By: Ray Barnard

Skid Plates Aplenty

Shown in this picture is a complete set of Ricochet Skid Plates that have been installed on a Can-Am Outlander 800.

Are you, as an ATV owner, running amok with wild abandon because you have a complete set of underbody protection parts installed, or are you one of those who is taking a chance that a mishap will not happen to you?

Perhaps you’ll get a stick jammed in one of your a-arms, or maybe you will bottom out on top of a huge rock and damage your frame. In either case some damage will probably be done. Maybe nothing serious on the a-arm, but serious damage can be done to the frame of your ATV if you bottom out on a large rock.

If you have purchased a full set of skid plates for bottom protection, you can just about forget about damage to the underside of your ride.

I decided to check out some of the manufacturers of “ATV armor” to see how many different manufacturers there are, and to see what kind of a differential there would be in the price range. Also, one must look at quality. Does the skid plate you are looking at have enough thickness to protect your bike, and how hard would they be to install if you purchased them?

If you decided to go with an OEM type of skid plate, plus a-arm protectors, etc., etc., chances are you will not have difficulty with installation. Probably all the boltholes, or attachment points, will be pre-drilled and all you’ll need is a proper wrench. However, a little difficulty might be encountered on some items if they are not original equipment produced by your particular ATV manufacturer.

High Lifter makes a number of skid and bash plates for most brands of ATVs. The front skid plate and bash plate are diamond polished. The rear skid plate is smooth, and the plate thickness is 3/16” of 6061 grade aluminum. The edges and boltholes are punched and welded for maximum strength.

Maier makes skid plates for sport ATVs. They are constructed of polyethylene, while Perfex has both polyethylene and aluminum skid plates. Perfex may be accessed at HebcoDistributing.com.

Other plates by Perfex for sport bikes are made from 3/16” powder coated aluminum. Another skid plate advertised on this site sports the name of “Maniax.”

A-Arm Armor is another brand name that one should check out for armor for ATVs. They also offer swing arm and bash plates in their product line.

Ricochet is a brand name that has come up a lot for me just lately. They offer a full line of protection for just about any ATV. They are easy to install and the aluminum is thicker than most offerings out there. They are manufactured with 5/32" 5052 h-32 aluminum.

Since I have a ’07 Can-Am Outlander 650, I am looking hard at these plates, but I will also look at other brands. There are still several out there I haven’t mentioned.

Aluminum Products manufactures protection for Hondas, Yamahas, and Suzuki’s; plus they also do their thing for UTVs, especially the Yamaha Rhino.

Moose provides top-quality skid plates for Hondas that are easy to install and are manufactured from strong 5052-H32 aluminum alloys they claim provide the ultimate protection.

AC Racing offers Black Line skids, nerf bars, pegs and other accessories for your favorite sport ATV.

XFR manufactures skid plates, grab bars, and bumpers for just about all sport bikes, but alas, nothing for utility units, or none that I see listed anyway.

Mattracks offers a skid plate built for ATVs that are going to use the track system. Man that’s a weird looking machine, but I’ll bet it would climb a telephone post. Of course, they also sell the track conversion kits.

Extreme Metal Products is one more that manufactures skid plates for sport bikes, but not utility machines, or at least I didn’t see any.

Rocky Mountain is yet another that offers a complete line of protection paraphernalia for your sport ATV.

DG offers skid plates they claim will allow your ATV chassis to safely ride over virtually any obstacle without damaging your frame or engine cases, but they only make skid plates for the Can-Am DS-650.

White Brothers makes just about anything for your sport ATV including exhaust pipes, a-arm guards, swing-arm guards, and many other attachments, but again, they do not offer anything that will fit my Can-Am utility bike that I can see. Is there a pattern here?

Pro Armor offers skid plates and other protection for sport bikes and utility ATVs. However, according to their website, they do not have a bottom protection set for a utility Can-Am; just the sport DS650.

Works Connection offers just about everything for sport bikes and most of the “household names” of utility quads on their web page, but nothing for Can-Am at this time.

A rider traversing a rock course on his Outlander is shown above. With the protection shown, this rider should not have a problem with damage to the undercarriage of his machine.

1BadRat sells bash plates that are constructed of solid ¼” plate steel. They are equipped with a ½”x1” solid post for attaching a 3/8 screw pin anchor shackle, and a recessed 2” receiver. They specify Honda Foremans. They can be accessed on the Internet at http://1badrat.com.

I accessed a Blingstar Ironman full chassis skid plate that caters to sport bikes.

To continue on with the pattern I am seeing, I accessed the PRM web site to see what they had, and as I have seen all too often, the only thing they make for Bombardier or Can-Am is for the DS650. There are many products offered for anyone’s ATV on this web site, whether it is a utility or sport bike, but, alas, no skid plates for the Can-Am utility ATVs.

Armordillo offers plastic skid plates that they say will fully protect your ride. They offer all parts for the protection of the underside of your ATV. Prices will vary, of course with whichever ATV you own and the model.

High Lifter offers diamond plated skid/bash plates, and looking at the pictures on the web site the plates are really attractive. The items shown are for Hondas. They are constructed of 3/16” 6061 aluminum.

I have looked at a lot of web sites for the protection above and have also looked at prices on most of the units, and I have come to the conclusion that the pricing is so varied from different dealers that it would not be doing any of the products justice to just quote one price. Look on the Internet, research the one you are interested in, and then you can contact the dealer who sells them or the manufacturer that builds them, and bargain with them about the final price.

Also, I have come to the conclusion that if you own a Can-Am Outlander like I do, your pickings are considerably smaller than they would be if you owned one of the more popular units, at this point in time anyway, such as Honda, Kawasaki, Polaris, Yamaha, or even Artic Cat.

If the web forums are any indication, and I really like to read about folks who are using their machines everyday that report their successes and failures, I do consider what is said in the forums extremely reliable. If anyone, or a group of individuals, on some of the forums say that I need a skid plate, well, then you can bet that I will heed that advice before I sustain damage to my machine. However, as my daddy used to say, “Son, you’re always trying to drink champagne on a beer pocketbook.”

I haven’t been able to do much with mine as yet, but because of some of the forums I have read; it would behoove me to install the bottom protection before I venture out into the hinterland to see what lies over the next ridge.

At this point for me there isn’t a whole lot of variety, but then maybe there is enough variety to take care of my wants and needs for my particular ATV.

I’m sure this article doesn’t cover all of the manufacturers out there for skid plates; but with diligence all of these mentioned and more can found, and hopefully, you can find just the item you are looking for. Also, I may be in error on some of the brand names as to just what they offer. If so, I apologize ahead of time and hope I will be enlightened about my oversight.

I can’t help but wonder if these manufacturers I mentioned as not having skid plates for Can-Am will be adding them to their product line in the near future.  We’ll see.

All of the skid plates are good. However, one must seek just what he or she might want to purchase giving the most protection for their sport bike or utility machine.

Good luck!