motomartin said:
I've decided to mount some spotlights to the crashbars rather than under the beak - trouble is i can't find any decent 'bar clamps.
Anybody found some or point me in the right direction ?
Cheers
M
Hi M, you're question is asked by many who want a light mount solution on their engine crash bar. Particularly those that want to have both high and low beam light augmentation.
After reviewing a number of options that were less then satisfactory from the perspective of alignment in 3 planes, functionality, durability and finish quality - my partner and I contacted a number of moto related CNC machine shops to build engine crash bar clamps and they just were not interested.
So we decided to design and build our own. We first CNC'd a single mount to validate the specifications. Then we ordered enough for 20 sets of mounts which meant we had 80 parts machined and then ran 2 separate anodizing runs (silver and black versions). Each run has a minimum anodizing charge.
We originally had 40 5052 aluminum brackets precision water cut, grained, shaped and Tig welded to serve as the light attachment to the engine crash bar mount. But, the difference in finish and appearance was too great a contrast from the CNC mount to consider the two as complimentary components. If you want a set I've got these brackets in my shop (and will sell them for $10 a set - they cost $30 a set to make).
So, we decided to CNC a 90 bracket for the fronts, first we used 2 inch stock, which resulted in a bulky bracket. So, we ordered a second set with 1.5 inch wide 6061 aluminum stock and it is a nice form factor and is what we are using now. We then had 40 of these brackets CNC'd and then half were hard anodized natural (silver) and half were hard anodized black.
We are now on our 4th production run of these light mounts and have versions in silver and black that work on two different diameter engine crash bars. These mounts fit on: BMW, Touratech, Wunderlich and Hepco-Becker engine crash bars for the the R1150GS, R1150GS Adventure, R1100GS and F650GS.
And, we are now testing a CNC 6061 aluminum highway foot peg prototype using our engine crash bar clamp.
Anyway, that's a long description of how we got to where we are now and the customer's who have installed these have been very happy so far.
All the Best,
Chuck