Are crash bars really needed on the Tenere 700?

[Cruizin]

I have been riding since 1974. I have owned over 35 motorcycles in my life and I ride hard.  I have never put a set of crash bars on a motorcycle, ever. On my DRZ 400, I did like most people and bought some cheap case savers, basically round metal discs with sticky tape on the back, because the DRZ has thin metal cases on the engine.  But other than that I have never installed anything beyond skid plates on a motorcycle and have never busted a case open.  I have scratched em up on the rocks. But hell, scratching is riding when you venture off road. 

 

Have any of you dumped your T7 over yet, or wrecked it offroad? Did the cases bust open and leak oil? 

 

Im really curious about this.   Are they really needed? Or, do they just look cool sitting outside of Starbucks? 

[MGG]

Have a look at 2:34 ... to see damage ... and it<s close to the radiator, that is the main concern I think.

... so probably you do not need protection ... if you are good.

Here is the crash video ... 

 

 

[CReamflourish]

12 hours ago, Cruizin said:

I have been riding since 1974. I have owned over 35 motorcycles in my life and I ride hard.  I have never put a set of crash bars on a motorcycle, ever. On my DRZ 400, I did like most people and bought some cheap case savers, basically round metal discs with sticky tape on the back, because the DRZ has thin metal cases on the engine.  But other than that I have never installed anything beyond skid plates on a motorcycle and have never busted a case open.  I have scratched em up on the rocks. But hell, scratching is riding when you venture off road. 

 

Have any of you dumped your T7 over yet, or wrecked it offroad? Did the cases bust open and leak oil? 

 

Im really curious about this.   Are they really needed? Or, do they just look cool sitting outside of Starbucks? 

I don't think they are a necessity. As you point out catastrophic damage to engine cases and such are unlikely for most off-road drops, and I agree that for this type of damage you're better served with a decent skid-plate.

 

Like you, I would never have dreamed of fitting crash bars to any of my enduro bikes. However, some of the considerations for me deciding to fit them to my T7 are:

• I'm not averse to the odd bit of battle scarring, but I'd like to preserve the cosmetic value of the bike over time as best as I can.
• Side panels for the T7 aint cheap, and they are brittle in comparison to say my last EXC. I can get a full set of plastics for for that for half the cost of one T7 side panel, and they're made of tougher stuff.
• Rad damage - I have bent a rad on one of my enduro bikes following a drop on a rock before. OK its a rare, but it's happened.
• Bike weight - risk of damage is higher when you have 200kg+ of mass behind a fall than for say the 120kg of an average 450 enduro/dual-sport bike?  
• Luggage options - gives you somewhere to put a couple of extra soft bags for longer trips.

As for looking cool, some bars look cooler than others. The genuine Yamaha ones look hideous in my opinion!

[tenerecanada]

Yeah I am on the fence on this. I bought the case covers and upgraded hand guards. Now I am trying to sort out the best protection combination without adding too much weight. At this point my minimal setup would be case covers and AXP Plastic skid plate (which has an intriguing linkage guard extension). After that you get into the aluminum skid plates (touratech & sw motech are top options) with the lower crash guards. Then add the upper to either setup depending on need. I’ve crushed a radiator on a much lighter bike - Shet will happen. 

[DWEL700]

Can anyone confirm that the HEED upper and lower crashbars are compatible with the SW Motech skid plate?

[Camel ADV]

I've run crash bars on my last few bikes because fragile body panels and rads. The T7 motor is narrow as is the body so shout handguards, a good skid plate and some case savers is all I run. The body panels are a bit brittle but they're cheaper than other ADV bikes I've owned (about 80Euros per side). I'd rather swap fresh plastic on every once in awhile than install crash bars.

 

[TimmyTheHog]

11 minutes ago, Camel ADV said:

I've run crash bars on my last few bikes because fragile body panels and rads. The T7 motor is narrow as is the body so shout handguards, a good skid plate and some case savers is all I run. The body panels are a bit brittle but they're cheaper than other ADV bikes I've owned (about 80Euros per side). I'd rather swap fresh plastic on every once in awhile than install crash bars.

 

Always curious if one can replace those cheap plastic panels for something a bit more resilient like those Acerbis tanks or the thing KTM uses?

This way the panel won't explode into a million pieces as easily and reduce the need to use crash bars

Just a brain fart

[Cruizin]

1 hour ago, Camel ADV said:

I've run crash bars on my last few bikes because fragile body panels and rads. The T7 motor is narrow as is the body so shout handguards, a good skid plate and some case savers is all I run. The body panels are a bit brittle but they're cheaper than other ADV bikes I've owned (about 80Euros per side). I'd rather swap fresh plastic on every once in awhile than install crash bars.

 

Which case savers do you use? 

[Camel ADV]

Most ADV bikes use ABS plastic rather than the more durable PE/PP. ABS takes paint really well which is why companies use them on street bikes. PE/PP don't hold paint so they get decals. Could someone make molds and start producing T7 panels in PE/PP... probably but it would be pretty expensive to get the molds set-up and I expect it would have a relatively small potential market.

[Camel ADV]

1 minute ago, Cruizin said:

Which case savers do you use? 

TripleClampMoto. They looked great and were in stock in Canada so it was an easy decision.

[erey]

Owner of the first batch of Africa 1000, no crash bars. Result after a trip to Maroco ... radiator to change, plastics borken. Cost me a lot.

 

So no more without crash bars, good skidplate.

[Camel ADV]

4 hours ago, erey said:

Owner of the first batch of Africa 1000, no crash bars. Result after a trip to Maroco ... radiator to change, plastics borken. Cost me a lot.

 

So no more without crash bars, good skidplate.

Yeah, I blew a part several fairing and dented two right side rads on my AT. I was having an issue with the crash bars moving too much, hitting the plastic and breaking them. Not all brands of crash bars are the equal!