Hyde skid plate
 

After folding my CRD plate like a pretzel I went against my better judgement and picked up a Hyde plate from Jack at Road Track & Trail. Pain in the ass to mount at first, but once my brain engaged it went on easy. I was a little nervous about a plastic skidder protecting the underbelly in rocky sections, but after a 2 hour hare scramble yesterday without a clutch half way through and ramming into everything on the trail the Hyde gets a thumbs up from me. It slides over logs like butter and I whacked some rocks pretty hard without any damage occuring to anything.
My two cents,
D

How is the coverage? Can you post a photo?

I like the CRDs coverage, but its too thin and weak.

I photo the dirty girl tonight. Coverage is great, with the skid plate cover the water pump and coming up right to the edge of both sides of the cases. Photos will explain all, I'll be sure to snap a few bad photos tonight.

From the photos on the corporate site for hyde development - the coverage looks good.

Here are a couple of pics for the skid plate alone, plus a couple of pics of the skid plate + the pipe guard.

jeff

p.s. I modified the setup for the board so that thumbnails are displayed by default - click the thumbnails below to see the full photo in it's own window.

Has anyone used the combination skid plate/pipe guard?

The pictures off the Website are better than mine. I'm going to be trying a pipe guard when they arrive, but haven't as of yet. A member of my club is the distributor of them, so I'll let you know when they arrive. The pictures look hideous, but he assures me they don't look like that in real life.

Sooo,do they look like that in real life or ? ? ?

Is the mounting any better than the CRD ? I find that with every casing on a log/rock on the CRD will move the plate further backwards and it will eventually drop off the back where it hooks on the frame rail. There is nothing to stop it from moving backwards except for the front mount which is real soft alloy and cannot be tightened enough. I was going to make that front bracket piece out of better metal, but now it seems the plate is bent enough to need a body shop to straighten it out.

That pipe guard is beyond ugly tho.

cdn280,

I did just that, duped the mounts in stainless so they can be tightened better. I also added a centering bar in the back that is captured by the frame when tightened, preventing the rear of the plate from shifting sideways or rearward. Works good, but the plate is still too soft and wimpy for my terrain.

Hyde skid plate
 

after going thru 2 flatland plates per year and waiting for the crd plate for 3 months I broke down and tried the plastic Hyde. The coverage is great. The mounting on my 06 300 was a little bit of a pain in the ass, the pipe rubber mount was hard to line up. I think my bracket was bent. The first time out my pipe burnt a hole in the skid plate, but after ridding lots and lots of riverbeds full of rocks the skid plate works great!!! no ratteling no loose mounting brackets, no bent mounting brackets, just a bunch of scratches. I don't know how well it will protect my frame from bending under the engine because it was allready bent. and it covers the water pump great. Watch out the first time you do a off camber log jump in the rain!! The skid plate is so smooth on the btm that you grind like a skate board on a grinding pipe, it is really slippery 3 brocken ribs later . this skid plate is unreal

i was the first to try one of those from Hyde. the importer sent me a free one. i remember the customer i gave it to complaining the hardware was diffcult at best to use and not of very good quality. he went back to the CRD. i did let them know. it looks like it offered great protection.

well bob where did the hyde end up???I want it!!

LOL. Beat me to it.
I think I want the one with the pipe guard. Hear that Santa ? :D

DaveW has it. you'll find him at the SandBaggers Club.;)

Finally saw the pipe guard, it is beyond ugly, but looks more functional than my exploded and chunked up Carbon one. I'm not in it for the beauty just the function, and that's a good thing with this Igor of a pipe guard.

not stylish yet functional=I want one!:cool:

skidplate
 

I don't know if this helps anyone, but the skidplate from an 04 to 06 KTM 300 will fit an MC 250 with slight mods and possibly the DE(EC) models. You narrow the rear hook to the frame and two bolts hold the bracket in front. It's 3/16" aluminum and seems pretty tough.

I got stuck with KTM parts after a dealer in Houston sold me a 300xcw as new that his buddy had bought, taken home and seized the cylinder the first 5 minutes. They honed it and stuck a piston in it and sold as new until I figured it out. Now I'm trying to mod KTM parts to fit a GG, and it's been working well.

The skid plate in the picture without the pipe guard looks different than the one in the picture with the pipe guard. Is the combo unit different than buying the separate skid plate and pipe guard?

Yes the two are different guards. I sold a combo to a customer and he had some difficulty installing it but loves the protection and he says it looks better on th ebike than when it was off and in his hands.

So how do they perform? Anyone got some good photos? How well does the pipe guard work. I really like the fact that the skid plate and pipe guard integrate. I am always thinking of that little pocket when going over logs and such, would be sweet if it were some slippery plastic. Someone please post a report with better pics than are on the HYDE site.

