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slapped crash bars on my bike
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After much wrangling, I bought a set of Paladin Highwat bars for my
Honda Aero 750. They came in last night and I put them on.
They are smalelr than most and way smaller than the Cobra freeway bar,
yet extend out enouhg that they should minimize damage should I drop
the bike in the garage.
I liek the fact that they don't overwhelm the bike and don't look like
hula hoops. Plus, the fastening to the bike seems better than some
other brands... they fasten to the peg brackets with replacement screws
and directly to the frame via u-clamps. This is dif than others that
bolt to the radiator screw and the Paladins look less obtrusive as a
result.
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They are called "engine guards"
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Actually, the ones I bought are "highway bars", but almost nobody but
Paladin calls 'em that. Almost every retail website refers to them as
"crash bars".
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Now you got me confused (which actually is pretty easy.) "Highway
bars" are for resting your feet on for long highway stretches. 'Engine
bars" are to protect your cases in a tipover or slide. "Crash bars'
(if we might use that term), I was never sure whether they're supposed
to protect the bike or the rider.
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Highway bars are typically a straight bar with foot pegs for resting
your feet like you say, but Paladin calls their engine guards, highway
bars and they say that the bars "might" prevent damage to the bike if
it falls. Then you've got Cobra, I think, who calls their super-sized
engine guards "Freeway Bars". Go figure.
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Well to be fair there are engine guards with footrests on them. 8^)
If you look at them, sometimes you can see they are designed with one
purpose or the other in mind, but they do both.
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That's so when you attempt to ride slowly thru twistys and they drag and
cause you to crash, they can say they were intended for freeways, not
mountain roads.
I know a guy who makes "sport bars" for Jeepsters, if he calls it a "roll
cage" and you get hurt in a roll, he thinks he has has more legal risk.
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Some engine guards seem to be much smaller than even what I have, but a
few sites do call "crash bars" engine guards, too.
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Warning: Long-winded irrelevant story follows. When I bought my BMW
airhead I was curious if the cylinders coming out sideways from the
engine might break or shear off in a spill. The BMW guru I asked
said it was very unlikely. There was one example he knew of where a
guy's bike had slid on it's side into a curb. A cylinder hit the curb
and it broke not the cylinder but the crankcase. Other than that, he
said, cylinders always 'skate'. The valve covers are heavy castings
because they're the first thing to hit the ground in a spill. If you
skid badly enough you'll punch a hole in one, near the bottom, and you
take it off and turn it upside down and that will get you home without
all your oil leaking out.
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See? Built-in engine guards! :)-
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That was what I thought when I bought the bike. But you know they
also make engine guards for this bike!
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We dont use the word C-----.
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Yeah, I agree. When I saw them called that on websites, I was taken
aback and then I figured that's just what folks call 'em.
Greg
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Good choice, I'm glad to have contributed to your choosing.
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