well if your talking about the slider puck, yeah its supposed to be ground down (not cracked though)

I've crashed several times with vortex sliders, they do their job and you can get replacement pucks for dirt cheap at any dealership or online store

there is a reason only stunters use crash cages, sliders work much better for normal riding or racing/trackdays

 

Kiggy74's install write up on the Vortex frame sliders:

https://cbrforum.com/m_55748/tm.htm

 

Well... here's my $.02... I had aluminum sliders on my 1st 600rr.. i hit some gravel and went off-roading onto grass. When the sliders hit the ground it planted the bike momentarily and the momentum made the bike go into a spin and hurl toward me (i was ejected of the seat about 15-20ft and when i looked up, my bike was twisting toward me and stopped approx 3ft to my left. [:-] I think the aluminum ones are too hard.. even on grass, the sliders bent the frame... what more on asphalt? Ever since then, i've used Dehlrin on my Gixx1k, and other 600rr... I have Vortex sliders on my f4i... just get the fairings cut.