A man in turmoil.... Need protection advice

[Sharpy]

I am a man in turmoil....

Nothing too serious but some thoughts from the masses would be good... Recently my Strom was written off due to an accident as per my previous thread.

The bike is back on the road, and I have to say after sorting a few bits and bobs she is better than ever...

Now my turmoil is about engine bars... basically now the bike is worth significantly less is it worth getting engine bars, the panels on the left have been repaired but the damage is visible however the right side is fine.

I cannot decide if the benefits now out weigh the cost....

Cheers, a mainly confused,

Sharpy

[noose7]

The bars are not only there to protect the bike but can also protect you, I once had a low speed off without crash bars, my boot latch got caught under the bike so I couldn't get free from the bike, I had to wait in the middle of a country lane for the next car driver to help me get free, I wish I had crash bars then!

[Gassoon]

The bars are handy in those situations where you just let the bike down on the driveway, too (protect that expensive plastic/paint and indicators!) Mine have already paid for themselves. Except they were on when I got it. You know what I mean! I've got just the standard suzy ones - they look a bit puny next to Givis, but have done the job!

[Sharpy]

I was thinking about this on the way home from the pool, makes sense to get then, and more so for the above.  If I drop it again the cost is likely to be more that £100 its costs for a set, seems a no b rainer really!!

[Locky]

Yes buy some they will still save your bike in a fall or off , and you'll get £50 back if you ever sell them ..

[greywolf]

My take is the bars do nothing to protect the rider, only the bike, especially the radiator.

[Andy M]

The Suzuki OEM ones don't protect the indicators, the bike pivots off the top bar onto the flasher and hand guards. Indicators will only cost me thirty quid on the resale value or when the superglue fails though, a scratch on the tank would be more.

In a serious off I've seen bad things happen. A Transalp in Norway folded the bars back into the riders leg and caused real pain, I arrived just after his mates used a tyre lever to free him. We left getting his boot off to the ambulance crew, but it would have been grisly. I doubt this can happen on the Wee. On a BM in Germany the bar folded back into the head and made a hole in the cylinder. Something similar might happen on the WEE, yank out the engine bolt and you have a potential engine case leak or frame damage. Paint damage is better than this IMHO.

I view my engine bars as luggage, they hold a couple of smal bags (US Army packs). They came free with the bike and are IMHO worth exactly what I paid!

Andy

[Descolada]

I realise it's an old cliche, but I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them. Anything that protects rider or bike or (preferably both) is worth it if it let's you walk away from a crash.

When your bike was written off recently (great to hear you finished putting her back together by the way), were there signs that the crash bars had helped in any way or did they contribute to the damage?

Des

[Sharpy]

No crash bars in place, and they probably would have only saved the lower fairing to be fair.

The rest of the damage would still have happened.  So I am back to square one with decideing what to do!!  

[mjc506]

 

[Descolada]

There's nothing for it then, you're going to have to get one of these. Just make sure you can do the 'victory jaunt' at the end before you put it on :-)

[Andy M]

Next video was better:



MCN finally killing the neanderthal notion that "ABS let's da brakes off, so it muss stop longer" in a innacurate but easy to understand way.

Andy

[MartinW]

Good Video Andy - There's a visible difference between those two bikes and I know which one I would have liked to have been on.