[Rockit401]

A trade off either way. Steel makes a good skid plate and being welded in adds tremendous strength to the frame. It is just heavy. But like you said it could make some things a lot more work to fix or modify. Hopefully Yamaha put a lot of thought into accessibility when they made the decision to weld it.

 

[Rockit401]

If you want to slide over rocks you don't want aluminum anyway. It is like a rock magnet. Steel or plastic is better.