The Great Crash Bar Mystery

[loggamatt]

Here's one for either the great minds of the V-Strom Owners Site UK or possibly the Famous Five (there'll be lashings of ginger beer in it for someone!)

So, after trying unsuccessfully to determine what is causing a really loud vibration sound (see here for details) I was starting to think I would have to take it somewhere for a mechanic to figure it out. Then as I was walking away from the bike I noticed that my Suzuki crash bars had snapped, or sheared off, or whatever the correct terminology is for it. Here are a couple of pics...





Now... what the devil has happened to my crash bars???   As far as I'm aware, the bike has never been dropped... though I guess it's possible that someone messed around with it, dropped it and picked it up while I wasn't looking and it was parked somewhere. But if that was the case, you'd imagine there would be other scratches/scuffs on the bars or the bike itself and I can't see any. So has it just randomly snapped of its own accord at some point... does that sort of thing happen?? I have very little knowledge of metalwork and such things, but I didn't think metal tended to just break randomly like that?

Or did ghosts do it? Or gremlins? Or pixies?? What's going on???  

So does anyone know what could have happened here and whether, if they did break magically by themselves, they're covered under my warranty considering the bike was supplied with them fitted?

[mr_diver]

I know that vibration resonance can cause things to shatter, but bugger, I don't think it'd do that!

I'd take it to the dealers and get them to have a look at it while still fitted to the bike

[stibbs]

It's a crash bar? It breaks when it rattles? Manufacturing fault, send back, demand refund, buy elsewhere

[UK_Vstrom650]

Bloody hell! I thought my Suzuki crash bars were bad enough for the powdercoating cracking around one of the welds despite being covered in ACF50 since being new, but that is shocking! Get them replaced under warranty asap!

[Fatbelly]

Yes, I suspect the vibration has caused a fatigue fracture. Extraordinary. It is covered under your warranty I think.

[greywolf]

That's a strange place to crack. It would only involve a harmonic vibration point where the combination of the initial vibration and reflected vibration have a maximum amplitude. Most cracks happen near welds where the weld heat changes the crystal structure and the interface between the two crystal structures cracks because of vibrating at different rates.

[loggamatt]

Any theories of what is likely to have happened then Greywolf?

I'm hoping it is a stress fracture type thing as I like the idea of it being replaced free under warranty!

Other than that I'm all out of ideas... as I say, it certainly hasn't been dropped as far as I know, and besides, what kind of stationary drop has enough force to crack the bars but otherwise leave them and the bike unmarked?

I guess potentially it could be vandalism? Someone could have taken a hacksaw to it or something maybe? Though it doesn't look like a clean enough break for that I would say... also, that's some pretty random and labour intensive vandalism if that's what it is!!

This is my fear... the idea that it just randomly fractured in that part of the bar is so incredible that the dealer will say I must have dropped it or did it myself somehow and will refuse the warranty claim. Oh well, I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what they say...

Why do these things always happen to me???  

[greywolf]

My take is vibration caused that. The more I see of crash bar posts, the happier I am I chose sliders.

[loggamatt]

I'm going to have a go at talking them into fitting the SW Motech ones instead... I'll make the argument that Stibbs made, which is that if they're not up to withstanding a little vibration I'd hate to test them by sliding the bike down the road!!!

To be honest though, knowing the dealer that sold me the bike as I now do, I'm not expecting to get anything out of them without a heated argument or two!

[matchless]

Having owned two Triumph Bonneville's 1968 & 72, I found that high frequency vibration can break most bits of metal bolted to a bike !

[Engel]

Just my thoughts.  After showing some of the blokes here (I'm in an engineering firm) the verdict is the bars were a bad fit or installed badly.  Since there's a gap between the break it means they must have been under tension so they've just failed near the cross bar weld.  I guess they must have struggled to fit them correctly and forced them to fit hence the extra strain.

After seeing the pics though I did rush out and chack mine though.  No sign of anything on mine but mine have taken a drop on either side so they may have deformed slightly which may help...

[Gassoon]

I'll bet that's it engel - first thing I noticed was the gap, and what that might imply. Fitted stressed, and with a weakness, allied with vibration, has been enough. Even 'letting the bike down'  would leave some scratches, and none can be seen...hopefully the dealer isn't an argumentative barsteward; aren't they mostly reasonable people with strong philanthropic principles?

[Brockett]

I have not seen this sort of fracturing since the demise of the 'good old British" twins.  
The jagged edge is typical of vibration fracture.
I hope you can get it sorted out with the dealer.
However Suzuki call them 'accessory bars'. They may help if the bike falls over but are not much use in a full on low side drop.
I had crash bungs on my GSR and it was the first thing to break off when I went down. ( quickly followed by the rest of the left side of the bike.)

[loggamatt]

Well, so far this morning... Dealer service dept. - "Nothing to do with us... it's an accessory so not covered under your warranty. Speak to our parts department to see what they say about the warranty for the part itself."

And after 3 or 4 attempted rings later, their parts dept. isn't answering...

Oh how I love the dealer experience!  

I'm considering asking them to just remove the part and refund me the money for it. This has been a bit of an eye opener as to how much protection I'm really getting from the crash bars anyway. Being a big, tall chap I think I'm unlikely to drop it while stationary so am more likely to drop it at speed... not convinced these bars would help much now!!!

[jabmotorsport]

Sw Motech bars are really good, they are 27mm diameter as opposed to 22mm and look a lot beefier. Hope you get this issue resolved, best bet would be to pop down and show them the bike, they will obviously see it hasn't been dropped and may be more willing to help. Go and have a word  

Josh

[hookie]

I agree with it being a vibration fracture caused by a stressed initial fitting. When fitting something like this, it should fit on its brackets or mounts without being forced. Having to pull it into place with bolts means that it is initially under stress and this will make it much more likely to break at some future date. If something like this doesn't fit properly when bought new then the manufacturer isn't doing their job properly and the the item should be returned.

[loggamatt]

Finally got through to the parts department... hurrah! The chap said that to save me coming down, best that I email him a couple of pictures for them to forward onto Suzuki as that is all he would be able to do at this stage anyway. So I have done that.

In addition to stressing the fact that I would like this resolved soon (who else is predicting a wait of months for me getting a satisfactory answer to this??), I have said that I have now lost faith in the product and would like them to be replaced free of charge with a 3rd party alternative instead. If they agree to that, I'll pick the SW Motech bars as recommended.

Stay tuned kids!

[TravellingStrom]

The best bars on the market are Givi. Not sure what they installed but they obviously mucked up by putting it under stress.

The sw motechs are too low down IMHO but in the end as long as you get a replacement set then alls good

[greywolf]

The sw motechs are too low down IMHO but in the end as long as you get a replacement set then alls good

SW-Motech bars changed from low to high years ago. Here's a pic on a Glee.

[Fatbelly]

Suzuki are usually pretty quick to give dealers a reply when they send pics of a fault. You shouldn't have to wait too long. I don't expect you'll have a problem, It's obvious they have not been scratched, bent or dented.