As soon as you unpack this plate you know it’s a serious bit of kit! 4.8mm thick aluminium, it looks extremely well crafted and the finish on every part is top notch. I have quite a critical eye and am often left a tad underwhelmed by the workmanship on these kind of products but I can’t fault this one.
It’s quite a long plate, protecting a great deal more real estate that the stock plate. It’s wider than the stock plate but not too wide and later you’ll see how it hugs the bike quite nicely.
One thing I really like is the Tig welding. This plate is not thrown together but looks instead to have been put together with pride. I like that and it speaks well for AltRider as a company. I have their brake pedal extender, too and that’s also quality. I’ll certainly not hesitate to order from them again if anything else I need is within their range.
All the cuts are precision done and very professionally finished.
Love the precision of the bolt cut-outs, too, all of which are spot on.
Stainless steel fastenings arrived in a sealed bag, as did a small bottle of blue loctite, which was a nice touch. It’s a very handy size bottle, too so I’ll slip that under my seat in case I need some on the go.
Here’s where you get to see how much care is taken in the design and execution of a product like this.
Left side.
Unlike the stock plate that has just four small bolts attaching it to the frame, this plate is held on with 8 bolts. Here you can see how it attaches to the frame.
Brilliantly, all the bolts lined up perfectly. No need to modify anything or widen any holes, you just offer it up and slide in the bolts. I was on my own but I think the install took no longer than 20 minutes.
Here you can see the front with the AR logo cut out, which is a nice design touch.
If you look here at the underside you can see the overall profile is quite shallow and hugs the bike very nicely. I’ve seen some plates that look very boxy and clunky whereas this one is pretty sleek.
Here from the front you can see that this plate should offer good protection where it’s needed without being over engineered.
I meant to weigh the plate before I mounted it but completely forgot. I seem to be going senile a tad earlier than expected.. It felt reasonably light, tho, being made from aluminium. It comes in either silver or black powder coated. Silver was a no brainer for me as the black coating being constantly scratched would have annoyed me.
For me this is a standout US made product by a company who seem to care what they put out to market. I’m actually really stoked with it. I had high hopes whilst waiting for this to arrive but this really is one of the best made mods I have on the bike. Couldn’t be happier!
If anyone orders one, just quickly watch this install video AR produced before you install. Makes things very easy.
Here’s the link to the US product page.
They do have an EU site here: https://www.altrider.eu and in the UK you can order from Rugged Roads at £282.30