► Bashplates, crash bars and other protection

[jarax]

I have TT bars. Excelent job! Protects sides and front part of engine and with extension also cooler, the most exposed part of a motorcycle. Design is excelent, so my girlfriend dod not recognize, that I already mounted them

GIVI ones protect only the engine part. Try to lean bike on side and you will se what happens. I did the same with TT ones and all weight stays on the bars, they are not "big", so some scratches from rocks or bunches may occure, but i dont care - important is to save the cooler and engine, tot the plastics...

 

[WoodWorks]

Hi Jarex, I am looking at crash bars for my F800 Gs, not seen a good piccy of the TT ones, any chance you could take one.?

Hi snaponphil, I'm not Jarex, but here you go (from the Touratech site):

You can also go to touratech.com to see the bars without the extension, as well as lots of other pricey add-ons. I agree with snowlife: these are ugly as sin.

David

 

[Tim Cullis]

Installing Givi engine bars

I purchased Givi because they looked to offer better protection than the BMW bars, the black
matches the engine better than BMW's silver and the price is much keener than BMW's £226.

This is what you get for your money (£112.41 incl delivery from BikeBitz)

Fitting was remarkably easy. Three bolts either side (marked in red) with various spaces and
supports, plus another bolt in front of the exhaust downpipes to hold the two halves together.

I thought it might foul the BMW bashplate (blue arrow) but it's OK. The only issue was that
the single M8x30 bolt is not long enough and needs to be replaced with an M8x35.

View from the front

And above

And now the proof of the pudding!

Looks good

An unexpected bonus is that the bars make it much easier to lift the bike.

Tim

 

[WoodWorks]

just make sure you torque the bolts with the spacers on them right up. I've lost one and the other vibrated loose. I've spoken to Gary at Bikebytz about it as I need replacements before I go away soon. I wonder are they too short as I had everything tightened right up? Great bars though.

Hm. Perhaps a little dab of blue Loctite would help keep them snug?

David

 

[WoodWorks]

They look like they also might be a fairly well-protected place to mount some aux. lights.

David

 

[jolyon_russ]

They're certainly the chunkiest engine bars I've seen and a good price too. Ordered mine from BykeBitz

Thanks for the great write-up Tim.


Jolyon

 

[Tim Cullis]

Those bars look good and strong, but still gonna wait to have a look at the BMW ones, when available

Price not an issue....

In a spill the bars can be too strong and break something else... something has to give, maybe like engine cases

That left hand lower mounting, why didn't Givi make it all one, like the offside, and not just a piece of steel between the two crankcase mounting points, separate to the bars themselves. If the lower mounting was to be bent inwards it looks as though it would pierce the oil cooler interchanger that's not far behind it.

Dunno, will probably end up withthe Givi's, but keeping my options open for the mo

The two sides are the same. The photo with the red dots is misleading as you can't see the plate joint on the offside. My take on this is that it is so the force of any impact is spread between the two bolts rather than just one.

I take your point that ideally bars should gracefully take the impact rather than passing it on to the casings. For my purposes the bars are to protect from low speed spills.

Tim

 

[Wildman]

Could you fit both the Givi bars and the Adenture-Spec bash plate?

Any thoughts on whether or not you could fit both the Givi bars and the Adenture-Spec plate?

I'm sure it will be possible. Looks like the plate attach to other points on the engine, and the cross pipe sits high enough.

We're working on a set of crashbars at the moment that will definately be compatible with our plate! All being well the bars should be available to buy in about 6 weeks if you can hang on that long. The plates are in stock and ready to go out now.

The answer is "no"! Should have just waited for wonky.

wonky; your bars better look as good as the Givis.

 

[Chris G]

Hepco and becker bars are available in a week or so!

see here

http://www.hepco-becker.de/anbauanleitungen/502936.0001.pdf

 

[Tim Cullis]

Has anyone fitted a radiator guard yet, if so from whom?

The only one I'm aware of is from Metal Mule (above) at £39.99 but it's for an F800 and the F650 is a narrower radiator. It might be possible to cut it down as I imagine the fixing lugs are in the same place on both rads.

