Sliders or Guards? pros and cons?

[guitar gord_imp]

One advantage of guards (on some bikes) is that they may help to keep the bike off of your leg. I had a HD Wide Glide where the guards protected my wife's leg in a slow speed tip over when she decided that she wanted to try riding it. She is a decent rider, but her hand wasn't strong enough to work the clutch and so as she was coming to a stop in first gear in the parking lot, the bike stalled and kicked over. It came to a rest with her leg under the bike in the triangular "safe zone" created by the guards and she walked away and there was minor damage to the brake lever and a few scuffs on the guards. I had a higher speed (30mph) tank slapper crash where the bike flipped forward and came to rest with my leg also in the same "safe zone". I walked away with some road rash on my knee. The bike faired pretty well with damage limited to the gas tank (both sides), brake lever and bar ends, pipes and footpegs. The guards and the saddle bags took most of the injuries. So in these cases, the guards were an advantage.

However, on the CB1100, the guards are not really big enough to create a "safe zone" so I don't think any of what I just said matters. Nonetheless, I bought the SW guards.