I'm reading this post for the first time, and as I go through it I can't believe nobody has addressed the obvious. If the bike falls over it's going to mess up those nice looking "sliders". At around $600, whats the point of having them. I doubt if it would cost any more to replace the fairing side panel that its designed to protect. Am I missing something? I don't read french so I didn't spend any time looking at their site, but the only plausible answer I have is if it has an inexpensive plastic cover that can be replaced. But if not, why spend money on a $600 part to save a $600 part? While my numbers may be off, I'm sure ya'll see my point. Any thoughts?
There are falls, and there are falls. A fall where the bike goes down while in motion, during an accident, is going to tear up the bike no matter what sliders may be installed. Sliders will limit the extent of the damage internally in that scenario but the fairing will be toast. However, in a fall like the one I had last year (that is, a lost balance "fall" where I was able to set the bike down without it slamming onto the pavement), the sliders are worth their weight in gold.
I lost my balance on what is called "chipped seal" pavement (essentially pea-size gravel held together with a tar binder; very cheap compared to asphault) because the car park had a lot of loose gravel on the pavement surface, and the area was not level. I put my foot out to steady the bike and my foot slid in the gravel. Down the bike went. After a panic moment where I saw very expensive repair invoices flash before my eyes, I looked the bike over and discovered that other than the bottom of the slider, no part of the bike fairing - including side bags - was touching the ground. And better still, once I got the bike back to vertical (with the help of a passer-by due to the angle of the pavement), I looked over the slider plastic and saw that the only damage was a slight impression at the bottom. Looking down to the slider from above, no damage was visible.
Without that $600 slider installed, that situation would have likely resulted in bodywork being required for side fairing, right mirror, and right saddlebag. Not cheap at all.
After that incident I added the bolt-on sliders to the front axle and at the rear just for good measure.
-Wanderlust