Alternatively... any tips on a DIY version?

The 800GS already comes with a black plastic guard for the radiator

I wasn't aware of the plastic guard on the F800GS, my F650 doesn't have the black angled plastic thing at the bottom of the MM photo.

Touratech do one. Available from Nippy Norman. Having had dents in my 1200 oil radiator within a couple of hundred of miles normal road riding I think that the few hundred grammes of exra weight is well worth the investment. Only takes a few moments to fit. Ditto for the oil filter guard.

Ouch. The version for the 650GS is £83.93 plus postage.

I measured the mounting lugs on the F800GS and they are in the same position as those on the F650GS, so I've ordered BMW's plastic honeycombe protector for the F800GS (£9.70) and will cut it down to fit.

That's the man

Tim, I made my own out of aluminium mesh from a car repair shop [pic below]. You can buy big sheets of it (I might even have some left). I cut it to size and secured with cable ties. Does the job and it's cheap !!

 

[Micky]

see here

http://www.hepco-becker.de/anbauanleitungen/502936.0001.pdf

Now they look good to me Chris

It will be the H&B or possibly the BMW ones once I've seen them.

 

[Wildman]

Adventure-Spec bars coming next week!

Any pictures yet???

Only of the bash plate I've fitted.

Adventure-Spec have promised the engine bars next week when they're back from HUM.

 

[freeloader]

I've trawled this site for pictures of the SW Motech crash bars, but so far no-one seems to have posted any pics of those. Having said that, I had my first off on my F800GS today, with only 127 miles on the clock - I stalled it attempting to pull away at a junction - and down it went on its right side (and my right leg).

I only took delivery yesterday...

Damaged:
plastic panel over the right side of the rad - the black finish appears to be a plastic skin, rather than paint, and it's white underneath
plastic thrust washer that keeps the pillion peg folded away
bars twisted in risers
my pride.

Stable door bolting after the horse has left, I know, but crash bars would have avoided the "leg trapped under bike" scenario which ensued. And given the feedback about the Givi bars, I'm tempted to try those from SW-M.

So - where are those pics?

 

[Uriel]

SW Motech bars...

I think I must be the only one that prefers the look of the TT bars.

 

[twisticles]

Freeloader, this was pic was posted on ADVRider with the understanding that it was a promo shot. Could have been pre-production shot. I know that Twisted Throttle (US) online moto store has bars listed but with no pic. As well, there are other Motech bits for 650/800 listed without pix but ready to go when it has stock, I guess.

The Motech engine bars are exactly as pictured here (except black) - I finally got the T50 torx key to fit my engine bars today. Also added the BMW bashplate I had powder coated.

Some phone pictures of the SW Motech bars fitted:


Riders POV:

Engine/front view:

Head-on view:

Supine from below:

Supine from the side:

Supine from the front:

 

[twisticles]

look very nice, whats the cost ?? and how long did you have to wait for delivery?

ps if you take the disk lock off they dont fall over

Har har

Anyways, the Motech bars are a bit more than the Givi ones, about £125 I think. But the do go higher up the plastics and bolt in eight places as opposed to six on the givi, so I am happy with the cost/benefit.

Delivery from NN was very prompt (once they were in stock ) I know he had a delivery a few days ago.

Great pix, twisticles. They look a whole lot better in black than in red. Thanks for putting your bike on its side.

Oh, and the DeWalt brochure? Nice touch!

David

Yeah, personally I think the bars feel very 'integrated' into the look and lines of the bike.

The DeWalt brochure was pure coincidence, jsut grabbed it from the office to stop the bars getting scratched as soon as they were on. But looking at it, the F800GS does look like a DeWalt bike, doesn't it?

 

[Tim Cullis]

Fitting the F800GS radiator protector on the F650GS
The first pic shows the position of the radiator. My understanding is that the metal foil acts as a bit of a protection as well as conducting heat away, nevertheless it looks quite exposed. You can see one of the mounting lugs at top left of the radiator.

