Heed crash bars

[lkraus]

I think you will be grinding footpegs long before the bars touch down.

If you are doing that, then you should shift more of your weight to the inside so the bike leans less.

If you are already shifting all your weight inside and the pegs are still touching down, you should probably be on a track instead of the road.

 

[etiennelau]

I know this is a old thread. But I just installed the Heed crash bars front and back on my 2010. The rear ones were not too hard to install. The front/engine ones, hah they were a different story.

Sadly not much documentation on the forums regarding the engine through bolt. Some stated that one should be able to slide the bolt in and out freely if you compress the suspension just right. My biggest difficulty was not being able to compress the front strut properly or enough and may have been related to my newly installed front strut from Wilbers with ESA II. I bought a front wheel chock and used two ratchet ties. No matter how tight I did the ties the suspension would not compress enough.

So I thought, OK, why not remove the front strut out of the picture. I unbolted the bottom of the front strut and then jacked up the engine to lower the front wheel. Magic, the bolt moved freely! But the head of the bolt now collided with a pivoting part of the engine, sorry don't know what to call the item.

So I took a chance, and compressed the suspension just enough so the head of the bolt would clear the above mentioned engine piece. Took the Heed through bolt and hammered it in from the opposite side to drive the stock bolt out. Bingo. It all works.

I am not thrilled with how the bottom rear of the Heed bars attach to the engine. So I may in the future look at something like the T-Rex engine guards.

 

[StLouRider]

I know this is a old thread. But I just installed the Heed crash bars front and back on my 2010. The rear ones were not too hard to install. The front/engine ones, hah they were a different story.

Sadly not much documentation on the forums regarding the engine through bolt. Some stated that one should be able to slide the bolt in and out freely if you compress the suspension just right. My biggest difficulty was not being able to compress the front strut properly or enough and may have been related to my newly installed front strut from Wilbers with ESA II. I bought a front wheel chock and used two ratchet ties. No matter how tight I did the ties the suspension would not compress enough.

So I thought, OK, why not remove the front strut out of the picture. I unbolted the bottom of the front strut and then jacked up the engine to lower the front wheel. Magic, the bolt moved freely! But the head of the bolt now collided with a pivoting part of the engine, sorry don't know what to call the item.

So I took a chance, and compressed the suspension just enough so the head of the bolt would clear the above mentioned engine piece. Took the Heed through bolt and hammered it in from the opposite side to drive the stock bolt out. Bingo. It all works.

I am not thrilled with how the bottom rear of the Heed bars attach to the engine. So I may in the future look at something like the T-Rex engine guards.

It is an old thread, and I’m not sure how busy this site is, but I just installed the Heed engine protection bars on my 2011 RT. I had trouble getting the bolt out that went through the engine. Even with the front suspension compressed. Everything else went fine. I like them so far, except taking the right side plastics off, and putting them back on. The right side is really tight to get the plastics in place. I hadn’t thought about how the rear bolts attach to the engine. I’ll have to look at them more closely.
If you do decide to swap them out for something else, or have a problem, please post it here.
Thx

 

[lkraus]

I like them so far, except taking the right side plastics off, and putting them back on. The right side is really tight to get the plastics in place.

The Heed bars look like a very close copy of the Wunderlich bars on my RT. I can (carefully) remove the lower fairing on both sides without touching the guards. Lift the top edge outward away from the tank, then rotate the fairing forward about 90 degrees, so the front edge is pointing down and the cylinder passes through the front gap in the fairing as it is lifted vertically. Might be a good idea to have a helper the first couple times you try this, as you need to watch all edges of the fairing at the same time.