Crash guards for 02 r 1150 r

[rprothero]

Any one have recommendations for low profile crash guards to fit 02 r1150 r? Looking to also mount pegs but not sure about the cage look.....

[MIXR]

No such thing as low profile engine bars. The plastic OEM valve cover guards do some of the job, but engine bars are pretty big.

The Hepco-Becker ones have a bar that runs underneath the valve covers. I used the SW-Motech or Hornig bars that have the bar over the top of the valve covers. I wanted them more for spotlight mounting than crash protection. Still have a set sitting in the spare room that I removed when I sold the bike. Thought I could modify them for a GS, but they weren't needed.

This is them, but I can't comment on crash protection as I never crashed the bike!


And with a pair of 100w spotties but the light bracket moved to the side to fit the bigger lights.


Looks better from the front, especially at night!

[rprothero]

Those dont look to bad MIXR..Did you say you had a extra set? Would you be willing to part with ?

[MIXR]

For sale? - Yes. Cost effective for you? - Unlikely.

Problem is that they are large, awkward to pack, and quite heavy. Australia to USA is expensive. Plus, your 'new' prices are usually far better than ours, even when the $ is roughly on par, as it is now.

They cost me AU$280 new, and are still that price here even though the $ is much better than it was a few years ago. I've got them advertised locally for AU$150 which is pretty fair. I think you would find that your 'local' price in US$ is much less than ours, and by the time you added shipping from here, it would exceed your local buy-price.

Unfortunate, but that's how it is. We get screwed pretty bad by comparison with US$ and UK$ pricing. As an example, I replaced my speedo drive hub on my GSA with one from a spoked R1100 to get the speedo more accurate (2% error instead of 9%). AU cost was $150. US cost was $65, plus shipping which varies a lot and can exceed the parts cost! Got the part from the UK for a total of AU$90 shipped.

And a Melbourne wrecker wanted AU$80 for a rather dubious part plus a few bucks shipping! I buy a LOT of stuff from overseas.

[wncbmw]

The problem with expensive crash bars, is they cost more than the parts they are intended to protect. As of July, a new valve cover is $176 (Don't ask how I know this. )

I put the plastic valve covers back on.

Looking for crash bars lead me to the conclusion most of the high end ones either are not made for the 1150R any longer or just too much money.

Keep in mind also, some of the sturdy ones can actually cause more damage to the engine or frame in a big crash, depending on where they mount on the bike.

[Radek]

The problem with expensive crash bars, is they cost more than the parts they are intended to protect. As of July, a new valve cover is $176 (Don't ask how I know this. )

I put the plastic valve covers back on.

Looking for crash bars lead me to the conclusion most of the high end ones either are not made for the 1150R any longer or just too much money.

Keep in mind also, some of the sturdy ones can actually cause more damage to the engine or frame in a big crash, depending on where they mount on the bike.

I prefer to buy the guards to protect my knees than the damn engine! Well, I should know - a big ass engine guard protected me from a slide on a oil slick! Hold on the handlebars tight and let it come to a stop, then get off smiling :-)

[wncbmw]

Radek - One reason for riding a horizontally opposed twin is that the jugs are your leg/knee protection!

Of course, the last time my bike and I parted ways, it was too sudden for me to make any decisions, such as holding onto the handlebars or not.

[Soliton]

At the grave risk of starting a idealogical brouhaha.

I took the crash bars / engine bars off my bike. I have been unable to find any evidence from either safety authorities or motorcycle manufacturers that show any benefits to rider safety through the use of crash bars. The Police use them as a mechanism to hold the cornucopia of doodads that they fit to their bikes not as a means of improving the safety outcomes of their officers.

If an R series hits the deck at speed ,the softer metal of the valve covers will ablate slowly against the road slowing the bike down. The cylinder projections are sufficiently wide to prevent the body of the bike from pinning the rider against the surface and the riders natural position is "legs behind cylinders."

The plastic protectors are sufficient in the case of a low speed parking lot drop, and it appears that poorly designed crash bars can damage parts of the bike that are more expensive to fix than a valve cover if the mounting points are poorly considered.

Plenty of anecdotes exists about engine bars but little tested fact. For a company like BMW, if engine bars provided greater rider safety I think they would fit them, especially when shipping to a country as litigation happy as the US.

My 2c worth.

PS This is road bikes only. I cannot offer any comment about the relative merits on off road bikes. Also if anyone does come up with a reputable study that shows engine bars improve rider safety could they post a link. I have looked high and low and can't find anything yet.

PS
Hi MIXR, I notice you are in Canberra too. I was fixing the bike this morning and looked around to see two kangaroos bounding around in my yard, then they took one jump and went straight over a five foot fence. Gotta love living in the "bush capital".

[MIXR]

Hi Soliton! Yeah, the roos are everywhere at the moment. Lots of roadkill on most of the back-roads, so it's all a bit dicey.

As for the bars - I'd agree that any 'at-speed' crash is unlikely to result in any less damage, bars or no-bars. However, my secondary reason for fitting them at the time was for the low speed fall where they might actually offer a bit more insurance so that you could still ride the thing home. They don't go well with a hole in the valve cover. Not much help around in remote parts of Aus.

So I used them to mount spotties, and to give me a bit less worry about being far from help on my long rides. The HB bars I had were ok. Solidly mounted, but the bars were designed to flex and bend (absorb impact) in a crash, before the valve cover took any force. If anything, they would have folded back and distributed the load on the covers, thus reducing the chance of ending up with a totally unridable bike. That's my engineering view anyway. The steel tubing is fairly thin-walled, but seems strong enough. I agree the bike might slide further, given the right direction of slide, road surface etc. Too many variables.

My R1150GSA on the otherhand, has fallen over three times now. The bars on it were very effective at preventing the covers from getting marked up, but twice the bike 'rolled' fully onto its side rather than rest on the bars and two wheels! I've heard others complain about that. I replaced the plastic end cap, and added some scratches to the bars each time, but the bike is still in good nick with minor scrathces to front blinkers, handgaurds, mirrors, and system cases. All that would have been worse with no bars.

I guess you either believe in them or not, and the type of fall you have will sway you towards or away from them. Doesn't matter really. Individual choice, and all that stuff.

Oh - My Roadster has gone to a workmate at Bungendore, so it's still around the area. Just wears NSW plates these days. The bars were off it before it was sold, and are now on a bike in Melbourne.

[Radek]

Instead of talking about crashes, look at this save!

[michelsmith]

Instead of talking about crashes, look at this save!

Amazing Video.......