Crash protectors or crash bungs are add-ons designed to bolt onto the outside of your bike and help reduce the cost of motorcycle repairs. They are meant to protect the bike’s body and engine in the event that you and your bike end up sliding down the road on your side. Thoughts on their effectiveness are mixed. What do you think? Should they be considered one of the more essential accessories? They do protrude a fair distance but that’s what makes them effective in hitting the ground before parts of your bike do. If you’re undecided whether to have them installed or not, here are some pros and cons:

The Pros

• Protect your fairings – Crash bungs stick out far enough so that when your bike is on its side, only the pegs, wheels, protector and bar end should be in contact with the ground. If your bike does go down, your fairings will hopefully remain undamaged. Fairings are not inexpensive so for the small cost of some bungs, you could be saving hundreds in scratched up fairings.
• Rescue your engine casing – Bungs also prevent the engine case from hitting the deck which is worth its weight in gold as a broken engine casing most definitely means the end of your ride that day.
• Light crashes will go unnoticed – When you have a minor incident, you should be left with next to no damage at all. In theory, you should be able to pick up your bike, get back on and carry on as if nothing happened. If you do decide you want crash bungs, it’s imperative to choose high quality bungs with a reputation for excellent performance. Make sure they are fitted in exactly the right position and have it done professionally at a London motorcycle repair centre.

The Cons

• High speed flipping issues – Now, if you’re travelling at considerable speed, not even crash bungs can prevent all damage. At very high speed, there is the possibility of a bung catching a kerb or sticking in the mud and flipping the bike over. Once a flip starts, all manner of damage can result. However, bikes flip without bungs, so this shouldn’t necessarily put you off.
• Damaging the engine thread and bolt – If your bike drops with enough force, it could result in the bungs being ripped straight out of their fixings. This could mean increased repair costs, getting your engine mount rethreaded and sorting out frame damage.
• Ineffective in gravel or soft ground – Crash bungs will do little for a dropped bike on gravel or slidy soft grass or mud.

For most riders, crash protection offers a good investment against costly damage caused by accidents or a dropped bike. However, in the randomness of life, there are no guarantees a bike is going to down in a certain way and there are many variables involved.