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Waiting in a traffic queue today, a GSer pulled up alongside. He suggested crash bars would be a good idea in case I dropped it.

It did get me thinking, can the cylinders take it, or do they get wiped off/crack the crankcase etc.

What does experience show?

You should have asked how useful his were when he used the GS off-road

There was a feature in a recent copy of 'Bike' where some hrizontal GS riding made a hole in a rocker cover, thus losing mucho oil.

Conversely when I had my R100RS back in the 80's a copper told me that the cylinders (in them thar days) were built like brick sh!thouses and that crash bars were more likely to damage the frame...

I had the dubious pleasure of sliding down the road after my GS about 3 years ago - not fun. I'd just fitted some Hepco and Becker crash bars which bore the brunt - they were actually pushed over from their central position and ended up resting against one of the cylinders which was unmarked. The bars were well ground down, bent and completely unserviceable. Obviously the handlebars touched down and a nice chamfer was applied to the rear bevel box. However bear in mind that these crash bars were over a £100 - not sure what a cylinder cover costs but I don't think its that much. Personally I wouldn't bother with them and would rather opt for cylinder head protectors if I got anything - haven't got any yet and so posting this I'm probably tempting fate!!!

Head covers are €129 if I remember correctly. And the cylinders are very sturdy. I ripped open the side of a car that didn't bother to use the mirrors when changing lanes using one of them, and all it had were some scratches.

Motorworks sell new engine covers for

11S from £90 to £102 EACH depending on model

12S from £108 to £115 EACH depending on left/right

Ignoring the possible inconvenience of having your oil dumped all over the road, I'd wager that the cost of replacement heads is significantly cheaper than the cost of new plastic fairing panels on a Jap bike! So it's all relative and arguably not worth the bother fitting protectors. Having said that, I do think bars look good on a GS, but maybe I've been watching too much Ewan and Charlie!!

Having had mine dumped on its side twice when stationary (once with me on the bike ) I can vouch for the sturdiness of the heads. In both instances they protected the rest of the bike and suffered a broken plastic spark plug cover and a couple of chips to the actual head.

Given how cheap the magnesium heads are to replace, crash bars and carbon cover are imho cosmetic bling and not worth the money - which is substantially more than the bit they are meant to protect.

Ade

Sounds like a resounding "Don't Bother" from all Trixters...

noted

thanks all. The bike had protectors fitted when I bought it, guess they'll do for now.

Personnally I'd chuck a pair of those cheap BMW head protectors on - the plastic ones. I've been down the road on diesel and they didn't wear through. I know the cam overs are cheap and easy to replace but it only take a stone or a small irregularity (or pothole perish the thought) or something to pierce it and leave the oil on the road. My mate with a GS did that on a stone and it's a pain in the arse.

Hey, I saw a R1100S fall over at Donnington during the Boxer Cup race and spin around on one cylinder head driven by the back wheel. It took a bale of hay to stop it rotating, then they stood it up, and rode it away.
I was completely amazed! But it was bloody funny because before they threw the bale of hay at it, they had already broken a broom handle in the back wheel trying to stop it.

All true.....

pull up a sandbag, swing that lamp...
came off on diesel on a roundabout during morning rush hour, the bike was in gear, engine still running, on its right side - it did a complete arc and came right back to where I was standing, I reached down and flicked the kill switch and then took a salute from everyone else who had stopped. The 1100s is a special bike...