My 2000 1150 gs has the full complement of touratech head protection and crashbars.I'm thinking of lightening the load a bit and removing the crashbars. How much of a fall can the aluminium head protection take before crashbars are necessary? The original bike had the simple plastic protection so I'm thinking from an engineering standpoint the heads with aluminium protection could take any crash that I'm going to be walking away from. My riding includes off road, but nothing more technical than a continental divide dirt road. Some sand and baby head rock gardens. One other benefit is no more pulling the bar bottom off for oil changes. Thoughts? John
I'd leave then on. The weight savings would be negligible compared to the added protection the bars offer.
If it's enough of a wreck to total the bike, then I doubt the crash bars are going to help much. The alternative is usually a valve cover with a crack or hole. How inconvenient that can be is up to you. If you fall on a rock, it might not matter if the bars are on anyway. Keep some JB Weld in your kit. I'm sort of weird, in that I think the GS has a much nicer, cleaner look without bars on it. Main reason I like them on mine is as a place to put my legs during long rides....
Yeah, I like to put my legs up on them too. That is the major upside. Thing is, I have had (shall we say) many falls a little more serious than the 1200 on its side above. About half with bars and half without. Admittedly, the original rubber / plastic guards were 1 fall deals, but the touratech aluminum plate guard for the head can take a huge hit and allow you to keep on going. I have fallen over 4-5 times on just the aluminum head protection without the bars with no ride ending (or other) damage. The bars are poorly done in that you have to wrangle the sump protection and the lower section of the bars every time you do an oil change. They irk me every time. Plus they fit poorly and I have to use a floor jack to hold them in place while I fumble with the weak aluminum bolts. I'll wait for more feedback, but I think I'm going to risk it anyway.... The major concern is whether the head will be damaged: ie how much of a hit did the engineers design it to take from the outset given that they put the weak plastic guards on the head without other protection.
I have the Stanton guards over the valve covers and no crash bars. I have heard of too many poorly designed ones causing bent frames while saving a valve cover. I think the Stanton covers will protect the valve train sufficiently and expect that the cylinders are plenty stout, but most of my experience is with airheads. I saw one that hit a guardrail and pulled the cylinder off by breaking the head bolts, but a crash bar wouldn't have helped there I have had a couple of low speed endos with my 1150 without suffering damage. I may be transferring too much airhead-think to the oilhead, but I think the level of intelligent design of the individual guard would be my key to whether I would keep it or 86 it.
I've only had to remove my bars to change the alternator belt but never to do an oil change or any other routine maintenance. I have the head guards too and they look pretty bad but still plenty of life in them if you don't care about the dents and scratches.
I guess it would depend on how quickly the bike came to a stop using the head. I remember watching 1100S club races, where the bikes would sometimes lowside, grind a bit on the heads, and then get back in the race. Not the same as hitting a rock as there are a lot more variables. For the weight, if you are riding offroad, I'd probably keep them. Same with that heavy skidplate. You can drop a lot of weight by going with a Li-ion battery too, but if you ride in cold weather, you're going to get screwed.
I do have that Ballistic Performance Battery. It works OK in the winter--I have never been stranded. But I ride it every other day or so.
I this past weekend going two (2) mph in a gas station parking lot and they saved me a lot of potential damage on a "11 GSA. Dammmmm that bike is heavy when it is on its side A bit of emery cloth, scotch brite and some silver paint for touch up and it will be fine.
30 mph front-end wash out going through ruts on a two-track. One second fine, the next second down. Ripped the left, lower crash bar right out. No other damage. Replaced the bar, and the bike is just like new.
