[mr_grumble]

I see a lot of twins getting around, fitted with the lower crash bars and engine guards, mainly from Outback Motortrek.
I don't however see many with the upper crash guard fitted.
Watching the Outback Motortrek promotional video on their bars, where they routinely drop bikes fitted with just the lower bars, these in conjunction with the barkbusters seem to do an adequate job of keeping farings up off the scratchy stuff.
Begs the question, what's the advantage of installing the upper crash guard, apart from being a suitable platform to install lights from?

 

[DoubleThumper]

I have only the lower AltRider 1.25" stainless steel bars installed.

 

[Cuchulainn]

I see a lot of twins getting around, fitted with the lower crash bars and engine guards, mainly from Outback Motortrek.
I don't however see many with the upper crash guard fitted.
Watching the Outback Motortrek promotional video on their bars, where they routinely drop bikes fitted with just the lower bars, these in conjunction with the barkbusters seem to do an adequate job of keeping farings up off the scratchy stuff.
Begs the question, what's the advantage of installing the upper crash guard, apart from being a suitable platform to install lights from?

Do keep in mind that as impressive as the Outback Motorteck drop videos are, they are done in a controlled environment. Zero speed drops on flat terrain. Unfortunately not all of the world if flat and not all drops are zero speed.

I have the Outback Motortek lower and mids on mine, but not all drops are perfect promo drops. That said, the bars held up beautifully. The Barkbusters were a little worse for wear, but they did their job as well.

My wife was actually riding it at the time. Bounced off a rut and banked it off a fallen tree

 

[DoubleThumper]

That's what I would call a well-loved AT.

 

[Cuchulainn]

That's what I would call a well-loved AT.

It looks much better now, though there is still a chip in the paint on the tank where the downshift paddle housing looks to have impacted it.

I will get it fixed at some point, but usually the tank bag covers it.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[AT-Dragon]

I like my HEED bars over the OEM’s..
gotta get a better pic of them..

 

[mr_grumble]

It looks much better now, though there is still a chip in the paint on the tank where the downshift paddle housing looks to have impacted it.

Ouch, made even me cringe.

Hindsight being what it is, do you regret not opting for the upper bars or do you just put it down to being one of those freaky, a one in a million freak incident ?

 

[Cuchulainn]

Ouch, made even me cringe.

Hindsight being what it is, do you regret not opting for the upper bars or do you just put it down to being one of those freaky, a one in a million freak incident ?

I am thinking that I may add the uppers. While my wife's bike has the same setup with the lowers and mids and while it hasn't taken any heavy damage, there's are definitely some scrapes that could have been probably have been prevented by having the uppers.

I say probably because there is never any guarantee that rock or something still won't get through if dropped on anything other than flat ground.

But there is always the trade off of adding additional weight to the front end of the bike is to consider.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[AZMtnRider]

The one time I dropped mine so far, it landed on a rock which hit directly on the OM upper bar. No damage to the bike, just a scratch on the bar.

 

[mr_grumble]

Found another thread from last year with some good insights, in particular a promo video at the end highlighting the potential impact zones of both the standard AT verses the AS.

Are Outback Motortek Upper Bars Needed?

.

www.africatwinforum.com

Yes, was a very controlled test, but interesting to see just where the damage was on the crash bars when compared to which bike you owned.

Certainly the narrower tank on the standard AT probably doesn't warrant the upper guards, but the old fatty AS tank and fairings seem to be very exposed, even during a very vanilla stack.
For me anyway, I'd be happy to take the weight hit for the added insurance, like my toys looking their best

 

[Amphib]

The way I see it, you can only protect so much. They haven't designed a magical bubble yet to encompass our bikes and protect them from everything. At some level, we reach a point of diminishing returns, whether this is weight, maintenance hassles. I think a lot of protection is thrown at us as needs through marketing, designed to part us from our hard earned dollars. This will be different for everyone, but my view is protect the sump, protect the radiators and cases, beefy handguards and call it a day.

I remember altrider butting into a thread once scaring the crap out of people where a rock could get through their non altrider protection. Jeez. Protect the basics, don't worry, have fun, and if something breaks, like it eventually will, fix it. Chick's dig scars. Every scratch tells a story.

