Pictures Heed Crash Bars , Front Fender Extension , Helmet Lock

[fattyjr]

Do you ride your bike?

Mine is rode everyday to work and back in all weathers. It's filthy.

[etohio]

I ride to my part time job  every chance I get (I am retired 69 year old). This year I rode through December because the weather was really good. I have two other bikes a BMW R1100r and a Yamaha Venture. Of the three I usually ride the BMW to work most of the time. I had a lot more bikes a couple of years ago but sold off most of the collection and to my surprise almost all the bikes went to Australia. I did sell the newest Triumph (79 Bonneville) to a buddy to buy the Tiger.

[fattyjr]

I ride the tiger and my 1200 trophy the most. I suppose over here in the uk, we are the land of shitty weather and potholes. At last count I had 22 bikes in various states of repair/renovation /customizing.

Really trying to get my hands on a bw200/350 or a Honda fatcat.  I even considered building one using a cheap 400+cc bike

[motoOzarks]

Use the front forks and all from a four wheeler and widen the rear swingarm and use one rear wheel to make a small float bike

[motoOzarks]

I meant three wheeler

[Daiku]

Thanks for posting this up.  I've got mine on order and will follow up with pics as well.

[klingklang]

found a little downside for the Heed crashbar.   Cannot remove the valve cover with them on.  right side is on the way.  would not be that bad id it wasn't for the front top engine bolt.  The one with the nut behind the radiator...I hate this one.  I'll try to put the bolt the other side, with the nut on the outside so the bolt will stay there

[klingklang]

Kind of ironic that I've started this thread for heed crash bars as the first and I am probably the first to crash tested them too.  I am applying the "approved " stamps on it.  Not so for my ribs...ouch.   I did not asked to go that far in my review.

[GuyMoody]

ouch kilngklang - sorry to hear of the unplanned test.

I have just joined the group with the Heed bars install on my 2006 Girly. I love the bars and they are (as we say around here in BC) pretty Skookum, meaning big/good/strong.

I have one serious complaint. The install should have been a couple of hours and pretty easy for a non-mechanic like me. However, the bolts seized on me after threading most of the way. They were so bound that I had to cut two of them off. What a pain, given that they were installed and could not be tightened enough or removed easily. I ended up cutting them off with a small Dremel rotary tool. I used the stock bolts for three of the mounting points and one of the Heed-supplied bolts that was not binding. I suppose I could have tested all of the bolts to make sure they spun all the way onto the nuts *without* binding, but after checking one I didn't do that. Who does? Well, if you intend on using the Heed-supplied bolts, you should.

I should also say that the badly scored bolt and nut you see in the photo is the result of several attempts to remove the bolt with vise grips and/or a breaker bar on the bolt head. Hopelessly stripped the head and nut and didn't budge the nut. You can also see from the photos just how far it wound on without a problem, and then the sudden bind and stop that lead to my grief.

In the end I am very happy with the bars and intend to use them as a front mounting point for an as yet to be made bash plate.

For those in my part of the world (Vancouver BC, Canada) they were ordered from Ebay.ca July 8, 2016 and delivered July 15, 2016 at a cost of $275. Not sure what happened to import duty but it never came up in the conversation so I didn't ask...

[Bixxer Bob]

Just as an aside, what happens in cases like this is a tiny bit of swarf, or even a burred edge on a thread, picks up and starts to roll.  Like a snowball rolled to make a snowman it grows quickly in size locking the thread.  At this point there is no recovering the situation.  Any attempt to free it just increases the lock.

I have seen this many times on bespoke threads turned on centre lathes. Once the male is cut and the female is being cut, the unwary operator trial-fits the male in place too early or without sufficient cleaning and disaster follows.

[GuyMoody]

I put the Heed bars on my 2006 girly and I took the PDF plans for a bash plate that I believe got from this forum (I got them from David and Bigfeesh I believe).

Anyway here are some photos of the work and I am happy to advise others who are tackling this particular set up because I was scratching my head a few times.

Bash Plate:
I got the bash or skid plate made out of 1/4 aluminum and it seems overkill so possibly a thinner gauge would be fine. I modified the plans I was given and I think I can get a copy of them from the machine shop and share them. I did spend a lot of money on the plate. About $475 Canadian by the time I was done because I made a mock up from the drawing I was sent, then modified it to make it narrower and to add more height to the front tab and more length to the rear, in both cases to give me mounting points. I also added a notch at the front to accommodate the Heed bolt that joins the two sides of the Heed bars together. Frankly, without the Heed bars I have no idea where I would mount the skid plate.

Rear Mounting:
The bracket holding the back of the plate is a simple L shape. I used 2 pieces of an L-shape piece of aluminum I got from a scrap yard for $10 and cut and drilled them. It is hanging off of the rear engine mount that is behind the left foot peg. You have to remove the plate that holds the foot peg to get to the outer end of the mounting bolt. The other end under the engine is easy to get to. In making the brackets, the aluminum is so soft you can use normal tools to do all of the cutting and drilling, but I did have use of a grinder to make the cutting easier and the smoothing of the edges a little faster and cleaner.


Front Mounting:
The front of the plate mounts to the Heed bars with heavy gauge conduit holders which cost $2 for all 4 and some rubber I cut as a vibration absorbing wrap on the pipes. I also put a rubber plate between the rear bracket and the skid plate. I drilled the skid plate where needed for the bolts and used locking nuts to hold it on.

Overall I am happy at how sturdy the Heed bars and the skid plate are. I have yet to test them seriously, and probably won't rush to do so, considering I would probably come off the worse for wear after. Still, it makes me feel much better knowing I am not going to knock the oil plug off without doing much more serious damage to myself and the bike.

By the way the scratches on the bike were there before the Heed bars and when I put the bash plate on I saw that I have dinged the bottom of the engin on a previous trip. Very minor and not a problem but sobering all the same considering where I might have been when I did it and how far from town I might have been. Possibly hundreds of kilometers so the bash plate is going to be necessary.

Anyway, message me if you are trying this and are looking for help figuring it out. I might have learned something to help along the way.

[nickjtc]

Nice work.

[Thierry]

Wow, nice job on the bash plate and use of the Heed crash bars to anchor it. Do you take orders from canadian fellows !? I really want to put one on my Girly (that has the Heed bars) but have no skills and equipment to make one.

[GuyMoody]

Wow, nice job on the bash plate and use of the Heed crash bars to anchor it. Do you take orders from canadian fellows !? I really want to put one on my Girly (that has the Heed bars) but have no skills and equipment to make one.

Hey Thierry,
I am not skilled either so it is not a tough as you might think. I didn't make the plate, I had it made. Also, aluminum is easy to drill so the mounting was not a big challenge. The tricky parts I can help with (making a rear bracket, lining up the front brackets with the Heed bars before drilling) but other than that it was not that tough to do. I needed few tools and if you have a socket set, cordless drill, a torque wrench (or a friend with one) then you are set. That and patience.

I will get the plans from the machine shop and post them. It makes life easier.

Guy

[Bigfeesh]

Aye a good fix and a good write up  , I used a large stainless steel strip loop for the rear mounts but aint sorted the front as yet  , I will use the same crash bars mounting idea tho,  beers all round methinks!