I'm not sure but I don't remember hearing about anyone getting killed because the stock cage folded. I have read about people replacing the cage because it gets mangled.That seems like the difference in stock and aftermarket to me.

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"I THINK we can make it"

There was a guy who had someone to roll his RZR at speed right after he got it and the stock cage, while bent, saved the rider and passenger. It actually looked to be in as good a shape as the pics of a race RZR I had seen that got rolled at the track with an aftermarket cage.

I said buy a quality cage....key word is quality...and quality means safe with proper triangulation, X bracing, V bracing and rear bracing to the frame and preferably out of chromoly..

My designs are all reviewed by a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and 2-3 people with 15+ years each fabricating, racing, offroading and rolling (including me)..[/quote]
No reputable off-road fabricator would add bars to a stock cage as you did and call it safe.
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For the cost of three pieces of tubing and little welding wire, my cage is probably twice as strong as the original.[/quote]
It may be twice as strong as a stock cage but only 1/10th the strength of a quality built chromoly cage.[/quote][/quote]

well

What gauge is the stock roll cage? Ballistic is rough, but may be right. My head is worth a lot to me, and my family. I am still running the stock cage but it will be short lived. I am new to this sort of sport, but have been racing snowmachines for years. Has anyone filled the roll cage to add strength? I know the old trailing arm sled could be made way tougher with just a simple can of spray foam to fill them, must just help it with not buckling. Another question I have is why did Polaris not make this cage to stand up to a roll over?

The stock cage appears to be .090 wall tubing. I've braced mine with .120 wall tubing. If you follow Ballistic's logic, Polaris should be sued by every RZR owner due to the flimsiness of their cage/design. As someone else stated earlier, there have been a number of roll-overs where the cage bent but protected its occupants.

I've seen a RZR that did a complete barrel roll. The cage was bent. The occupants were unhurt. Your risk of an arm or leg being injured if you flop and don't have the nets in place is much greater than your risk of injury due to failure of the stock cage.

My PhD ME buddy has run a number of scenarios with some FMEA software he has and it would take incredible impact to crush the cage to where it would encroach on the driver/passenger compartment enough to cause serious injury - unless you're not wearing your helmet.

Wear your helmet, use the seat belts and nets and drive with a bit of caution. That's how Polaris intended it.

I'm not against buying an aftermarket cage - particularly a quality cage - however, there are a LOT of poorly designed and built cages on the market and the average consumer may not know the difference. If you're buying an aftermarket cage ask the vendor if they'll accept liability if you're injured due to a failure of their cage. None will. That's why most vendors call them sport cages or something similar.

Well i was going to beef my stock cage up a little but would be courious to see one of the better cages that BALLISTIC is talking about.

Do yu have an example of a good after market cage that in your opinion is well built?? If you could provide a link or a pic i would be interested in seeing it.

opps curious

I posted a link to a story with pictures of how the stock cage folds. A friend of ours fabricates cages for the local Polaris shop, they rolled it 4 times out in the hard packed dirt and it didn't even get a scratch. While the stock cage may protect you if you roll once I would much rather have an aftermarket. Have you ever tapped on the stock cage? it sounds like it's made from recycled Keystone cans, lol

PRC Ranger Club, LLC :: View topic - Full Rollover story WITH PICS

Thanks RZRgrl That helped me to decide. I need a better cage.

Everyone keep in mind that these cages are POSSIBLY designed not to be 100% rigid. If a cage is solid then it won't bend, which means the passenger feels 100% of the impact.
It's a fine line trying to design a cage to crush some w/o collapsing, so I'm not saying that these are designed to take some of the force, but every car you drive nowadays is designed this way, so why not design a cage this way?
I haven't personally looked at or studies these cages, so I can't give an opinion, I was just throwing this out there.

rzrgrl, that's obviously the kind of force modeled in our FMEA software where the cage began to encroach on the driver/passenger compartment. Of note, however, is the fact that the cage protected both the driver and the passenger even in an impact such as that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating the stock cage as exceptionally strong or perfectly designed. Ironically, I posted in that same topic suggesting that playing hard = getting a hard cage. That could include reinforcing the stock cage, IMHO.

