The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: Jon_P on April 23, 2007, 09:30:18 AM
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i read an article by duane about his thoughts on case savers, he didnt think you should. i see some of the members here have them. do you like them? i have a nice set the seem to be bigger and wrap around the cylinders more than the ones i have seen here. the ones i have mount to three points of attachment to the frame. i can see them saving the tips when they in the parking lot, but what about ridding? i like to ride pretty hard. i have had my kz's over enough to scrap the center stand peg.
maybe i should wrap a piece of magesium on them and see if i can scrape them off at night! alots of sparks!! sorry, like i said i ride hard.
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He He, you wanna see some sparks fly??? You chose the right topic!!!
I have them and am quite happy to use them, in fact they have saved my heads a couple times in the early years when I was coming to terms with the Airheads width. I have asked extensively over the last couple years many people who have been riding Beemers for years, and some of them are hard riders. They have never experienced, or heard of happening, the sort of problems reported in the article written by Duane, namely statistically larger likelihood of hi siding caused by them. I've even talked to a guy who slid with his bike for quite a distance and is convinced they saved his leg.
Hi siding happens, but apparently not with any greater frequency on Beemers, or indeed any bike, so equipped, than normal. I'm not sure if it is just the luck of the draw, or how or where the perception that they do cause hi sides comes from, but you can hi side any bike, any time.............or not.
Bring on the cannons...................sorry, semi automatics!!
Bill..........................;-)
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I have 'em on my LS and plan to use them as a mount for driving lights at some point. I've heard it said that in a hard fall there is the possibility of bending the frame. Some sneer at their use for this reason. I'll be leaving them on myself, I've had similar bars on other bikes I've owned and in 3 different instances, where I got off the bike unexpectedly, the only damage other than bent levers was to the crash bars. I've never bent a frame and figure that if the bike stops suddenly enough for the bars to leverage the frame you're gonna have bigger problems. YMMV.
rich
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Jon, I think that maybe the kind you are describing that you have might be the ones Duane like's the least. Visualize the bike sliding down the road and if where the bars meet the road results in a pretty sharp radius I think his contention is that they are highly likely to dig in and cause the bike to flip over. I think ones that have a gentle bend he is rather ambivalent about. Half our bikes have 'em and half don't...
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I'll vote with Bill and Mr. Riden, and keep mine, thanks very much.
However, others feel differently, as you'll no doubt soon see. ::)
I'd like to think in a sudden go-down that, between the cylinders, crash bars and the non-folding footpegs, I might just salvage a leg out of the deal...
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i will get a pix of the one i have. they are these big u shape things that start on the down tubes then bens in front of the cylinder then wrap around them in a u shape. they then have a bar that mounts to the lower engine mount that curves up real easy. that bar looks like it would take the biggest hit if it would tip over or on the lean, though that bar would be the one to hook on something also. i need to post some pixs to see what you think.
i for one believe in case savers, i have had them on my kz's. they saved my covers enough times to pay for themselves.
i just wanted to see what everyone else thought of them. i like them and will most likely use them unless the group thinks i have the wrong kind.
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Jon, are yours more like this?
These are similar to the wraparound engine guards the cops use on the R1100 & 1150RT-P models.
I've always liked these, myself... ;)
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After seeing my friend Bruce's totaled R65 I have removed mine. A deer took the rider off the bike and when the bike fell over the case saver dug into the pavement fliping the bike into the air. Without the case savers the bike would have slid down the road on it's side and could have been fixed instead of having a frame twisted beyond repair.
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I was surprised by how common case savers are on pictures from Europe. Especially the aftermarket, one-large-loop type.
Don't see many of those OEM optionals though.
I've never had them on any bike. Yep, my heads are scuffed. Gee...
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yep steve mine look alot like that. little differences but close to the same.
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I think one of the drawbacks to that style in Steve's post, is that the piece needs to be removed in order to adjust the valves.
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the ones i have dont have that cross bar going though. i could remove the valve covers without taking them off.
lowen, what kind of savers where there on that bike? what kind did you have?
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How's about these, some serious guards, uprights front & back, as favored by the CHP?
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi146.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fr261%2Fsteve2371%2FR1100RT-P2.jpg&hash=cd48f35c6f7ea294d2c6e0feac9bfc4a66c259b4)[/img]
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi146.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fr261%2Fsteve2371%2FR1100RT-P1.jpg&hash=c1908e8153978622fd8fca9db2af421ef3a27d1f)[/img]
[smiley=thumbsup.gif]
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I came very close to bidding on one of those on e-Bay a couple years ago...
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Yeah, they are definitely planning on those bikes being laid down at some time or another...
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The bars I removed.
http://suraklyn.com/yabb/Attachments/112236469765_3300.jpg
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How's about these, some serious guards, uprights front & back, as favored by the CHP?
Those are actually used for mounting some of their lights and sirens. They really look strange with them removed. We sold 10 of these to the NC State Highway Patrol back in the '90s, again in 2004 and just this year we leased the new R1200RTs to them. We actually have a couple of the CHP used bikes down at Capitol for sale. We usually have several around as we sell to many municipalities including RTs and F650s. If you want to see one up close, come on by the shop!
Personlly, I don't have any crash bars and don't plan on getting any. I don't have strong feelings about them, but the valve covers actually would cost less to replace than a crash bar if it was damaged. You would have to slide a LLOONNGG way to grind through a cover. We saw an airhead come into a rally a few years back that had done just that and he was still able to ride it in. Go figure! Graham went down in a hairpin a couple of years ago and between the heads and saddlebags, his legs were pretty well protected.
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I have a pair like Lowen's on my R100 and there is a pair on the Junkyard LS. I think the radius of the bend is greater then that of the valve cover so the arguements about the bars with the "edge" to catch and high-side don't apply. The bars on my wife's '84 are Luftmeisters and they have an even larger/gentler radius.
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Ho Humm. What ever floats your boat. They make great mounts for a set of PIAAs or an oil cooler though.
Howszat for a shot across the bow...zzzzzzzzzzzzz
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You really can't predict the dynamics of an incident, so I personally have a set of Luftmeister guards installed, had them from the day I bought the bike . I have mounted a set of PIAA 40 driving lights, and I think that being visible to the brain dead, crack head idiots out there on the roads, is more of an asset than possibly preventing an ugly scenario if the bike goes down. I have come to the realization that I ride a 26 year old motorcycle that at best is worth $2000, I carry only liability insurance, and I have saved almost enough in insurance costs in the last 3 years, to pay for the bike. So if the bike is gone when I get out of work or missing when I come out of a store, or is destroyed in an incident that was my fault, I won't get upset, it's expendable, I've come to terms with it.
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I have guards on both my R65 and R75/6 - see the attached. The top bar on the R75 is level, the top bar on the R65 slopes down and the lower one is close to level. they have given me places to mount airhorns and driving lights (not in the pic) and saved the heads in several tipovers. Yes, there is an inch or two less ground clearance but I don't usually scrape them anyway. I guess I have slowed down since when I was riding a new R69s. Come to think of it, that one had engine guards also.
I do have a spare set of heads for the R65 that I picked up on Ebay - on both of them the foward hole for the valve cover is cracked and elongated where the valve cover stud was pushed back - I assume from a crash without engine guards.
For me, I'll keep them on - YMMV
Drew
R60/2 - LS200
R75/6
R65