Sweet looking skid plate. Excelent job....

Thanks for the write-up Bruce, I just completed my version of this. It's slightly different at 13x16" but all of the same principals. My metalworking skills leave a lot to be desired, but I'm happy with it!

Sandalscout

Glad the write up was helpful. If you get a chance post a pic of your plate, I would love to see how the 13x16 fits and looks.

Sure!





You'll notice that the front has an extra tab that goes up a bit higher. I also made the base a little longer as well and it goes back further. The side to side measurement is 13 inches, and the back to front total length is 15 inches before bent.

oh, and these pics are after a long day of hard riding.

Sandalscout

It looks good. The extra bend at the front should help keep mud and such out. One thing I forgot to mention was that initially I found the plate a little loud due to some light resonance at about 58 kph. My solution was to put two strips of single adhesive backed rubber foam along where the plate goes against the frame. (the kind you use for weather stripping doors and such) This made a huge difference in noise. Just in case you run into the same issue with your design.

Haven't had that problem yet, but thanks for the heads up. My holes were slightly off and I had a bit of a problem getting the plate back on last night, but I could tell where the problem was. I ended up notching a hole to give it some play and it popped right back on without issue.

I'd like to find some 30mm allen bolts that had the angled heads on them, such as used on the side panel bolts. I think that the heads would allow things to slide over them more easily and possibly prevent the issue or banging up one bad enough that it becomes difficult to remove it later. Seen any like that in a long enough bolt?

Oh man, this is AWESOME!! i need a skid plate on my xt250 big time, as this past weekend i went offroading and hated hearing the sound of the rocks hitting the case.

I also agree that its ridiculous how expensive all the skid plates are, 100 bucks for 2 bucks of metal just aint right.


I would love to do this, but im not sure if it will come out looking good, as i dont have a vice or any kind of metal cutting tools. only a sawzall and a dremel for cutting metal, so i dont know if i should try it or not..

but man, you did a great job on that.

what is yamaha thinking sending out a bike with no skid plate anyways, lol??