Thats just the way I see it. I'm definitely a keep it simple stupid person.

 

[Bill J]

Chick's dig scars. Every scratch tells a story.

Only if the scars are on someone else's body.

 

[KiwiMark]

I was glad to have my Outback Motortek upper, lower & skid pan on my bike when I slid it on the road:

Crash bars in effect.

Through some Touratech crash bars on today. Not super thrilled with the fitment or design of the new fairing attachment. Otherwise fine.

www.africatwinforum.com

I scuffed the upper bars and the pannier racks as well as the pegs & Barkbusters, but the fuel tank, muffler & plastics were completely untouched. I'm still riding the bike and I haven't bothered to spend any money or fix anything, though I should probably paint the scuffs on the bars.

I'm very pleased with my Outback Motortek bars, my Bumot pannier rack and my Barkbusters, they are saving me a lot of money by avoiding damage to expensive Honda bits.

 

[Slavetotheroad]

I see a lot of twins getting around, fitted with the lower crash bars and engine guards, mainly from Outback Motortrek.
I don't however see many with the upper crash guard fitted.
Watching the Outback Motortrek promotional video on their bars, where they routinely drop bikes fitted with just the lower bars, these in conjunction with the barkbusters seem to do an adequate job of keeping farings up off the scratchy stuff.
Begs the question, what's the advantage of installing the upper crash guard, apart from being a suitable platform to install lights from?

I have givi upper bars and on a steep hill climb last year I lost the rear end and the bike came crashing down. If it wasn’t for those crashbars I would have been replacing a lot of expensive plastic and maybe having to get my gas tank repainted. You decide for yourself but I’m keeping my bars.

 

[mr_grumble]

Have been on the fence over the upper bars, deducts from the overall look of the bike (imo), extra weight, extra cost, but I'll be getting a set for sure !

All of those negatives pale in comparison when I'm staring at busted fairings, scratched tank and busted transmission / engine housings.

If someone has the confidence and the skill, sure I can see little need for such extreme protection, but I'm definitely not in that category, so I'll be armouring up 😎

 

[Cuchulainn]

Have been on the fence over the upper bars, deducts from the overall look of the bike (imo), extra weight, extra cost, but I'll be getting a set for sure !

All of those negatives pale in comparison when I'm staring at busted fairings, scratched tank and busted transmission / engine housings.

If someone has the confidence and the skill, sure I can see little need for such extreme protection, but I'm definitely not in that category, so I'll be armouring up 😎

If it makes any difference in your decision. While the plastics got messed up on mine without the uppers (and it still may have happened to some degree even with them), the ding in the paint on my tank wouldn't have been helped by upper bars.

The bars got jolted enough to where the DCT downshift paddle housing impacted the tank enough to chip the paint. But the handlebars will always clear the crash bars. Even big ones like AT-Dragons Heed bars. Nothing that could be done there. Even the tank protector I had over the area got lifted by the bars and it chipped the paint underneath. If you hit hard enough to knock the bars out of alignment on a DCT, it may dent

 

[hit-man]

I'm running Heed crash bars and they prevented any damage from a 15 MPH get off on a gravel loaded dirt road.

 

[David Rahbany]

I like my HEED bars over the OEM’s..
gotta get a better pic of them..
View attachment 60432

What kind of 'bark busters' are those? Do they fit over the OEM plastic hand guards? Like them?

 

[chuck genaro]

I got the outback's full coverage, upper lower, engine and bash plate. That's 32lbs of armor. I also have outback's pannier racks. On the hadlebars I have hapco becker guards. I have dropped the bike a half dozen time. I have been launched off doing 40 and 25 mph. The only notable damage was somehow my dct downshift paddle snapped off. The bike has been unscathed, can't say the same for my Badlands riding pants! By the way, Klim's guarantees are worthless.

 

[mr_grumble]

can't say the same for my Badlands riding pants! By the way, Klim's guarantees are worthless.

Happy to share your reasons why ?
Have a set of klim badlands on my list, would be great to have your feedback