Engine crash bar options

Sweetpea

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Sorry guys I know this topic has been done to death but just wanted to run a question to you to see if anyone has any experience of the "crosspro" crash bars currently being sold by 'motor works'.

They look good value offering upper and lower protection but had concerns that they were aluminium rather than steel.

I had intended to get some motech ones from nippy normans but currently none in stock.

Thoughts and suggestion appreciated

My bike is a 2004 r1200ga he head

SP :thumby:
 
I had the top and bottom ones from Motech. Well made and protected the rocker cover when the bike had a lie down at a junction in Ireland that had a weird camber. Short legs.
Be aware of the extra weight you're adding. Mine were 9-10 kg.
I now have the BMW plastic head covers, eBay £20, that'll do the same job in those circumstances.
Anything more than a lie down at a junction would probably be the end of my motorcycling career anyway. She says.
There's also the argument that there's extra stress on the mounting points in the event of an accident. Makes them a bugger to clean, too.
If you want them, buy them. But don't feel they're necessary or will make you any safer.
All part of the farkling fixation. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the comprehensive reply. Yes I agree about the weight issue. I've come from a tdm900 which is a physically smaller bike and the Weight difference is noticeable. I wanted to add bars to avoid the damage if i drop it... However as you say... It's adding more weight. Further highlighting the issue.
I do have some plastic head covers like you at the moment. It was the aluminium ones that I thought would be best of both worlds but keen to hear other opinions. Thanks

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Fit some Machine Art X-Head covers or just accept the rockers will get scraped and replace when needed.

The OEM Adventure petrol tank bars do the job. They are not heavily mounted but will protect the plastic tank from impact and scrapes. The OEM engine bars however are worse than useless.

I had a slow speed fall off (very muddy back lane). OEM Adventure crash bars and Touratech head protectors. I was lucky the crashbars and head covers did not cause even more damage. They transfer heavy loads to small parts of the cylinder head and/or engine case. On top of that the rocker cover was still scraped.

The RHS crash bar bent back into the cylinder head, shoving the rocker cover backwards until it was stopped by the rocker assembly inside. The crash bar bottom mount was bent and wedged hard into the engine sump.

The Touratech head protector has stainless steel mounting lugs with zero "give" and actually bent the M6 mounting screws into a Z shape. Any more force would have cracked the cylinder head. They also failed to protect the mag cover from being scraped.

I have since removed both engine crash bars and fitted Machine Art X-Head covers. They are pretty stiff (made from polycarbonate) but I hope they'll "give" or at least hit the rocker cover itself rather than over-loading the mounting lugs.

The cylinders really are the strongest part of the engine, but the rocker covers are fragile. IMO, protecting the covers is all that's needed. With the costs of replacement used covers on eBay you could even argue it's better to just replace a scarred cover.

Magnesium does crack all too easily. Soon after, I hit my LHS rocker cover on a kerbstone and cracked it (engine stalled on a steep LH camber). The TT head protector and OEM crash bar did all of nothing. An X Head would have saved it. Thankfully I did not have the third tumble around the same time. ;)

In short - fit some decent head covers but DO NOT FIT ENGINE CRASH BARS.
 
I run HEED bars, upper and lower and I've binned my bike loads of time off road and they've held up really well


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+1 for Heed bars I have them on my bike and have saved it from major damage last year when I dropped it.
 
I run HEED bars, upper and lower and I've binned my bike loads of time off road and they've held up really well


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+1 for the Heed bars. They've taken some abuse already and except for a few paint scratches (which are to be expected) they're holding extremely well and it's an absolute piece of mind. Very reasonable priced too.
 
Tough bars are fine when the attachments can cope. If the mounting points could bend or crack, the bars will be worse than not having them at all.

Engine bars mounted into the middle of the sump area (with the rear frame mounts) are fixed where the casing has no support on the inside. Cracking the sump will scrap the engine.

These from Wunderlich are expensive but the wear pads can be replaced and the cylinders are very strongly attached to the engine. ;) They also have relatively thin material around the wear pads that wont overload the M6 mounting lugs on the cylinder heads.

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