CRASHBARS/ENGINE PROTECTORS?

Neil178 · Post by **Neil178** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:03 pm

Nick, there are crash bars available in a style that I think you are after.
Too 'GS' looking for me so I have the usual plastic ones.

ZTechnik Engine Guards Z7105
No Rust! Stainless Steel Crashbars
Fits:-
BMW R 1100 / BMW 1150GS
BMW R 1100 / BMW 1150R
BMW R 1100 / BMW 1150RS
BMW R 1100 / BMW 1150RT
BMW R 1100 / BMW 1150S

ZTechnik’s stainless steel Engine Guards will never rust like powder coated steel guards. They are carefully designed to allow clearance for oil changes or valve cover access, so they never need to be removed. Guards attach to the engine mounts – not the engine covers – to protect the engine heads and not destroy them. Integrated top brackets on each guard allow the rider to mount accessory lights, video cameras, or whatever they can imagine!

Satin Finished Stainless Steel

Can't do the photo sorry!

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:37 am

Nice one Neil. I'd given up on trying to find any. They look to be just what I'm looking for. 280 quwidz tho!

That's got to hurt.

Never mind. I'll add them to my most wanted list right below the Rocket Sprockets and the CF Seat Cowel.

Daveg2812 · Post by **Daveg2812** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:50 am

NIck, you've got two HID's, can't for the life of me understand why you need more light. How quick and how far over do you get when riding your bike in the dead of night

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:05 pm

Daveg2812 wrote:NIck, you've got two HID's, can't for the life of me understand why you need more light. How quick and how far over do you get when riding your bike in the dead of night

, Well, for a start, let me say, I'm no hero. My 'chicken strips' are well wiiiide. So, you ask, why do I want even more 'light'? Well, I'm a spectacle wearing old bloke (I won't be seeing a 70th birthday again) who needs all the help he can get and that includes night-time illumination. My riding 'profile' is very basic and mostly consists of visits to Wolverhampton or Malvern to see 'family' and share an evening meal. Both these destinations involve late-night 50 mile return journeys on (almost entirely) unlit 'B' roads that, after about 11 o' clock, start to become, (because of the total lack of mid-week night-time traffic) populated with the local fauna. We're talking everything from field-mice to stray cattle here. I have to stop myself from laughing out loud when I hear someone declare, " I know that road like the back of my hand!". Being well aquainted with the back of my hand did'nt help me predict the presence of the very large cow, I encountered, stood sideways on, in the middle of the road, whilst I was desending (at a fair rate of knots) the Brown Clee Hill into Ludlow a couple of winters ago. God bless ABS I say! Anyway, on both these trips I encounter tight (20mph?) bends and a characteristic of an HID main beam is that the contrast between light and dark is stark. Consequently, at even moderate angles of lean, especialy on right-handers I find myself peering at a brightly iluminated hedge directly in front and have to take it on trust that there is'nt a family of badgers in the middle of the road, taking advantage (as wildlife seems to do all over the world) of the latent heat in the tarmac and hapily gamboling away in the gloaming round the bend curving to the right. Most professional drivers who spend any amount of time on unlit roads, from rally drivers to truckers will, you'll have noticed, be sporting just as many lights as the vehicles electrical system will support. And though there is, I'll grant you an element (npi) of 'bling' those big spots are there for just the very reason I've described. If you take a closer look you'll notice that not one added (Hella?)light is aligned with the longtitudinal axis of the vehicle it's fitted to.
Now I have been asked why don't I just buy a GS or something similar. Put simply, I wanted a sports bike that I could tour on. Financial/Garaging restrictions dictate I can only own a maximum of two bikes (room, next year, for an ABS equiped CBR 600 I'm saving hard for? I think so.) and I just fell in love, (despite my attempts to take a Mr Spock, [he of Star Trek fame] dispassionate, logical outlook on life), with the timeless beauty of the R1100S. It just 'tics' so many boxes; Good looks, shaft drive, single sided swing-arm, under-seat zorst(I'll never buy another bike without), good (after-market)luggage capacity, and, once an enlarged fuel tank has been fitted, a decent 200 mile range before fill up. Some may say it falls between two stools billed, as it is, as a 'Sports Tourer', but nothing's perfect and I just love mine.
On the subject of HIDs': It strikes me as odd that anyone would fit a 'dip' and not a 'head' but I think It's got something to do with the fact that our bikes don't have a single 'head/dip' but two seperate and diferent(H4+H7) bulbs and owners take the cheaper option of only changing the 'dip' bulb. I found an online vendor who was quite happy to make me up an '11s specific' set and I'm glad I did. Switching from HID 'dip' to OE 'head' at night soon convinced me you need both to be HIDs. One advantage of an HID headlight is this: At night, on an urban unlit road, any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction, though they might be round several bends and hidden by hedges, or over the crest of a rise and several hundred yards away, will be aware of your presence a lot sooner if your headlight is bathing your path and some of the night sky in virtual daylight, and, consequently will be quicker to dip there headlights. It's worth adding that in daylight conditions traffic in front also becomes aware of your presence a lot sooner as you catch them up and, because I suspect they find even a dipped HID light in their rear-view mirror slightly iritating, move over to let you through a lot sooner.
On the subject of crash bars/engine protectors: Some months ago my bike toppled over and though I have the moulded plastic rocker box protectors fitted it still manage to get scratched in the area where the word 'MAGNESIUM' is cast and cost a lot of time and trouble to put right. Trawling the web, It's not hard to find pic's of 'boxers' that have gone down the road on their rocker covers and suffered the consequences. So why not fit a set of £300.00 crash bars? Well there's the (npi) rub. If you've fitted them then throw your bike down the road that's another 300 squidz you'll have to find if you want to replace them. Best not to fit 'em 'cos rocker-box covers are, after all cheaper? Well, yes as long as you hav'nt abraded a hole right through (and maybe even shaved the rockers themselves) thus allowing engine oil to blow out and with you a long way from jouneys end as well. I'm pretty sure I can souce a cheap set of s/h bars meant for some other bike on ebay and adapt them to fit my bike and provide a mounting for a set of 'spots'.
Finaly, let me say, It's pishin' down here in the Marches and I'm 'stuck indoors' with, (as you've probably worked out by now) nothing better to do but compose long-winded answers to fellow Trixters innocuious questions.

