Racewerx front bumper
- Thread starter Snow4life
- Start date
My wife just bent her bumper from a VERY minor hit, (less than 10 miles on the sled here!! 
)
So I started looking for bumpers, but I don't understand the desire to attach the front bumper, which we expect to take a hit... to the thing that we KNOW is weak, the S mod. I don't understand why anyone would do this. It's a nice clean package, and looks cool that way, but you increase risk of s mod damage by taking a simple hit to the front that would otherwise have cost you MAYBE $200 or so...
We decided on the skinz Rasmussen bumper, more attachment, but if I take a big hit, the only other thing it's taking with it is the lower pan which is 60something... rather than the whole darns mod risking being bent.
The stock bumper is a joke though... that hit was super slow mo, came in with almost no force, I've never seen a bumper fail from such a small hit. I want it to be a crumple zone, but that is a bit much.
)
So I started looking for bumpers, but I don't understand the desire to attach the front bumper, which we expect to take a hit... to the thing that we KNOW is weak, the S mod. I don't understand why anyone would do this. It's a nice clean package, and looks cool that way, but you increase risk of s mod damage by taking a simple hit to the front that would otherwise have cost you MAYBE $200 or so...
We decided on the skinz Rasmussen bumper, more attachment, but if I take a big hit, the only other thing it's taking with it is the lower pan which is 60something... rather than the whole darns mod risking being bent.
The stock bumper is a joke though... that hit was super slow mo, came in with almost no force, I've never seen a bumper fail from such a small hit. I want it to be a crumple zone, but that is a bit much.
You can't just turn every little wreck into your insurance because:
1. high deductible
2. They will allow about 2 wrecks before they drop you. I have had 2 buddies that got dropped. I have it for theft and in case it was totaled.
I agree with bcl. on tying everything together. I would rather have it fold a little and replace cheaper parts.
1. high deductible
2. They will allow about 2 wrecks before they drop you. I have had 2 buddies that got dropped. I have it for theft and in case it was totaled.
I agree with bcl. on tying everything together. I would rather have it fold a little and replace cheaper parts.
I have stated this quite a few times:
The wreck that is going to push that aftermarket into breaking the S mod is going to blow out the whole front end anyway breaking every piece of plastic and completely crushing your pipe. A vast majority of the wrecks people have, nothing is going to happen with the aftermarket bumpers vs smashing in the stock one and maybe breaking plastics. I am absolutely amazed what it takes to crush in the stock bumper. This is coming from me who cares 0 about wrecking one of my sleds and has crashed them more times than I can count. The stock bumper is worthless. It's something to grab onto when you are moving your sled around. It's not a "crumple zone" like I see so many state on the forums. Your pipe and front plastics are the crumple zone if you are running a stock front bumper.
The wreck that is going to push that aftermarket into breaking the S mod is going to blow out the whole front end anyway breaking every piece of plastic and completely crushing your pipe. A vast majority of the wrecks people have, nothing is going to happen with the aftermarket bumpers vs smashing in the stock one and maybe breaking plastics. I am absolutely amazed what it takes to crush in the stock bumper. This is coming from me who cares 0 about wrecking one of my sleds and has crashed them more times than I can count. The stock bumper is worthless. It's something to grab onto when you are moving your sled around. It's not a "crumple zone" like I see so many state on the forums. Your pipe and front plastics are the crumple zone if you are running a stock front bumper.
I'd agree about the stock bumper, I've never seen this slow of a hit cause damage before. That said though, if you attach the front bumper to a known weak point, in my mind you're just asking for a hit that would have cost you $200-400, to cost you over a grand. im just not a fan of the integration of a few different parts into one, because JUST replacing the bumper alone, even if it does nothing to the S mod, is 350+... that's a decent chunk of change.
My wife just bent her bumper from a VERY minor hit, (less than 10 miles on the sled here!!
So I started looking for bumpers, but I don't understand the desire to attach the front bumper, which we expect to take a hit... to the thing that we KNOW is weak, the S mod. I don't understand why anyone would do this. It's a nice clean package, and looks cool that way, but you increase risk of s mod damage by taking a simple hit to the front that would otherwise have cost you MAYBE $200 or so...
We decided on the skinz Rasmussen bumper, more attachment, but if I take a big hit, the only other thing it's taking with it is the lower pan which is 60something... rather than the whole darns mod risking being bent.
The stock bumper is a joke though... that hit was super slow mo, came in with almost no force, I've never seen a bumper fail from such a small hit. I want it to be a crumple zone, but that is a bit much.
Haha my sled had 7 miles on it and it went ghost riding down a hill after i fell off and smoked 2 smaller trees, my bumper dont look quite that bad though.. Im thinking of going with a skinz bumper as well.. Any other options out there?
Lots of options that use the same 2 mounting points, but have a stronger bumper, so that it will cause damage to the frame instead of the bumper, and some other options that mount to the S mod, cost WAY more, and as explained above, IMO create some other risk... the Rasmussen one seems like the only happy medium.
Pretty sure it fits over the skidplate. In a week I'll let you know though for SURE, rather than speculating. You'd think that skinz is a big enough company they would have a website that isn't a POS... holy crap that thing is USELESS. You think it's a one man show selling ski loops & goggle bags or something by the look of that horrendous thing, don't expect to learn anything about their products there(like if it works with a skidplate or not)!!!
I don't run a skid plate on mine but I am pretty sure you could squeeze one in there. Here is pictures of it bolted up. Plus you getter a better idea of the look with the contrasting colors. Personally I think the mod rod one looks better in person.
Sledz racing in Denver gave a couple of us real good pricing on the rasmussen one.
