Flatland racing skid plate noise

I installed a Flatland Racing skid plate - really nicely made I must say - and after my first ride around town I took it right back off! The noise and racket coming up from the motor with that thing in place was simply horrendous - I'd need to wear ear plugs for every ride. What's going on here? Anyone else experience this?

If this sounds odd, is it possible that my plate is vibrating or rattling? Do rubber discs or washers between the plate and the mounting points help?

Any help or insights you can provide will be appreciated. I can't tell you how disappointed I am because it's a really nice looking and clearly very functional bit of kit, but I just can't live with it as it is on my bike.

Thanks,
Oly

olyinaz wrote:

I installed a Flatland Racing skid plate - really nicely made I must say - and after my first ride around town I took it right back off!  The noise and racket coming up from the motor with that thing in place was simply horrendous - I'd need to wear ear plugs for every ride.  What's going on here?  Anyone else experience this?

If this sounds odd, is it possible that my plate is vibrating or rattling?  Do rubber discs or washers between the plate and the mounting points help?

Any help or insights you can provide will be appreciated.  I can't tell you how disappointed I am because it's a really nice looking and clearly very functional bit of kit, but I just can't live with it as it is on my bike.

Thanks,
Oly

Many of us simply took any rubberized material (Harbor Freight tool drawer liner for me) and glued it (contact spray adhesive) to the entire bike side of the skid plate. It works to deaden the sound reflecting back up from the plate... i.e. the noise is more than a rattle against the frame. You still hear some reflected sound but NOT like the bare metal.

JS5Owner wrote:

Many of us simply took any rubberized material (Harbor Freight tool drawer liner for me) and glued it (contact spray adhesive) to the entire bike side of the skid plate.  It works to deaden the sound reflecting back up from the plate... i.e. the noise is more than a rattle against the frame.  You still hear some reflected sound but NOT like the bare metal.

OK, it's good to know it's not just a me problem. I did find some more threads on the topic and I'll see what I can come up with. I may mod the plate by trimming it back a bit too - not sure I need it quite as comprehensive as it is.

Thx,
Oly

I cut back the plate a bit, mostly below just past the oil drain plug where it mounts to the frame, and also sprayed it with rubberized undercoating. Then I used the hose gasket suggestion (place the rubber o-rings around the frame at a few places) to hold the plate off the frame. Nylon spacers on longer stainless bolts obtained at Ace Hardware to help with the stand-off distance so that I could tighten it down properly (place spacers between mount and plate because it's being held off). Works well - 90% of the noise is gone now. There's one mid-RPM harmonic that's still a bit annoying, but it's a narrow band.

Solutions found on this forum! THANKS

Oly

olyinaz wrote:

I cut back the plate a bit, mostly below just past the oil drain plug where it mounts to the frame, and also sprayed it with rubberized undercoating.

Too late now, but what you could have done is put some weatherstrips all along the frame and rails so that the plate never comes in contact with the metal frame; this way you could have avoided cutting the plate.

This is what I did, and together with some adhesive rubber pads on the plate itself, I can hear no difference between plate on the bike and plate off.

johnkol wrote:

Too late now, but what you could have done is put some weatherstrips all along the frame and rails so that the plate never comes in contact with the metal frame; this way you could have avoided cutting the plate.

This is what I did, and together with some adhesive rubber pads on the plate itself, I can hear no difference between plate on the bike and plate off.

Honestly I like it cut back to where I did. Oil changes etc. Also, I like the way the o-ring spacers create a bit of a "stand off" between the plate and the frame. Thanks though.

Oly