Are bump skids worth the money??

[shoppersal]

are bump skids worth the $300.00? Do they help? I have a 2017 RTL & was wondering about bump skids. I have asked 2 different people & o course 2 different answers , Thanks !

[Cruzr Joe]

are bump skids worth the $300.00? Do they help? I have a 2017 RTL & was wondering about bump skids. I have asked 2 different people & o course 2 different answers , Thanks !

The one from WWW.Spyderpops.com is absolutely great and protects the front end and underneath of your Spyder, dont know about the others.

Cruzr Joe

[ARtraveler]

I have had lighted bumpskids on three of my Spyders. 2014 RT-S, 2019 F3L and 2020 F3L.

They light up the bike very good from the front, and protect the bike from most damage underneath. I have no problems with the led's. They still are working just as when new. Worth the asking price, IMO.

[JayBros]

Spyderpops' bump skid was one of the three farkles I put on my Spyder as soon as I rode it home from the dealership. Nuff said.

[2dogs]

Short answer, no. Long answer, maybe. If you hit anything hard enough the bump skid is not likely to perform as you'd hoped. With that said I have the lighted one like ARtraveler. I haven't hit or scraped anything with mine, yet.

[Lew L]

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If you saw the gouges on the bottom of my bumpskid you would know the answer. As a bumper------ not much.

Lew L

[UtahPete]

are bump skids worth the $300.00? Do they help? I have a 2017 RTL & was wondering about bump skids. I have asked 2 different people & o course 2 different answers , Thanks !

The unlighted ones are cheaper and are worth it, I think.

[Bfromla]

I have had lighted bumpskids on three of my Spyders. 2014 RT-S, 2019 F3L and 2020 F3L.

They light up the bike very good from the front, and protect the bike from most damage underneath. I have no problems with the led's. They still are working just as when new. Worth the asking price, IMO.

8641C7FB-0763-4192-A9EF-4DA224376F14.jpg extra lighting to help you see & be seen no it’s not a bumper yes does help you see the bump- pot hole -road kill (whatever) in your path. Good investment not just FARKLE

[spyder01]

I like my BS on my '17 RTL, it looks good and lights up the road directly in front of me. I think it helps people see me coming. My LEDS have burned out for the 2nd time, just individual LEDS not the whole thing. I need to find a source for a new set bc they're expensive if you go back to where you got the BS.

[cruisinTX]

spyder01, You might take a look at this from Oznium. I just got one 20" strip to light up the amber reflectors on our RT-L. It's still a work in progress, but looks like a quality product.

[Mikey]

I think it worth it, these machines sit so low to the road pulling onto gravel driveways and roads you're always hitting and dragging! I call it cheap insurance!

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

are bump skids worth the $300.00? Do they help? I have a 2017 RTL & was wondering about bump skids. I have asked 2 different people & o course 2 different answers , Thanks !

Not if you don't care how beat up the underside of your RT gets from hitting rocks, parking lot concrete bumpers, pavement scrapes from dips, and so on. Otherwise, absolutely yes.

[duke50]

I will not put one on mine, dont want any less ground clearance.

[Lin]

If you ride on roads with frost heaves as I do, the loss of 3/8" in ground clearance with a Spyder Pops Bump Skid is well worth it. I've had them on both Spyders I've owned.

[Gwolf]

Just the basic bump skid, no lights, yes, it has saved the underside of the nose from many gouges and scrapes that would have damaged the front end. No much good as a bumper, but works great as a skid plate, which is what it is.

[shardt]

From what I understand is that the way these are fastened to the bike that they can cause frame damage if you hit something hard enough where if you did not have them the front is designed to give to protect the rest of the bike from greater damage. I could be wrong but it would be worth investigating more before installing it.

[Wmoater]

I have the lighted spyderpops on my 17RTL. FIRST THING I PUT ON. I live on dirt road and will say on the first ride out scratched underneath. 3 days later put it on and have hit it pretty hard with transitions dirt to blacktop, loading with trailer, gas station dips and roadkill. I think it’s well protected. It’s also one heck of an eye catcher for 4 wheeled friends. So my answer is YES. If your worried about ground clearance add Ron’s shock adjuster. Crank them 2.5 turned and you have more than you had without it. I run 2 up so single is probably 1.5-2 turns.