(720) 281-2778
info@sledzracing.com
Hey, just wanted to follow up on this thread...
Just had an extended conversation with Doug from Racewerx this morning (I had some of my BDX stuff shipped to him, and he's powdercoating & sending on to the customer, so wanted to make sure he got the package) and got to talking about the bumper, and means of failure on this product.
I'm always interested in trying new stuff, but I just couldn't see how this was a good setup, it didn't seem well thought out... but after talking to him a bunch about it, he explained how the brackets that attach this are what would take the force... and are able to fail rather than transferring ALL that energy to the S mod area. It's always tough to critique something without having SEEN it fail like I have so many Cat items, so after talking for a while I decided to give one a try. I'll have the Skinz one on my wife's sled, and the full RW one on mine.
He does also have a bumper that is coming out that will work with existing braces that mounts like the skinz one sort of, but I decided to give the full one a try... somebody will buy my braces off me I'm sure. I'm kinda stoked to try something I criticized, after hearing his explanation of how the different impacts they've experienced affected the setup. I really enjoy taking something from hypothesis & theory to true practice, so I'm willing to admit I'm wrong if the product fits the bill...
Doug doesn't seem fond of posting in general, so I felt a bit obligated since I pointed out the negatives, to kind of post "his side" after hearing it. Once I get it, I'll shoot a few more detailed pics showing the attachment points, which I think is what I must be missing in how this takes a hit.
I think a lot of these guys could do well to have MUCH more detailed pics on their sites which would give a customer a bit more confidence in what they're buying.
Looking at the skinz site... same deal, more pics, more info would be way better. Hearing him talk about the engineering time & testing he's got into this thing, It's pretty inspiring to try it.
Just had an extended conversation with Doug from Racewerx this morning (I had some of my BDX stuff shipped to him, and he's powdercoating & sending on to the customer, so wanted to make sure he got the package) and got to talking about the bumper, and means of failure on this product.
I'm always interested in trying new stuff, but I just couldn't see how this was a good setup, it didn't seem well thought out... but after talking to him a bunch about it, he explained how the brackets that attach this are what would take the force... and are able to fail rather than transferring ALL that energy to the S mod area. It's always tough to critique something without having SEEN it fail like I have so many Cat items, so after talking for a while I decided to give one a try. I'll have the Skinz one on my wife's sled, and the full RW one on mine.
He does also have a bumper that is coming out that will work with existing braces that mounts like the skinz one sort of, but I decided to give the full one a try... somebody will buy my braces off me I'm sure. I'm kinda stoked to try something I criticized, after hearing his explanation of how the different impacts they've experienced affected the setup. I really enjoy taking something from hypothesis & theory to true practice, so I'm willing to admit I'm wrong if the product fits the bill...
Doug doesn't seem fond of posting in general, so I felt a bit obligated since I pointed out the negatives, to kind of post "his side" after hearing it. Once I get it, I'll shoot a few more detailed pics showing the attachment points, which I think is what I must be missing in how this takes a hit.
I think a lot of these guys could do well to have MUCH more detailed pics on their sites which would give a customer a bit more confidence in what they're buying.
Looking at the skinz site... same deal, more pics, more info would be way better. Hearing him talk about the engineering time & testing he's got into this thing, It's pretty inspiring to try it.
S
snengineer
Well-known member
I'm gonna have to go against the grain here, Insurance is the best investment in snowmobiling. Its too expensive to be involved in this sport without it. For a brand new sled if you are paying more then $30 a month and a $200 deductible you are not getting a very good deal. I have had a claim or two each yr for 6-7 years in a row without a single rate increase or mention of penalty from my provider. I have even asked several times to lower my deductible to $100, they ask why I tell them cause repairs are expensive and they lower it. Currently I am paying $27 a month with a $200 deductible on my 13xm. I use State Farm, I have my vehicles and home insurance all with them.
Making a claim for a $100 bumper is not practical though, so I guess it doesn't cover everything. Take it in for a quote you might be surprised what the dealer will find and claim.
With that being said those bumpers look awesome!
Making a claim for a $100 bumper is not practical though, so I guess it doesn't cover everything. Take it in for a quote you might be surprised what the dealer will find and claim.
With that being said those bumpers look awesome!
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I'm gonna have to go against the grain here, Insurance is the best investment in snowmobiling. Its too expensive to be involved in this sport without it. For a brand new sled if you are paying more then $30 a month and a $200 deductible you are not getting a very good deal. I have had a claim or two each yr for 6-7 years in a row without a single rate increase or mention of penalty from my provider. I have even asked several times to lower my deductible to $100, they ask why I tell them cause repairs are expensive and they lower it. Currently I am paying $27 a month with a $200 deductible on my 13xm. I use State Farm, I have my vehicles and home insurance all with them.
Making a claim for a $100 bumper is not practical though, so I guess it doesn't cover everything. Take it in for a quote you might be surprised what the dealer will find and claim.
With that being said those bumpers look awesome!
I've had around $50k in claims in the last 7 years now... not afraid to make a claim, but the idea of using insurance instead of due diligence to protect your sled to me is just plain silly. If you PUSH, you will have a LOT of small impacts, accidents... it's part of the game. Save insurance for the $6000 day instead of the $600 day. If I went to my agent for every little bent bumper type accident, I wouldn't still have insurance right now. Obviously if you're a real low key kinda rider, you're not doing as much stupid SH**, so yeah... your results may vary.
Btw, I'd agree on the rates, I used to pay WAY more, then switched everything to liberty mutual and it cut about 1k a year off my sleds alone (had two 20k turbos at the time), even with our history.
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