For those that are not in the loop here, the cage has been discussed and it will do it's job! Here is a quote by Rob from Nemesis.
"We understand your concern so let me assure you first that we did not spend the last 4 weeks of our time and resources building a cage that would not provide more than adequate protection for it's occupants.
To give you some background on what the project requirements were I have included a brief list of the major goals that the coordinators provided:
- We needed to design a working cage that would protect an individual ranging in size from 5 foot to 6 and a half feet.
-We also were required to provide adjustment in the seats and cage to accommodate this type of varying height range. This is one of the reasons for the large opening between the A and B pillar.
- The cage needed to protect the occupants in the case of a rollover under
moderate to difficult trail use. This is very different than building an entire vehicle that is designed to be driven to it's absolute limits and will be rolled on a regular basis. After competing in XRRA with our chassis and having a driver that likes to jump but has some issues landing believe me we
understand the strength required to hold up to true extreme wheeling. Also a 30-40 year old non-rusted Bronco is the last thing that I would ever want to intentionally destroy. (I have no Idea how Justin found this thing but it is perfect - Great Work!)
- The cage had to be something different. It could not look like a box with some gussets welded to it. This cage need to attract attention to get people to purchase tickets to help us keep our trails open.
Now that you have a bit more background on the overall scope of the project I would like to address your concern. When designing a roll cage you are building to withstand force from three main directions. The first from the top, second, from the side, and third, would be diagonally. The top which is where your concern is centered would be one of the hardest rolls you could possibly take. The main failure point in a roll like this is actually not the bent tube but more where and how it is connected. You will typically see the connection (weld in this case) fail or the piece that the bent tube is connected to will distort. The pictures don't show it to well but we fabricated our own pedestals so that there is no way that the lower portion will fail. The second point of failure is the weld basically sheering from the tube. To overcome that potential issue we used a large gusset that ties the upper portion of the cage to the B and C pedestals spreader. As far as the impacts from the side and diagonally, that is handled by the amount of cross bracing and the 6 very robust A, B, and C pedestals that are connected using 1/2" GR 8 hardware.
I have focused more on the front of the cage than the back, however you did express some concern there as well. The intent of this cage is to protect the driver and passenger. The back is to grab some attention with the fast back look while still keeping your cooler and gear safe.
I hope that I have been able to address your concerns thoroughly. If you have any further questions please give me a call at 303-974-2440.
We are finishing the final bars on the cage tonight so I will post pictures of the final product tomorrow. We also have a special surprise for the team at Rock Solid Offroad to reflect their incredible efforts in bringing this project to reality.
Rob"