The second photo shows the plastic protector in place. I didn't have to cut the protector at all, I used nuts and bolts to secure at the top, then cable ties to the engine bars at the bottom. The concave shape at the bottom is how it comes, nowt to do with Mr H. Robinson Esq.

Tim

if the 650 has a narrower radiator, is this because the fitting of the rad guard cuts down airflow and in hot situations a bigger rad is needed?

The reason for having a wide radiator is because the airflow at lower speeds when offroad might not be enough to cool the engine, even with the electric fan.

The radiator on the 'road-oriented' F650GS is the same size as that of the F800S/ST. The F800GS radiator is wider and is one of the differentiators between the models.

Having said that, I've done a total of about 50 miles offroad on the F650GS on Salisbury Plain and in the Peak District and only once has the electric fan cut in.

Tim

I asked the local dealer to order one for me today. The part number is exactly the same for the F650GS version as for the F800GS one. Which could explain why you didn't have to cut it at all.

Does it come with fitting bolts? Or do you have to supply those yourself or order them separately?

It's the fiche that's the same, not the parts. Someone was being lazy when they prepared it and didn't remove the bits that aren't relevant.

http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/MainDiagrams.asp?mospid=50777

If you look at section 17, air duct on the above link, you'll see that the only bits for the F650GS are a shield and a screw. If you do the same on the link below you will see the parts for the F800GS

http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/MainDiagrams.asp?mospid=50779

Nuts and bolts are listed but I used some of my own.

Tim

I was looking over the dealer's shoulder as he searched directly on the BMW site. And there was a part number for both the F800GS and the F650GS. And the part was called an "F650GS - F800GS Protecting grille", or something similar. Both bike types were definitely in the part name.

Perhaps BMW has updated the parts fiche? Or could it be that someone at Max BMW was lazy and didn't add the relevant F650GS parts to the parts list, since they are the same as for the F800GS?

 

[Mrs Radar_UK]

Fitted my Givi crashbars today, despite the fact it says on the instructions to be fitted by a qualified mechanic I managed to fit them in 20 minutes

Only problem I had was when I came to torque the nuts I found as Tim has already noted that the M8x30 is too short, it seemed fine until I started torqueing it and it started stripping the thread so I quickly removed it

Fortunately only minor damage and its in for its 600 mile service on Wednesday and I will ask the lovely people at NOG to fit a longer bolt. I'm going to contact Givi on Monday too and tell there is a problem.

I wont bother posting any piccies as Tim has already done so

 

[sijohnston]

crash bars

after being at garmisch and seeing the most 800's i've seen in any one place, it appeared different crash bars have different merits. as some have noted, the givi variants don't come as high, as say, the TT equivalents. however, out of all of them, these have some distinct sideways advantages. after doing nearly 5000 miles around europe during july and having to hoof it back up the motorways, i had to do the mandatory shimmy-ing about trying to relieve pressure points and find the place of ultimate comfort. with these bars, you can either put your feet up on them in a squat, or stretch out your legs and rest them on them so you like your feet are out on a set of HD highway pegs. i also did some off-roading in belgium and dropped the bike x2 and neither the engine nor fairing took any abuse with them - so job well done. just torque up the bolts and use some araldite to lock them in. givi know about the problem and apparently are going to start supplying with longer bolts. value for money and looks, they're hard to beat.

 

[jimbob59]

Terry is correct - it is the BMW bashplate and it has been powder coated.
As far as I'm aware, its the only bashplate that extends backwards to protect the cat too.

Thanks guys ... Twisticles ... you actually said that at the beginning of your original append I just got "lost" in the pictures ....

I probably still have 1 month+ to wait for mine here in USA, but would like to have crash bars on-hand to install immediately on delivery. I am hoping to see the Adventure-Spec units before I have to spend $$$....

I do very much like the BMW guard extending far enough back to cover the cat.... I have not considered that up to now as this will be my first bike with one....

When I head over a tall stump I'm used to just sliding off the bash plate into the back tire and being on my way... that could be an expensive mistake with the cat. in the way....

I don't see a center-stand installed on your bike, but I guess the bash plate is narrow enough that it does not interfere ... I "assume" BMW is that smart

Thanks,
Jim