I recently hit a large rock with my bike and it went into my stator cover. There was a hole and it was broke bad. The only thing that saved me from this being a huge expense was the steel engine guard on it from the factory. That guard too a HUGE hit and crushed into the case. It took ALOT of energy and did a great job.
Now I got it all back together and I want to install a skid plate but the first line says I have to take the steel guard off to install it. I really dont like losing that impressive protection. What do you guys think? Am I worrying about nothing?
You say that what saved this being a huge expense was the current guard, but in my opinion your current guard is rubbish as I would consider a cracked stator cover as just about as bad an outcome as you can have.
I have a similar guard to Martyn, it's well dented he's hit hard regularly and I've never cracked an engine casing.
