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Higdonian Cage Review


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I've had the cage for a few years and it's held up well.  Before I modified the oil pan by trimming the fin and installed a flat drain plug, it saved my oil pan from a tall speed bump.  I had no complaints while it was installed and I daily commuted with it installed for about a year and a few months in rain or shine.  I did find some issues today and the details are below.

 

When I removed it back in May, I found what appeared to be minor surface rust in all of the bolt holes, despite having had the plastic caps installed.  I just assumed the bolts themselves had rusted and didn't think much of it.

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I cleaned up the bolts on a wire wheel and stored them in a plastic baggie.  I also wiped away the rust residue that I found on the cage in the bolt holes.  I stored it in a cardboard box in my house, standing on the skid plate in a closet (May 2019).

 

It wasn't until today (July 27 2019) that I decided to get some pictures of it and was going to post it for sale in the classified section of the forum.  I wiped it down with a rag and when I set it on it's side, my hand was wet.

 

 

What I found:

There were some very small holes in the welds where the water was coming out.  If this was from riding in the rain and the water got INSIDE the tubes for the cage, I'm not willing to sell it because I can't know what the condition of the tubes are on the inside.

 

Here's the hole that was releasing the water today when the cage was turned on it's side so that the hole was the low point:

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There are 3 or 4 other holes like this one that I never noticed before inspecting the welds.  I still don't know how the rust got into the bolt hole areas that connect the cage to the frame of the motorcycle.  I assume water got past the plastic caps and pooled there.

 

While we're here...   here's the videos I took for the classified ad I was going to post.  You can see the flat spot I cleaned up after scarping it in the mountains, and you can also see the minor scrapes on the bottom of the skid plate from a low speed, speed bump incident.

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...

 

Conclusion

For full disclosure, I won this cage in a social media promotion Higdonian was kind enough to sponsor back in Dec 2017/Jan 2018.  I received and installed this kit around the same time.  It served it's design purpose while it was installed and I never tested it in a bike drop.  The Higdonian cage protected my oil pan from a speed bump incident.  I eventually uninstalled it because the lack of clearance in lean angles while riding aggressively.  It's slightly asymmetric nature means that lean angles on left sweepers was compromised and resulted in a lack of confidence while installed.  I believe Higdonian has also released an updated design at some point since this particular model.

 

If I had purchased it, I would be upset and a bit angry about the holes in the welds and finding rust on the hardware.  When I handle it, I can hear some minor rattling inside the tubes on one side so I believe the inside of the tubes may be rusting.  I was going to sell it so that I could purchase an alternative (Engine case covers), but I don't feel comfortable  because I simply cannot vouch for the internal condition of the tubes.

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The reason the bolts are rusting is due to galvanic corrosion, carbon steel and aluminum dont mate well. You could replace them with stainless steel (good luck finding bolts that size in stainless) or clean them up like you did and apply a liberal coating of antisieze.

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 They look better than the Nomad Rider crash bars that came off my KLR650. Three years on the bike and one side had 2 cracks and the other 3, probable got about 1/2 cup of rusty water out of each side. I went with S&W Motec bars and no problems.

Edited by roadrash83

He who dies with the most toys wins.

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My trail cage has the same issues. There are multiple welds that are not fully closed up, and the areas around them instantly began to rust and powder coat flaking off. Emailed him about (I also won mine) never heard anything in response. At some point I'll likely take it off, sand blast it, and have a friend with a tig welder complete and inspect all of the welds to make sure its closed up tight and then get them re coated. 

It's the point where the three tubes meet, which is likely one of the factors in his redesign with less tubes and more flat plate.

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Edited by bigorangecntry07
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On ‎7‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 7:16 PM, koth442 said:

That's disappointing. I feel for ya. 

In the mean time, would some JB weld patch those hols and help prevent more water from entering?

JB Weld is a good idea.  I was considering epoxy with a small injector to get it inside. 

I want to heat the tube assemblies up before sealing it to make sure any water/moisture is out of it first.  I'll just store and hold onto it until I want to take the FJ from sportier mods back to more adventure oriented mods.

 

8 hours ago, bigorangecntry07 said:

I've also wondered that.. 

I privately started wondering that as well, but it doesn't quite make sense.  Why promote a quality defect?  It was also around the timeframe that he was trying to keep up with volume and had just made some changes in the business.  I think it's more likely that the rush to produce in volume resulted in some quality slips.

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