Crash Bars fitted to C50T

Got caught in the rain the other day and found out very quickly that big cruisers handle very differently in slow wet slippery corners to a normal sports type bike. S$$t myself turning right at a major intersection, never had a bike understeer as bad on road oil / grease.

Anyway picked up and fitted a set of crash bars, at least if the front wheel slips out at slow speed it wont a total disaster.

keep rideing safe and i might try that one with my wife tell her its money well spent could save my bike but also save my legs if i were in an acident i mean who would bring her a cup of tea in the morning if i got crushed under my bike llooolll been lookin at some for my bike but just droped my back wheel of to be fixed so ill pay for that then wait till i get a bit of money spare before getting something for the bike . i hate it over her if it hasent rained for a long time then you get a good down por the roads are very slippy like you say all the road oil/grease seems to be all over the road and can make for some hairy moments

Glad to hear you are ok. Crash bars really give some a bit more peace of mind, and confidence in difficult riding conditions.

Some are only sold as cosmetic and not protection, either way any thing is better than nothing.

Quote :

...Some are only sold as cosmetic and not protection...

So true. Engine crash/case guards are available for the Boulevard, but they don't come out far enough to protect anything. They're a chrome addy in my book. hmm...might get me a pair. Glad you made out ok. The one result to situations like you were in is that you get to feel your neck hairs...individually.

My crash bars are exactly that, crash bars. The problem that I is that they are not only wide but also sit a bit to far forward. this has stopped me adding lowers for my screen. I was going to cut a grove in the lowers to accommodate this but realised today that they are a bit to far forward to allow me to do that. So there are a few things to consider when pick some up such as already said are they actually fit for purpose and secondly as I have found will the ones you pick stop you from adding something else as with mine.

Hi Mike I have just read your post:

QUOTE:

So true. Engine crash/case guards are available for the Boulevard, but they don't come out far enough to protect anything.

In my case, if you look at mine, they are very protective and are 11/2" in dia.I do not know the make of them,but honestly they certainly work and reassure you.

Most makers now call their bars "Highway Bars" and it is true that many are not made in the manner of stronger bars in the past which had a full loop. My Cobra bars were continuous at the bottom but not at the top.
However, f the bars are cut in half midway between the lower mounting brackets you can slide a piece of gas or water pipe up the two sides of the bars to strengthen them.

This will accomplish two things:
It will made the bars easier to install, remove or reinstall because the lower brackets are no longer registered with each other.
It will strengthen the bars against for and aft forces since the maximum bending must occur in the tube of the bar right at the mounting bracket but now you have the reinforcing pipe present at that point.

This first pic shows a piece of the Cobra bar and a piece of 3/4" water pipe.


Here you can see the wall thicknesses of the bar and pipe.


...and here you can see the pipe fitted in the Cobra tube.


For Cobra bars on the C50 the pipe will need to be a little less than 12" long. The OD of the pipe is a little more than 1". There should be no concern that the bar does not have the same strength at the cut location as it will only experience about half the bending here compared to the outside location adjacent to the bottom mounting bracket. However the bars could be rewelded and painted black in between the mounting brackets and this would give them resistance to torque also.

I got this one from fleabay, had to do a little 'adjusting' to fit.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Enginer-Highway-Crash-Bar-Bars-Volusia-VL800-VL-800-C50-/390059765274?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5ad15fae1a

It only has to work once....

Thats like an unwritten law when you buy anything from china on ebay

meerkat wrote:

4)PLEASE Don't expect / assume this is a Quality Item, Buy OEM item if you want to get quality product.

Now thats gotta be one of the strangest things I have ever read about a product, I'll give this one a miss

to that Dave.

Strangest I have seen is written in an Aprilia's handbook.
'Do not eat any part of this motorcycle'.

Mr Intruder wrote:

meerkat wrote:

4)PLEASE Don't expect / assume this is a Quality Item, Buy OEM item if you want to get quality product.

Now thats gotta be one of the strangest things I have ever read about a product, I'll give this one a miss

That was my first thought as well, me thinks they've been burnt before, people expect Rolls Royce parts for Ford escort prices.....

Their feedback tells a different story.

To be fair the adjustments I had to make were minimal and could well have been caused during shipping, the top mounting brackets were a bit bent.

i could be wrong brian but i think if you look at a lot of ads for things from china alot of them have strange things written or its written in a bit of a strange way i think its just down to who ever is translateing it into english and how well they can translate youl probaly find that the quality is not that bad atall good luck with em mate wonder if they do um to fit my bike were they cheap