Paul B

I only have the plate itself,but I can take as many photos as you like

I spoke to Jay at Hyde and he told me they are having new mounting hardware machined to better fit the newer frames. This has been the only complaint and they are addressing it. GG plate/pipe guard combos are in stock.

the only problem I had was the supplied bolts werent long enough to catch the threaded bar,I went and bought some 2" metric hardware,once the plate was compressed down you could remove the longer bolts one at a time and use the ones from hyde,they fit perfectly,I love how it goes right tight over les mud guard,keeps everything out,I also had to grind away some of the rear mount as my frame had a gusset weld where the bracket had to lay,heres a few photos

I am looking at either the Hyde combo or the Hyde plate with an E-line guard. The combo looks like it will have less "gap" between the pipe guard and skid plate. My style is to ride into logs and let the bike get itself over. I can see possibly hanging up on a log as it nests in the "gap". Also I wonder about oil changes using the combo. How easy is the combo to remove to do an oil change? Is the Hyde plate better than the combo for removal?
I emailed Jay and also left a voice message but haven't received a reply.

I just ordered a new 07 EC300 and should have it soon. Let's try this again. Does anyone have the Hyde combo on a 250 or 300 with the stock GasGas pipe? I have decided to try the combo unless someone says the fit is poor.

Edit: I turned out that the bike I ordered was going to take too long to get, so no GasGas. I have since swithed to a 550 Berg for 07.

I ordered a combo, no hots, no fries, a few weeks ago, still haven't seen it yet. 06 300 w'stock pipe.

I ordered one as well. When I called again last week, Jay told me the new mounts were completed and he was checking fit before shipment. Hopefully we should see them very soon.

I have the "combo" on my '06EC300 with stock pipe. It fits good, covers the sides of the engine and protects the pipe well. I've got around 750km's on the "combo" now and my pipe is still straight. There are several deep gouges from rocks, etc in the "combo" which would for sure have translated into dents in the pipe. Fit it, you won't be sorry. Order a set of the swingarm protectors as well. They will keep your swingarm looking like new.

Thats good to hear. I'd rather wait and get one that fits nice.

Got my Hyde combo plate today. Holy crap is that thing a tough piece of plastic! Hope it fits the '07 GG pipe decent because it isn't going to be easy forcing it to fit. Well, if it fits an '06 with a stock pipe good the '07 is the same.

Glenn,
Now I really have to stop by!! I want to see that skidplate up close,, I broke my flatland plate sunday,, stupid rocks!
Steve

Hey gmp I got my combo the same day too!!
Sure is stout looking. I'm a little worried as i think my pipe is slightly bent in. Guess I'll find out when i go to mount it up

A few thoughts on the hyde combo pipe and skid plate. I have yet to ride with this thing yet, the following thoughts are from doing the install.

Very stout looking set up. There were no instructions regarding install. Would have saved a bit of head scratching but I got it done. Was a bit of a pain in the arse to install. If you have an older bike with a pipe that has taken a few hits a combo might not be a good idea. If the pipe is a little out of kilt I think you'll have problems getting the mount holes on the skid plate to mount up as the pipe part of the bash plate dictates where everything else falls. Another issue with the combo is if you have to take the pipe off than the whole unit has to come off. This could be a pain in the arse. The front mount for the skid plate part did not line up correctly. It is bent in a manner that it should sit nice and snug between the frame rails. Mine does not fit between the rails. It's a bit cockeyed, one side fits nice the other does not line up and is not tight to the frame rail. I'll call the dist and ask for another or maybe my pipe is bent in a bit and throwing things off. Could always try a little creative bending myself Rear clamps lined up perfect tho.

Protection of the combo looks to be superb. If the one piece unit keeps the pipe from moving around it may make sense on a new bike or a bike with a new pipe. My pipe is the stock gasser unit. Gotta wonder how it would fit with an aftermarket pipe?? On an older bike with a used pipe I think I might go with two seperate pieces. Right now I'm 50/50 on the whole deal. We'll see how it works out over the season.

Skid,

For the combo I thought about the removal issue as well. What do you think of removing the plastic rivits that tie the parts together, and replacing them with M5 bolts, from the inside? That way the parts could be removed separately.

Funny you should mention that. I was kind of thinking the same thing. Although I was thinking if the pipe got a bit tweaked you could pop the rivits and run them as seperate units. Did you have any issues with the front clamp not fitting correctly??

I havn't even tried to fit the thing yet. The bike is on the stand all apart, having a bitch of a time fitting rad guards.:mad: '06 Flatlands DO NOT fit stock. The rear mount does not line up and the new rads block the bolt. I cut the rear mount off, designed new thicker head stays with a higher more rearward mount hole just for the rad guards. Will fab today and hopefully solve the problem so I can finnish the bike setup.

If the Hyde front mount doesn't line up I'll just make one from SS like I did for my CRD plate. Have you tried heating the plastic and bending it to fit your pipe?

Hi,

I am looking at getting a hyde skid plate. I am just wondering if I should get the combo skid plate/pipe protector or just the skid plate. I quite often ride in very muddy conditions where a skid plate would be useful, but I am worried that the combo would cause a huge build up of mud. Is there anywhere for the mud to escape on with the combo setup?

Any suggestions please.

I actually rode about a week ago through a bit of mud ... not too much, but good and muddy. It looks like a good bit of crud comes off the front tire and ends up stuck in the area behind the pipe and in front of the motor. I'm going to get some of that foam and stuff it in there.

YES, its a shovel! Its a PIA to clean out too. Thats the only negative so far. The foam works good. I've got it packed in behind the pipe and the pipe heat doesn't affect it at all. Good fix!;)

did you find all kinds of leaf litter in the air gap around the pipe guard too?? Good thing it's not a 4 t I'd be worried about setting it on fire!!