[Peteoz]

8641C7FB-0763-4192-A9EF-4DA224376F14.jpg extra lighting to help you see & be seen no it’s not a bumper yes does help you see the bump- pot hole -road kill (whatever) in your path. Good investment not just FARKLE

If your headlights don’t light up potholes and road kill in front of you as you approach, I can’t see how 5 feet of light at road level would help, Bfromia.

Pete

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

From what I understand is that the way these are fastened to the bike that they can cause frame damage if you hit something hard enough where if you did not have them the front is designed to give to protect the rest of the bike from greater damage. I could be wrong but it would be worth investigating more before installing it.

I think if you hit something hard enough to damage the frame the bolts that hold the skid plate on will shear off and/or bend over. Also, the part of the frame the skid plate fastens to would probably twist and be repairable. There are only two bolts that attach to the frame, and they screw into metal clips like you see used on the tupperware. All the rest go into clips at the edges of various tupperware pieces.

[Steve W.]

While I could appreciate one for the extra lights, I question the "skid" part. I mean, ... you already have a very minimum of ground clearance. So, to protect it, you install something that gives even LESS clearance???

.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

While I could appreciate one for the extra lights, I question the "skid" part. I mean, ... you already have a very minimum of ground clearance. So, to protect it, you install something that gives even LESS clearance???

The loss of clearance is an insignificant 1/4", well worth the trade off. See post #17. The plate is about 3/8" thick but you remove the OEM skid plate which is about 1/8" thick, so net loss is about 1/4". Plus, the skid plate is stout enough to allow the Spyder to slide over an obstruction whereas the OEM one might well be torn.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

If you ride on roads with frost heaves as I do, the loss of 3/8" in ground clearance with a Spyder Pops Bump Skid is well worth it. I've had them on both Spyders I've owned.

Well Lin , I live across the river from you , in Vermont and I'm pretty sure your Frost Heaves arn't any bigger than ours ..... If / when they get that big they close the road and FIX them .... I have never hit a frost heave ( with the nose of the RT ) .... I have also driven on some fairly rough " gravel/dirt roads" and haven't encountered anything that prevented my RT from negotiating it. When I became an LEO, we were taught something they termed " situational awareness ". I've applied it to my Spyder riding techniques, ie. don't approach steep driveways ... straight on ... always do it at an angle. Or don't do it at all .... as far as hitting curbs, ...Why do have to get that close, the Spyder is only 9 1/2 ft long, this is way shorter than any car made...... So the cost + labor to put a " bump skid " on has never appealed to me. I drive an avg. of 7000 mi. per year , and spend about $500.00 in gas , so this would a year's worth of driving ...... not going to buy one ..... JMHO .... Mike

[2dogs]

I've got a little over 51K miles on my RT and I've only scraped (scratched) the OEM skid plate once. That was before I had 10K miles on it. Lesson well learned. Like BK says above, be aware of where you are and what you are doing, and the limitations of your machine. That awareness hopefully should be 360 degrees if at all possible. When you have an adam henry come up behind you so close you can't read his (her) license plate you'll start developing your hind sight. Stay safe ride safe and improve your "situational awareness".

[askitee]

No - once I got into the habit of reading the road I no longer need one. You just have to hone your peripheral perception.

[RazzleH]

I use SLiPLO stick on strips/pads. My front scraped on something on most of my rydes until I realised that the pre-load had never been set. 3 clear threads of pre-load from the bottom stopped almost all of my scrapings. I'm about to make that 4 threads clear threads to stiffen up my cornering a little more (to go with my Rabbit Sway Bar). The hardest part of this adjustment was trying to make the supplied C spanner work without it ripping into the notched lock nuts. I failed at that but Multi Grips did the trick in the end. A little black paint to cover the scratches and all will be well, especially my cornering and front clearance.

Google SLiPLO and go from there.