depends on how good you are, really!! lol

a loop will not take the abuse. its good for low weight, and protection if you rarely drop your bike, but if you're just starting out, a full cage distributes the shock load way more evenly thru the rest of the cage and components.

i found that bikes usually go down in circle wheelies, and stoppies gone awry...

if you drop a circle, its normlly not very hard. a single loop would probably take 3 hits or so from a hard drop. (maybe more) a full cage, hell i've seen bikes get looped at 30-50 mph and SLAM into the ground, and the cage is maybe a lil bent, but fine and straight enough to remove for repair if necessary.

a buddy of mine hit a car at 75mph last summer, the cage was tweaked, but almost fine!! the bike was COMPLETELY mangled tho.. but still, i was amazed. it held so well it ripped the motor mount off the frame..

 

I'm pretty sure i wanna do a full cage. now i just need to figure out how i'm going to fab it.

 

The same goes for any kind of a frame slider. If there is a weak link ie saving weight or design, a crash will find it.

 

well thats the case in anything whether it be a bike, or a cager. a crash will find the weakest link and exploit it to the fullest.

 

If the pressure points or some say getting the whole package as one, the stresses are transferred to somewhere totally different that it may have not been designed for.

 

well as long as you put the pressure points to a place where it can handle the pressure the impact should not effect it. Such as tying everything into the frame at multiple points so the impact is distributed over the frame. Then at that point the cage should be taking almost all of the impact. as far as what i'm looking to do.

 

if you're gonna fab it yourself, i can give you some pointers, but sadly i cant give you the whole secret recipie.. thats my mealticket!! i build top notch cages using these tricks....

-shoe-type pipe bender
-grinder
-MIG welder

and thats about it. i do the calculations and free form cold bends in the bender, then shape my notches to fit snugly, not allowing more than 1/16" of a gap around the entire pipe.

i got a few other tricks for this, but like i said, i gotta be an ***.. otherwise i'm cutting my own hands off wit hmy business... lol

i spot and tack while the pipe is on the bike (ecu removed and battery disconnected), then single pass on all "sencondary" joints and double or triple pass on primary, load bearing joints.

mind you i use 2-3 different sizesof pipe, different schedules, and angle for the mid-tie, so if you're looking at making your own, you need to take all the pipe dimensions, frame dimensions, offsets, frame holes, bolt diameters and lenghts and all that into consideration.

 

i've got all those tools - sweet.
too bad i don't really want a cage

 

its perfectly understandable why you cant tell me everything, I'd do the same thing if I was you. Thanks for the other tips though.

 

im with ya too guys im one of those born in the late 60s still ridin the sportbike althou im on the most comfy one i could find. now if i could only remember where i put that bengay. but someone told me on my birthday that 60 is the new 40.