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Bash plate - how thick? Bash plate - how thick?
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Old 16 Jul 2020
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Bash plate - how thick?
I am eyeing up a Moto Guzzi V85TT that will come with a bash plate but how thick would people expect the plate to be? This is not particular to the V85TT but a general enquiry about bash plates.

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Old 16 Jul 2020
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The original one fitted to the R80G/S is around 2mm thick and too thin, I have seen a rock crack a sump through one but the optional model is 5mm thick and mine has taken hell of a beating without letting anything get through.
I have to add that I don't go trail riding on my G/S and the beating the bash plate has had is on bad roads in far off places.
Last edited by mark manley; 16 Jul 2020 at 20:33. Reason: Update information
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Old 16 Jul 2020
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I have ~ 2-4 mm thick plastic, flexible bash plate on my xt660z tenere and ktm 500 exc-f.
Works very well, cause can absorb some hits and it's not loud as metal one.
Last edited by tremens; 16 Jul 2020 at 19:53.
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Old 16 Jul 2020
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Kinda depends on how you plan to use it and how much extra weight you want to carry. On the KTM 790 some people are offering 5mm plates that weigh a ton, another company has a lighter 5mm HD plastic one (that I saw a video of one that had split), while the standard one is 2mm ally. I've stuck with the standard one because I don't plan to be motocrossing or bouncing over logs, YMMV.
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Old 16 Jul 2020
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The factory one on my CCM is 2mm but stainless steel and it’s way too heavy. I’ve made a few for various bikes over the years and generally used 3.0mm ally as a compromise between weight and toughness. So far all my crankcases have survived.

3mm isn’t indestructible but it would take a serious hit to get through - particularly on a small bike which most of my bash plates have been for.
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Old 16 Jul 2020
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4mm minimum. If you actually want it to be 'bashable' and not just look pretty.

I've made a few out of aluminium. Steel is just too heavy.
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Old 18 Jul 2020
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4mm alloy all day long. The best compromise between strength and fabrication ease.

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Old 19 Jul 2020
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My 2013 KTM 690 R has a plastic plate as standard. I bought an aluminium one second hand but never fitted it because the plastic one was just fine, so sold the aluminium plate on. Plastic has a certain amount of flex which seems to me that it should reduce the forces that are transmitted onwards to wherever the plate is attached.

What you do otherwise probably depends what you have to protect which depends on how the bike was designed. I had a bash plate plus engine bars on a Tenere XT660Z but I still managed to skewer the bike on a sharp rock outcrop that found the gap between the plate and bars, and made a hole in the side of the engine. I had to walk 18km in boots and Moroccan heat to get a mobile signal to arrange recovery.
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