tip is to always flat land with an SE (or moreso, an Adventure) rear wheel first, with a little bit of power on, so that the chassis "rolls into the landing" instead of expecting both ends to just absorb all of the load. You just can't hide ~375+your weight lbs of suspended weight when it is plummeting to earth, and springs truly stiff enough to jump and flat land one would be unbearable to ride on over chatter, crossgrain and loose roly-poly rocks etc.

[hilslamer]

BTW >> Send your radiator to Mylers:

http://www.motorcycleradiators.com/

I have had them fix stuff I thought was not possible and it comes back looking almost new and working just as good. Cheap, and about a day turnaround.

[Foot dragger]

Originally Posted by KTMSER

So you hung a seven pound floating skid plate to a three bolt oil tank that is part of the radiator support and you are calling it a design flaw on KTM's part?

That skid plate is poorly designed, every SE I have seen with a BD skid plate has had a damaged radiator.. That thing is so wide even if you do not bottom it out just dropping the bike on its side shoves the oil tank side to side and in turn moves the radiator..

Its a full floating canoe..

That so called Shok Block is a joke to...

There are better built skid plates out there...

Yah,its not KTM's design flaw,they didnt build that plate. That's amazing to bolt a skidplate to a oil reservoir. Having a dirt going bike with an oil reservoir under the engine is a excersize in hope.