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2011 R1200RT Front and Rear Crash Bars

apexal

New member
I bought a mint, low mileage 2011 R1200RT last winter and have been enjoying the bike very much. My biggest issue with the bike is that it's a bit heavy and hard to handle when off the road in places like dirt parking lots, campgrounds, steeply sloped spots or just pulling off the side of the road. Well, last week the inevitable happened and I dropped my RT at a sloping boat launch area where I was going to take a break. So I instantly wiped out a side case cover, cylinder head protector and mirror housing.
A set of front and rear crash bars would cost the same as this damage and I wish that I had bought them now. I did a search on this forum for crash bar info but all the threads for the camhead RT are really old. What I'm looking for is a recommendation and source for front and rear crash bars. There's a number of choices for front bars, a few choices for the rear, and they are all very expensive. Then there's the bargain stuff on eBay.
Does anybody know a source for reasonably priced front and rear crash bars for my 2011 R1200RT? Any advice? Thanks in advance!
 
Ilium works makes some simple, but good looking rear guards: https://www.iliumworks.com/BMW_Motorcycle_Accessories.cfm?pn=11-800&pID=140

Not cheap though. I don't think I've seen any crash guards that are cheap, for that matter.

I never really saw the point with my RT as the side cases and cylinder head take a tipover quite well (save for scratches). At most I'd get valve cover protectors and in my case I have a second set of side cases that are rhino-lined for when I do parking lot training (which is where I'm most likely to have a tip over).

I've had an R1200RT-P with the OEM crash guards and laid it down at about 5mph. The crash guards were so bent the dealer had to cut them off and they were not worth replacing.
 
I can only think of four "name" brands, Touratech, Wunderlich, Illium and Heed. I don't think there is much difference in protection between them. Heed seems to be a less expensive knock-off of the Wunderlich bars. The rear Wunderlich/Heed designs can interfere with some short-legged passengers.

My bike came with the front Wunderlich bars(only). It's been dropped twice, once without the panniers installed and the back edge of the valve cover was scuffed, once with the pannier and the lid was scratched. Both times the mirror housing was popped off and was slightly scuffed.
 
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