Anyway Dave, how's the coating on the Zorst holding up mate?

Dai wiskers · Post by **Dai wiskers** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:26 pm

Hi Nick and all

I'm one that has just dip HID for the riding i do it's fine but if you need more who am i to argue.
The small mini type driving lamps may well fit to the bottom yoke or make up a bracket and fit them to the fork legs
Crash bars i don't know the two bad drops my bike has had i think would have been worse if they had been fitted however the time it was knocked over when parked they may have saved it
You pays your money and all that Dai

Edit how about these Nick nice and small
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... PDPz1#tab3

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:27 pm

Dai wiskers wrote:Hi Nick and all

I'm one that has just dip HID for the riding i do it's fine but if you need more who am i to argue.
The small mini type driving lamps may well fit to the bottom yoke or make up a bracket and fit them to the fork legs
Crash bars i don't know the two bad drops my bike has had i think would have been worse if they had been fitted however the time it was knocked over when parked they may have saved it
You pays your money and all that Dai

Well Dai yor not the only one. Other Trixters have said they only have an HID dip bulb fitted. And if, unlike me, you don't go out at night much, that's ok. It just seems odd to me that anyone would opt not to have both bulbs HID (so as to provide the best illumination possible), especialy when they are so easy to fit and the OE h/light is totaly useless. Fit an HID main bulb mate then tell me it's not a massive improvement.

As for mounting points; I've seen bikes with lights attached to the forks or the bottom yoke and dismissed the idea on four counts: (1) Your adding to unsprung weight. (2) They'll be bobbing up and down with every variation in road surface and suffering the consequent effects of vibration. (3) Too much exposed wiring and (4) too far away if HID bulbs are fitted . As for the pros and cons of crash bars; Well I've seen,(as I'm sure you have) over the years, many bikes that have gone up the road on their side and not just 'boxers'. Of those that had crashbars, pretty much all of them were able to be re-started and ridden away, albeit with badly abraided crashbars, but those sans bars often suffered serious damage to points/generator covers/ crankshaft ends/rocker covers, so as to render them unridable.

