I use my bars to rest my feet on and to extend my legs

A decent bash plate is a must, even at modest speeds on grvel tracks on my CRF I have been surprised at the amount of times I have heard the 'tinging' sound from stones being fired up at it from my front wheel.
Engiine bars, pros and cons, a 90mph slide offon my airhead r100 wore one side of the bars flat and saved the rockerbox and more from damage. Cons, some say that engine bars can cause damage to the frame. I would go for engine bars and bashplate.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

It may go against current racing/MX fashions, but the mudguards are actually there to stop this. Bolt/rivet a cut out section from a plastic oil bottle or a bit of conveyor belt rubber to the plastic fashion accessory above your front wheel and worry not. The bash plate cum birdbath cum mobile forge hearth is there to stop rocks puncturing the sump when you ground it. Likely on Dougie Lampkin type off road sections, not such a worry on gravel roads, although exposed cartridge type oil filters can make it so.

Engine bars are a mixed bunch. I've seen a set on an oilhead rip a bolt out of the engine down near the brake lever and actually cause the biggest problem in a 70 mph slide down an icy road. I took a set off the Triumph as the connection between the sides ahead of the block was just a slide together fit. Bend the bars upwards on the only real fastening (a plate under the sump subframe) and this joint would just slide until the bar touched the engine or exhaust and started to bend that. You'd need an angle grinder to cut off the mess and get to the likely damage such as the oil cooler lines. There is IMHO a huge difference between engine bars (meant to keep you mobile after a drop at speed) and dresser bars (meant to keep the paint clean if you knock it off the stand in Starbucks car park).

Andy

Yes me too, nothing like a set of highway pegs mounted to crashbars to help ease that pain in the cheeks by moving one's derriere around a little.

See Across the universe: On the road Day 9 - Xinxiang to Dingzhou - best 35 yuan I ever spent.

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman