i am noticing my frame is getting alittle dinged up..time for skids...

something light would be great, any suggestions?

 

I asked about Poly vs Aluminum and I ordered Riccochet Aluminum skids, full set. But I ride a lot in rocks.

 

what do you think about diamond plate....there is a guy who custom makes them and can lazer cut things in the front plates...

like the front a arm skids he said he can cut 800 on both side and the front he will put outy

thought that was cool but dont know anything about weights and things like that....

 

I have the aluminum ricochets. I hit a rock pretty hard and it dented both my plate and spar at the front. I don't plan on hitting anything that hard again, but who knows.

What you don't want is a skid that will rust - aluminum doesn't rust so that's good. The aluminum is a pretty soft metal and the skids are 3/16" thick. If you went with stainless plate, which won't rust, you could get by with the same thickness or even less. The stainless is much stronger that aluminum, but heavier too.

I would go with 5/32" t or 1/8" t in the stainless.

 

Personally I wouldn't want diamond plate as it would have more "edges" to catch on rocks or other obstructions. The object here is to get those plates to slide over things. That brings me to those composite skidplates. I've been told by one of the guys I've talked to with a outlander 800 that he has composite skiplates and he really prefers them to aluminum. He said they are more "slippery" and have an almost greasy feel to them. He said they tend to slide over the rocks while the aluminum one tend to grab. I think that is what I'll go with if I end up going with the outlander 800.

 

I made my own skid for the frame out of 3/16 alu. Attached without drilling a hole in the frame. It's one inch wider than the frame on each side. From up the front to and including the rear hitch. All stainless nuts and bolts. Very solid and should do the job for the frame. I don't do rocks much but feel better with it there.