I had a discussion with a fellow racer about bumper savers. I don’t see the value of running with them when they only solve part of the problem. With a rear bumper you have 3 points of concern. The expansion rubber in the frame, the hardware brackets and the attachment point of the bumper to the hardware. The bumper saver only works for the first two but if the attachment bolt fails there is nothing to “save”. With our karts, that outer bolt seems to be the most likely to cause when the bumper drags. Is there a better solution that will keep a bumper from dragging if something fails?
Zip ties through the bumper and around the bearing hanger… If you want it to look more “professional”, you can use a throttle cable and clamp.
1 Like
these and others like it appear to also solve that bolt breaking as it attaches to that bolt but it is connect to the Chassis and if you wanted you could do as above and zip tie the bumper or throttle cable to the attachment hardware.
Could you by any chance share a photo of what you are suggesting? I’m trying to visualize this and how it would save anything if the bumper bolt failed. Wouldnt it still be dragging on the ground?
It will still drag on the ground, but might save you from getting a meatball flag from the bumper pulling too far off
What is the likelihood of that bolt failing? I have replaced a few of the studs that run through my son’s cadet chassis, but never the one that connects the bumper to the bracket.
I’m not sure how the track marshals are going to know I have it tethered?
Haha! Fair enough! Thanks
Maybe not the bolt failing but the nut loosening and falling off is somewhat common.
We are using a nylock nut there and never see any backing off. My son is cadet, maybe it is an issue in full size?
This is correct, although the bumper saver itself can still break. I had to meatball a guy at a CKNA race this year because his rear bumper was dragging, and the mechanic came up to me all angry “You can’t black flag him I have bumper savers on that kart it’s still legal to drive like that!” Come to find out the bumper saver failed somehow, the bumper was most definitely dragging more than an allowable amount, and the kart wasn’t in fact legal to drive that way.
All in all, definitely recommend bumper savers on a kart. Much like a sprocket guard, I’d rather have one for peace of mind even if it doesn’t ever get used.
Recommend using a bumper saver, having a space bumper bolt and checking the clamp on the bumper saver. The bottom of the clamp wears with time.