HEED ENGINE BARS

Has anyone seen or tried these? they look good, seen them on ebay and am considering buying some.

Hi Justin,

I have been looking at them as well.

I have contacted them to ask about engine bars for my r1200rt.

They are adding to the range this year for the RT, so I would be interested to hear about the quality also.

Why not fit more substantial rocker cover protectors. Mine came to me with the folded alloy type by Touratech. They pretty much make the crash bars** into overweight lamp brackets.

** I'm being unfair mine is a GSA so the bars also protect the wide petrol tank.

I've been looking at them also.

For road use, I thought either of their options would do (bunker or basic), but I am looking to use mine on the trails at some point, so was thinking that the basic ones would give better cover to the rocker cover in the event of a drop onto an uneven surface.

Not decided yet though. May wander around some carparks and see what folks have got fitted.

I fitted the SW motech ones. seemed well made and fitted accurately.

I had SW Motech engine bars on a Yamaha Diversion 900. They never had to handle a crash but they saved cosmetic damage a few times when bike got dropped at low speed. Its a heavy lump (240kg dry) so they needed to be good.

A thump good enough to need their protection is likely to bend the bars so what happens then? The mountings need to handle the bending forces without damage to the bike. Then what about parts of the engine the bar can hit when pushed back in a crash?

I'm no structural engineer but this uncertainty is why I said rocker cover protectors are at least as good if not a better idea. There is much less leverage on the mounts and the BMW cylinders are very strong.

Bought these and fitted them to 09 gs . The fit and quality was fine but they were delivered damaged as they had not been packaged with adequate protection. Had a hell of a time with them and ended up getting them resprayed myself, would never deal with them again.

I've had Heed bars on my Suzuki V-Strom for about three years, dropped the bike fully loaded a couple of times and the bars just scuffed a bit. So they do the job for this bike. One of the complaints that V_Stromers had about the Givi and SW-Motech bars was that they vibrate. The Heed ones didn't. I've just bought a BMW and have ordered a set of Heeds for that as well.

They will work fine in a low speed tumble. But what about the effects of gravel or cattle poo at 20mph on a back lane? or diesel at a traffic island? The crash bars will take the scuffing but they will bend and there is no room for very much of that. To my mind, there is too much risk of cracking the bar mounts at the engine or putting point loads on the cylinder fins (broken fins) or bashing the rocker covers off their studs.

The off road schools don't use crash bars which says a lot. OK, they just chuck on another (scuffed) rocker cover but that's where the stick on carbon fibre shields fit into the game. The carbon takes the hit without levering/cracking mounting lugs on the engine cases.

I bought a set for my F650GS. Fitted them and then discovered that they restricted steering lock. They couldn't have been more helpful.
They sent me a set made wider for me to try then sent a courier for the old set. Great quality & fit.

Link to a similar post.

We fitted them to a Triumph 800 Tiger, great quality and well priced.

Potential to crack the cases

Hi Guys,
I'm a newbie to BMW and Adventure bikes so forgive me if I'm covering old ground here. I do tend to go back to basic principals rather than believe the hype about any claimed benefits of a product. From a general engineering and geometry perspective, crash bars come out a poor second to head protector plates.

Bars concentrate ALL the energy from an impact at the mounting points (except that which is absorbed when they bend :-( ). That's a lot of force on small areas of castings which were never designed to withstands such sudden impacts and almost certainly from those directions. There is a strong possibility of cracked casings (I'm sure this must have been reported elsewhere)

The BMW OEM, MachineartMoto and other head guards on the other hand effectively spread the energy over a wider area. They do rely on fixings in the head but also have a compressible rubbery buffer behind which absorbs the impact before transferring it to the rocker cover. The delay is admittedly very short and all the energy is ultimately transferred, but over a larger area and a longer period. Need proof ? - Hit your hand with an icepick, then wrap the point in a towel and do it again. Same energy, differently delivered, different injury - open wound and broken bits vs. a bit of a bruise. Macghineartmoto have taken this to an extreme and have a virtually full contact pad under the outer guard. The OEM 'rubber' (sorry I don't know the polymer), is concentrated around the outer edge of the rocker cover so forces are essentially down the axis of the cover screws (as well as admittedly perpendicular to the fixing screws) and through the (horizontal) sides of the cover avoiding stress to the top (vertical) part of the cover which is much thinner and more susceptible to cracking.

Finally in a crash at any speed above say 5mph, the bars are more likely to catch on a rock for instance, or dig in and expert not only vertical forces but horizontal as well, all on the couple of mounting points. The head guards are more likely to scuff over obstacles and slide further gradually dissipating energy. You will have to walk further to pick up your bike but it should be less damaged when you do.

Head guards have my considered vote.

Hope that didn't cause too drowsiness or nausea.

I believe the Adventure petrol tank crash bars do a good job and are mounted where the engine is strong.

However for the engine, you are echoing my criticisms of crash bars. I personally believe that apart from a car park tumble they are likely to write off an engine when a bare engine in the same crash would have simply needed a new rocker/head cover.

I dropped my Adventure on slimy mud at about 20 mph. The RHS engine OEM crash bar rammed into the rocker cover and could not be removed until I unbolted the cover. The Wellard Tourateck head protector was also trashed so did its job.

But had that crash bar hit any harder its likely the cylinder head would have been damaged. Additionally the head protector mounting screws (M6) came out Z shape. The M6 screws take a shear load delivered by 2mm stainless lugs that wont bend or "give". My cylinder head lugs survived but they really are not built to handle such force.

I now have Machine Art X-Heads (bought used) but even they use the same M6 lugs onto the cylinder head and the polycarbonate is very solid stuff. As it transpired mine were brittle and the lugs snapped off (vibration). I now have 2mm aluminium plates in place of the original cracked lugs. These will bend and/or the covers will crack so, while they were sub standard, I believe they are now adding protection without increasing the risk of deep damage.

I believe a good option would be shaped to fit nylon blocks butted against the rocker cover face. They could be screwed from the inside or use the cylinder head lugs but not in ways they could get overloaded in a crash. Nylon would also be easy to buff up so a simple car park tumble need not look scruffy.

Crash bobbins would look silly and potentially dig in or be ripped away, so the protector would need to be machined or moulded to fit. This shows the vulnerable area that needs protection.

I just found these which seem to cover all the angles. No point loading on weak castings, replaceable crash pad, load spreading pad between cover and protector. But not making me want to rush out & buy.

http://www.wunderlichamerica.com/motorcycle/VCG.html