Need to know what crashbars to mount on my R1100GS (-97). Most of them seems to be made in Germany (surprise). I don´t want to remove them when changing the oil or adjusting valves. Good protection is also an issue.
:confused1:
Any knowledge about Zweckdesign in Germany? Are they still in business? Tried to contact them by e-mail in english but no response.
They have a nice front-end modification as a set to remove the "schnabel".

Zweckdesign seems to be in business. Got a reply from Manfred today.

Really no one out there with experience of crashbars on a 1100? Need opinions, good or bad!:confused1:

Hi, I have no idea about 1100GS crashbars cause I have a 1150GS but when I was to buy mine I got many information and my conclusion was that Hepco Becker crashbars were the best. Even the Touratech dealer recomended me to buy the Hepco. Also check Krauser and decide what you like best. Greetings...

I've had both stock BMW and Hepco&Becker on my R1100GSes. They're both good in their own ways but if I had to pick I'd recommend stock OEM guards.

They're lighter, doesn't bend that easily (they just don't have any "room" to be bent) as H&Bs do and if they do they don't damage header pipes and they're easy to bend back. Also BMW sells all the parts separately if you damage one of the sides - a big pro. I've done through a serious high speed crash and stock guards did amazing job - engine was one of the only "non-touched" parts of the bike.

Now I have H&B guards, they're nice, but I've done through a smaller crash - they're now bent, they dented one of my header pipes also, it could have been much worse, and now can't do valve adjustments (valve covers don't come off coz of bent guards) w/o taking the whole guards off anymore, and it's so bloody hard to bend them back because of their design. Currently I've just taken them off, I'll try to bend them again, if no success I rather ride w/o the guards or buy BMW stock engine guards again.

Touratech's are very similar to stock BMW 1100GS guards, but a bit easier on oil replacing and made apparently from a bit stiffer metal (on the contrary, I think the "softness" of the stock guard were they key that the engine was OK after the crash while I think stiff guards would have damaged the engine in contact). Removing sump guard with stock engine guards is easy if you learn the easy "trick" how to lift out the sumpguard out. I removed the 4 sump guard bolts and one of the inter-connecting arm bolts between the two sides of engine guards, lifted them a bit apard so they give enough space to slip the sump guard out on the bottom of the engine, and again in after you're done with oil.

Patrick,
I subscribe to the "no crash bar is best" theory. More hasle than they are worth.
Some bars cause damage to the engine/frame by transferring impact energy.
Think about adding some rocker cover protection and leave it at that..

Steve.

Hi Margus, thanks for giving your opinion. The main diference between the H&B and the original one (at least in the 1150) are the side bars, which give much more protection. I understand that if after your last crash the side bar of your crashbars is bended, if you would have had the originals one the crashbar wouldn´t be bended because they have no side bars, so your engine would be much more damaged. In some accidentes the side bars are not necessary, but sometimes they are, and in that case I prefer my crashbars to be bended but my engine to be in one piece. Greetings, Carlos.

R1100GS after the high speed crash I did through:



We've kicked off by a polish fully tatooed chav who did illegal maneuver on the road with his car.

(PS: thanks to boxer cylinders my and g/f's (thanks to alloy boxes too) leg bones were saved, with any other bike I'd very probably had a broken leg)

That's the point where I'd recommend "soft" protection like the OEM guards are. They just 'softly' "wrap around" the engine/cylinders (it's on the left side cylinder on my scenareo) during the hard crash scenareo, while some HARDCORE protection like H&B will probably basically crack your engine casing or mounting since they're much stronger than the engine casing material.

Don't get me wrong, I think H&Bs do their job well too. But from my experiences H&B has apparently one big design flaw - they have tendency to damage the header pipes being too close to them, like they damaged on mine. And it was a relatively slowspeed crash while I did some enduro riding. I wonder if it were a bit higher speed or faster impact crash then I'd probably had written off header pipe and I'd be left on the road while I'd probably would continue with OEM or TT design-like protection...

From my practice I tend to agree and I think the "soft" minimalistic protection is the best choice - not some hardcore stiff pipes that can do a lot of damage to the engine alone.

They tend to be pricy, but worth the expense, IMHO. They do not have to be totally removed to change the oil, which is a big plus.

I have Hepco Beckers on my GS.

I have not crashed yet so they must work.