Engine bars and Ali engine covers

[JerseyNeil]

Considering a set of engine bars for my 2010 R1200GS. I appreciate that on a road spill they may do more harm than good and are more relevant for off road use.

I have BMW aluminum engine covers already fitted and want to keep them. Will hepco & Becker or sw motech bars fit with the Ali engine covers or would I have to remove them?

Secondly in your opinion, which are the better engine bars Hepco & Becker or SW Motech?

Neil

 

[Bendy toy]

Bars will do more harm than good at anything above 15mph.
Floating bars bend back easily risking damage to the hard mounts and impact will mash the rocker cover.
Three point bars risk damage to the rear frame/engine mounts that are not designed to take side impact.
Carbon rocker cover protectors with sacrificial crash pads make better engineering sense.
If the impact is hard enough to take a cylinder off the rocker cover damage will be the least of any worries.

 

[Pukmeister]

My H&B bars allowed my GS to slide up a wet Australian tarmac road at 30mph and minimise damage to the bike. Bars ground away nicely, and easy to TIG weld a skin of steel tube over them again afterwards.

IMO it depends on the style of crash as to their effectiveness.

 

[JerseyNeil]

Thanks gents this is good food for thought.

Neil

 

[Bendy toy]

I went down on mud on a back lane. The roads were filthy after heavy rains so I wasn't going quickly. Going down at under 20mph and sliding into a soft side verge.
The GSA RHS engine bar went right back and crimped the Touratech head protector. That side has the most room to move. LHS is already very close as standard so who knows the damage that can cause.

The head protector also did its job against Tarmac; making me made me wonder why I need the engine bars at all. On that point the head protector mounting lugs on the cylinder head were not damaged but they are really not strong.

Wunderlich make an alloy rocker cover protector which has a removable crash pad and I presume large rubber pads on the inside. Downside it uses the same mounting lugs.

I've also seen carbon fibre covers with sacrificial pads for less money that fit like skins to the rocker covers.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=361105635055

The cylinders are by far the strongest part of the engine so why stress the frame mountings with high leverage crash frames.

 

[JerseyNeil]

Thanks Bendy. You have just saved me quite a few quid

I'm not even sure they enhance the look of the bike either. As I never intend to go off road I shall leave them alone and a: try not to fall off and b: rely on my aluminum engine covers if I do.



Neil