In this post, I'm mainly trying to point out the fact that an aftermarket cage does not necessarily mean a better designed or more robust cage than a reinforced stock cage. I don't want anyone riding around with a false sense of security because they replaced the stock cage.

When looking at aftermarket cages, buyers need to consider the quality of the materials that were used, the quality of the welding that was done and the quality of the design.

As suggested by Ballistic, chrome moly is certainly a high-quality material, speaking in general terms. However, without the accompanying high-quality construction and design methods, the quality of the material is meaningless. As an example, chrome moly becomes brittle in the weld zones unless it is normalized correctly. There is no way for the buyer to know for certain that the CM was properly normalized. And, while CM has a higher tensile strength than mild steel, it is more brittle overall and more prone to breaking rather than bending as a result of a high impact.

As you can see, it's not a simple matter.

now im gonna catch flack but ohwell. from what ive seen in my riding areas, magazines and online including this forum most of the ones with aftermarket cages are just trailer queens that never get run or are driven like grandma so what was the point in the cage ? 2 i just rolled mine last week and rolled it hard at around 30mph 3 over side and 1 over end STOCK cage its at the dealer now getting fixed needs new cage , frame , all plastic , several other things had passenger as well cage crumpled frame bent but we walked away unharmed and yes im having another stock cage put on i had this same conversation with my dealer and he has rolled his as well he said it did exactly what its supposed to if you make a rigid cage more of the impact is transfered to the riders and inturn more chance of injury so imho the stock cage is fine to each his own everyone is intitled to their own oppinion ive seen what an oem cage can take first hand and im satisfied others may not be but i am and i belive that if i had an aftermarket rigid one on in that crash there would have been back or neck injuries from the cage not absorbing the impact thats my 2 cents

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itp wheels, maxxis bighorns, custom cage, custom diamond plate roof, suicide doors, front and rear bumpers, winch, lonestar weld in gusset kit, utv crap frame tubes, full skid plate,clutch spacer removed, kms intake, ehs racing airbox, fmf exhaust, dobeck tfi box, bored throttle body, 4 point harnesses , lock n ride storage box , 2 lock n ride gas cans , all 3 polaris storage bags

Had a mishap last nite(rollover) (second one for this razor), new cage was put on and again last nite the cage bent. The bend was right on the back pillars. No one was hurt, but now seeing how easily the cage can accordion down. I thought about trying to brace the stock cage, but there is no real way to do this with the stocker. I'm going to spend the extra and be guarnteed in a rollover that I don't get squashed like a bug.

That's what I was thinking. I just watched a special on auto racing and they pointed out that back in the day when they made the cars out of ridged steel as strong as possible they had very high fatality rates in crashes. Now all race cars are designed to crumple up and take some of the impact of a crash. A heavier cage will also make the RZR more top heavy and then more likely to roll.

I rolled mine at low speed 5 times and never bent the cage, but my mechanic rolled mine on pavement and tweaked the cage, but possible took some of the impact.

Of at UTV magazine or what ever Cartwheelen is now called they have a article where they do a low cost race build up of the RZR. A reputable fabrication company reinforced the stock cage for the race. During the race hit a jump wrong and went head over heals. I don't have the article in front of me now, but if I remember correctly, there was no damage the the cage and they were able to complete the race. They have a pic of the RZR just before it lands that jump and from that you know what happens next wasn't pretty. I still might get an after market cage as mine is already bent, but if it wasn't I'd have no issues trusting the stock properly reinforced cage with my and my wife's life.

Unless you have money to burn and love bling or you have some special needs then I don't see much advantage in an after market cage over a stock one properly reinforced.