[HonestAndy]

Haven’t been part of any social media or forums in a long time. Found myself lurking here so I figured I’d join.

Been riding for many years. Dirt and then street. Now back to a mix of both. Hence the AT.
Bought my 2018 ATAS new about two years ago. Been tinkering with it, along with my other bikes, trying to figure out what setup I like best. More on that later.

Anyway, hope to learn from and maybe contribute to this place.
Obligatory pics

 

[AT-Dragon]

Hi and welcome

 

[DoubleThumper]

That is pretty @HonestAndy. Welcome to this fine Forum!

 

[Bookem]

Welcome to the forum Andy! This is a great place to learn things, that is for sure.

Ride safe!
Bookem

 

[ride365]

Hello! You're bike caught my attention. I've seen a lot of different things in my two plus years of ownership and lurking but have NEVER seen those crash bars! Are they custom? Care to share about them? I see they integrate with the factory light bar but most people just throw them away. Very curious about this. Thanks!

 

[HonestAndy]

I always intended to put crash bars on the AT. Spent forever looking at different brands and levels of protection. Never found one I was completely satisfied with. I liked some aspects/parts of one kit and didn’t like some other parts. The idea of buying a piece of one kit and a piece of another also didn’t appeal to me. Modifying them to make work together, especially after spending a bunch of money, didn’t make sense.

I am fortunate to have a workspace to tinker with my bikes. So, when they shut down the bars last year, I had the opportunity to become a hermit and play with my tubing bender. Plus I had the correct tubing already.

Came up with these bars after a weekend of playing around. Made them so they are easy to remove with minimal tools. As for the factory crash/light bar, I happen to like it. That’s why chose to adapt my bars to them. That being said, I did reinforce the mounts for the factory bar.

Now, unfortunately I have tested this setup both on (Uber drivers are vicious) and off-road. Fortunately worked great. Not a scratch anywhere, except the bars and barkbusters. So far, I am happy with them. I have maybe $100 into them. Hopefully they continue doing their job as I plan to do a lot more riding this year. NEBDR is first on the list.
Currently making a quick release/tool free setup that allows me to go from the Hepco and Becker racks to the factory side cases in about 2 minutes. See how that turns out...