I rest my case.

Oh

Up the pub time.

Byyyyyyee

Mike B · Post by **Mike B** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:07 am

From what I understand you are not supposed to use a high beam HID light because there is a delay in starting up, making flashing your headlight useless.

I have just bought the kit you have El-nicko, fitting it tomorrow. I will be testing the speed of the fire up and decide then ,

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 1:03 am

Mike B wrote:From what I understand you are not supposed to use a high beam HID light because there is a delay in starting up, making flashing your headlight useless.

I have just bought the kit you have El-nicko, fitting it tomorrow. I will be testing the speed of the fire up and decide then ,

I hope you like it Mike. Let us know what you think? But yes, it is true, that on first switching up to head from low the bulb dosn't give full power and takes a few seconds to atain it's maximum brightness. However since on the 11s the dip remains on all the time this is not a problem and, if you're switching down then up again with not too long a dwell in between, the main beam is 'there' instantly due to it retaining some latency for a short while; about 20-30 seconds. Also, I've found this latency seems to allow just one 'flash' to remain in the system for some considerable time. I really like my setup. It makes riding at night a real pleasure.
EDIT: make sure you mount the little boxes so that the movement of the lower fork legs dosn't foul them. I had to re-position mine because I did'nt take their movement (in compression) up the sliders into account.

Mike B · Post by **Mike B** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:13 am

Just done a quick test on my kitchen table using my jump starter pack.
I don't think I will ever be able to see properly again, nearly blinded myself and my wife who was eating her breakfast during the test lol
HELL THATS BRIGHT!

I understand what it mean't now about not working properly on first fire-up. however, it started instantly and I would say was still as bright as a standard bulb even in the first couple of seconds of fire-up, so no problem that I can see. (or not, as the case may be)

I must say that I have never "flashed" at anyone in my life, either with the bike headlight or anything else lol. It was just something that I had read on the internet about HID lighting. Completely unfounded I believe after carrying out my kitchen table test.

El-nicko, thanks for the advise in mounting (jeez this post seems to have a lot of sexual implications lol). I saw the place you had mounted yours in a photo somewhere on here, mine will be in the same place.

P.S. Sorry if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, I am having trouble looking at the screen due to temporary blindness. Do you think you could receive a "Flash" (here we go again lol) from these bulbs like you can with welding? It should perhaps say "must use a welding mask when testing" on the box.

Mike B · Post by **Mike B** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:19 am

Anyway, back to the topic!

CRASHBARS!!!

Dai wiskers · Post by **Dai wiskers** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:49 am

Mike B wrote:Anyway, back to the topic!

CRASHBARS!!!

No i don't like them [each to their own etc]

HID mine anyway will come on instantly before dimming then come up to full brightness after a few seconds i don't think flashing would be a problem, i have a H7 set that i probably will be fitting at some time, but for now they will stay in the box

Mike B · Post by **Mike B** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:56 am

Crashbars! nope not for me either.

Remember a young lad in the 70's, he had a 125 Honda single with those bloody huge crash bars (remember them). Anyway, he fell off and the crashbars flattened and trapped his leg between it and the engine. He suffered serious burns because of it.

Hey can you remember those huge rear crash bars that went with em lol

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:05 pm

Dai wiskers wrote: HID mine anyway will come on instantly before dimming then come up to full brightness after a few seconds i don't think flashing would be a problem,

Dai's right. That's what I find too.

Hope you can see this Mike.

ianbcr · Post by **ianbcr** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:05 pm

i only have the dipped hid and mounted mine to the horn with the bracket supplied,keeps it well clear of everything.

el-nicko · Post by **el-nicko** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:28 pm

Found a comment the other day on an American forum where this bloke had wired his auxilery spots into the 'Indicator Cancel Switch' How would that work I wonder.