Fitted African Queens "standard" crash bars today

[John]

I decided to get these slighly minimalist crash bars as I like the look of them and I reckon they should be good enough for the occasional drive-way drop.

Really easy to fit (once AQ had got the right parts to me). I'm am fairly challenged when it comes to spannering, but even I had it all fitted in less than half an hour.

The mounting points are front skid pan mounts (uses bracket shown below) and back engine mount.

BTW they are actually made by Riky Cross.

[lootch67]

Nice!

[Cie]

Have you tried laying it down yet to see how much protection they give?

They look fun

[Rubberchicken]

Have you tried laying it down yet to see how much protection they give?

I was wondering about that... Doesn't it tip over onto the upper fairing now when it's got a full tank of gas?

Looks great though.

[z-weiser]

look cool!

as an aside from the protection issue - can you rest your legs on the top of the bars for comfy cruising??

how easy is it to order from AQ - i understand that they are german - does that cause probs or is it relatively easy??

[z-weiser]

p.s. by the way nemo . . . how shiny is that bash plate??????

i need to do some serious polishing i feel!

[John]

I haven't tried lying the bike down yet, but I will (if only to practise picking it up again!). It looks like the bars will keep the tank well clear of the ground though, as they come up quite high.

Ordering from African Queens is no problem. There's a useful information page hidden away on their web site here: http://www.africanqueens.de/html/how_to_order.html

Shipping for the bars plus a few other bits was 25 Euro, and it took just over a week to get my order. No xrv.org.uk discount though, and they add on 3.8% for credit card payments.

Re the shiny bits, the bash plate and engine covers were polished and relaquered a few weeks ago, just before I bought the bike. Shoboshi (previous owner) has a good contact for polishing/shot blasting/bead blasting etc at a good price. It's only going to get dirtier from now on . . .

[robelst]

Nice, looks a lot more subtle than some of the cow-catcher designs I have seen elsewhere. And you'd sort of expect that a company like African Queens will have tested them on effectiveness?

Not sure about the bling polished engine casing though... but maybe, unconsciously, I am just jealous because most bits on my AT stopped shining a long time ago

[Dilbert]

Ok, here's the standard ones direct from Riky Cross fitted to my RD03, look real neat, but note the missing upper bracket which just don't fit!





Please also note the HRC sticker (original equipment) only fitted to the RD03 R/W/B so black RD04/07's should rightly feel inferior.

[Ashley]

I have the same crash bars on my 650 but mine fitted fine