Crackin’ engine bars Gromit

[ShakeyGS]

Been meaning to get around to posting this for a while.....

I stripped my bike down for cleaning over winter. I like to do this as it lets me have a look at places I wouldn’t normally be able to inspect or, um, would bother with.

I found this odd failure on my (2nd hand GSA LC) engine bars. It’s had two, zero speed drops on the left side. I’m not sure why a slightly spiral crack appears to have opened up near the weld unless it wasn’t normalised afterwards. It almost goes all the way around but I can’t tell if it’s full wall thickness.

Rather than buy a welder and a course I replaced the with some Touratech ones.

 

[Big Si]

Looks more like a cut than a crack

 

[stick]

That's not good but, it saved damage to your engine so win win , the bars are once bolted in effect in torsion , to absorb the impact hi / lo speed , they have done the job (twice) . Well done .
To add you could weld it but again after impact the welded zone could fracture again ( but done it job , as stated before) as it as crash bar not a balcony.

 

[stever1]

Did you compare it to the other side ?. It looks to neat to be a failure, looks more like a manufacturing join.

 

[ShakeyGS]

The other side is fine.

 

[Wobbly65]

Could have been cracked but not visible when you bought them used and your 2 drops on that side have opened it up ?

I bought Touratech when I got my bike new as I thought the BMW ones looked weaker.

 

[CPJS]

My Touratech engine bars have survived two 'wobble drops' and one 40mph fling down the road, I am sure any weakness would be found. money well spent.

 

[PitaNaanRoti]

Should've said - I've an almost perfect set of full Touratech upper and lower 1200 bars in black.
Never dropped and the only marks are from the light brackets fitted to the lower ones.

 

[rocky burns]

Even with a drop, it's not like a steel bar go crack like that mid bar. If it was around the weld edge you could understand that.
Very wierd

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

I’d say that’s a join. It’s probably made that way so they can use the smaller part on a variety of different items and allow for greater flexibility when aligning parts for welding.