Adventure Specs or HEED crash bars?

[Tore]

Does anyone here own any of these two crash guards and are you willing to share your pros and cons?

 

Adventure Specs: 

Adventure Spec | Tenere 700 Crash Bars

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Our crash bars are designed to protect your fairings in the event of a crash. Constructed from 6000 series aluminium they are designed to be strong and light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEED: https://heedshop.eu/en_US/p/Crash-bars-for-Yamaha-TENERE-700-Bunker/504

 

 

 

There seems to be a snugger fit and more coverage of the fairings for the Adventure Specs, but it does not have that much engine protection as the HEED.

 

 

For those of you who has dropped the bike more than once: what to prioritize in a good crash bar?

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by AZJW
Moved from General Discussion.

[Tore]

And most importantly - can the fairings be removed without having to remove the crash bars?

[maddog123]

 

This is the one I have and the side panels can be removed without taking it off... it might not be as ridged as your two examples but I find mine more esthetically appealing and offers good mid body protections.   Between your two options I would be more incline to choose the second option since it goes down to the side of the engine offering more protection.   

Edited November 22, 2023 by maddog123

[Tenerider]

AS bars have numerous reviews here on the board. In short: They bend too easily, being made from aluminium. They only protect the fairings/tank/radiator, not the engine itself

Heed are generally regarded as sturdy and not expensive. These come in different varieties.

Regarding OEM crash bars: Those "ears" are known to bend inwards quite easily, too. Plus, they use a critical mounting point on the engine casing. On hard crashes, this mounting point can break.

 

P.S.: My Hepo&Becker Rally crash bars also were bent inwards a little bit during a harder crash down a slope. Crash bars should generally be regarded as sacrifical items. Too soft bars will eventually even be useless after a small tipover though. Too hard/rigid and they'd transfer too much force to the mounting points, eventually breaking the subframe instead of absorbing the impact by themselves.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Tenerider

[smd3]

Avoid the AS bars if you plan to use them. Plenty of reports of them bending. 
 

I’d recommend bars that connect across the front of the bike in at least one or two spots. 

[Bruincounselor]

I have the AS bars and they do the job for me. The many drops I've had have been fully protected by them without any bending. The panels behind them can be removed without touching the bars, even with an Acerbis tank.  There is a crossover tube in front,  so they do meet that above recommendation. They are also lighter than most any other option; that is important to me when I'm on trail.

 

I suggest you think about your protection as a complete plan; skid plate, exhaust, racks, bars, handguards, etc. I will likely sell my bars this winter and get the Camel plastics instead. I don't know that they are needed to protect anything behind the panels. You can see my bike in threads I've started.

[Dualsport Dave]

Hello all

Good timing as I am about to order crash bars for my 2 month old T7. Great comment about overall protection package. So far I have Zeta hand guards (very happy), AXP skid plate, Motoes side rack w/ top rack (very similar to AS side/top racks), and Huzar (50cm long muffler) hi mount exhaust with Camel Adv 51mm spark arrestor (fits perfectly, thanks to Cory). I have yet to install the exhaust until I get more miles on the bike. 

 

I narrowed the crash bars to Heavy Duties, Heed and AS after reading as many threads as I could find on crash bars. Heavy Duties can't ship to the U.S. My main concern with AS is they do not attach at the rear of the engine to the frame like Heed does. I think that lessens their strength and may contribute to bending.  Of course they are the lightest. If weight were not an issue, I would go with Heed. I'll let you know what I order! I just saw that AS is offering 15% discount on hard parts for the T7.

 

I am upgrading from a WR250R which I thot was top heavy until now! I plan to keep the WR thru next summer just in case. At 66, I'm pretty sure I won't be riding the T7 hard, more like MABDR type riding and use the WR for more challenging rides. I mostly ride alone so a little concerned with picking up the T7. For these reasons I may be ok with AS crash bars. 

 

Also I had my first drop last week with 1000 miles. The easiest and best drop to have.  I was doing a left U turn on a street, turned too tightly with little speed and down it went! Spared the exhaust side. The Zeta handguards hit but not the tank or plastics. Won't be like that in the dirt.

Dave.

[OK185]

The perfect crashbars for this bike in my opinion are the Outback Motortek lower bars. They protect the most important parts and don't make the bike into a cage and weigh 2,8KG. Tarres also used them at some point. 

Sadly they don't sell them seperately anymore. (I guess they can earn more by selling the full set...)

 

The Heavy Duties Enduro crashbars are also nice and sleek, but they limit the compabtibility of skidplates. 

Edited November 22, 2023 by OK185

[winddown]

On 11/19/2023 at 11:31 PM, Tenerider said:

Regarding OEM crash bars...  Plus, they use a critical mounting point on the engine casing. On hard crashes, this mounting point can break.

 

Do you have any examples of this?  I have read of people breaking those rear engine lugs on falls, but only because they failed to insert the spacer provided that goes between them during installation.  On the MT07 the rear shock is attached between those lugs.

 

[Tenerider]

8 minutes ago, winddown said:

 

Do you have any examples of this?  I have read of people breaking those rear engine lugs on falls, but only because they failed to insert the spacer provided that goes between them during installation.  On the MT07 the rear shock is attached between those lugs.

 

Good point, I might remember those fails which occurred due to missing spacers!

 

I know that this lug is being used for shock mounting on the MT-07, but it is a different kind of load (perpendicular to the expected direction of force transferred through the crash bars). But that may be my usual paranoia

[TangoSixZero]

Heed.

I have the bunker setup and the 2 mm steel belly plate. The bars have been excellent in minor falls and crashes, no deformation. I've had the bars off after falls and they go back on no problems. There is enough room to easily remove the plastic fairings. The mounting points are beefy and well placed. The fit and finish is excellent and assembly onto the bike was no drama.

Edited November 22, 2023 by TangoSixZero

[random1781]

The AS bars themselves are fine, it's the tab near the mount on the right side that winds up bending into an S shape, which puts the right bar right next to the panel...

 

 

The tab itself is hard/impossible to straighten out, so you wind up bending the bars out of place to straighten it out. The really annoying part is that the left side tab is reinforced, and despite harder crashes on the left side, I didn't have any issues...

 

 

Too bad they didn't do the same on the right side!

[CamT]

I have the Heed bunker bars (which have the lower engine guard) and I am happy with them. The lower engine guard has done it's job for me a couple of times when dropping the bike onto irregular rocks that have "points" that can find their way into the engine area (as opposed to dropping on a flat surface).  I also quite like the Heed Skid plate that helped with this as well.

 

No bending or issues to report. Only con would be that the paint does mark quite easily if you do drop it, but the only way around that would be unpainted stainless or aluminum bars.

 

No issue at all getting the fairings on and off. The small luggage bags Heed sells that fit into the crash bars have been really handy as well

 

[Lewie]

I have Cross pro crash bars - I believe they are made by/ same as the AS ones-

sude labels can be removed with them in place

 

[Balkaum]

On 1/1/2024 at 8:50 PM, Lewie said:

I have Cross pro crash bars - I believe they are made by/ same as the AS ones-

sude labels can be removed with them in place

 

 

I'm sorry to tell you, but these Crosspro only serve as decoration and support for mounting auxiliary lights.

 

I dropped the bike to the side with the Crosspro, the next day I ordered Heed Bunker

[Balkaum]

From the looks of it, the Adventure Specs are clones of the Crosspro, avoid that

[rundll]

I vote for Heed. 

 

I'm using them. Got some serious hits. Only paint damage.