Givi engine bars Is it me?

[Middle aged macam]

Hello team
Got my bars fitted by dealer yesterday. Now find "up changes" are a bit awkward due to boot/gear change lever/lower engine bar conflict. Could be my rather large motor cross type Sidi Courier boots I suppose. Anyone else notice this small problem?

Tom

[bandit]

Hello team
Got my bars fitted by dealer yesterday. Now find "up changes" are a bit awkward due to boot/gear change lever/lower engine bar conflict. Could be my rather large motor cross type Sidi Courier boots I suppose. Anyone else notice this small problem?

Tom

Hi Tom

I had the same problem I just loosened of the gear lever and moved it up a couple of notches to make more room for my size 11 boots.

[Middle aged macam]

Thanks Bandit Great minds think alike. Just wanted to check with the more experienced "ALPINISTS" before I got my spanner out.

Tom

[StumpyFingers]

I had the same problem, as mentioned above move it up one notch.

[veodoble]

I didn't find those issues, instead once I fitted the bars I felt that the whole bike handled different, like "stiffer". But then I got used to it, and now it's ok. But I recently drove a crashbars-less TA and noticed again that standard TA's react softer.

[ABC]

I don't feel this widespread desire for crashbars on Alps. I think it's essentially a fashion thing to make the bike look a certain way but it's one fashion I can do without. They cost a fair bit of money, add a lot of weight, reduce access for maintenance and even make gear changing awkward as has been described in this thread. And all just to look like a hard, dirt ridin' man.

Some will claim that they protect the bike in a fall but most motorcycles in general don't have them and it doesn't seem to worry their riders much. It follows that there is no special need for Alps to do so, particularly where they are never used on dirt, which is why I conclude they are principally for looks.

Nothing wrong with dressing up a bike just for cosmetic reasons of course, I come from a background of having owned several Harleys where people spend vast sums purely for looks. It just appears that some newcomers here are being persuaded to fit these needless bars as though the bike is somehow incomplete without them. Personally I think the Alp looks grand without clutter attached to it like crashbars, belly pans, extra lights and so on. Whatever greases your axle though.

[StumpyFingers]

I don't feel this widespread desire for crashbars on Alps. I think it's essentially a fashion thing to make the bike look a certain way but it's one fashion I can do without. They cost a fair bit of money, add a lot of weight, reduce access for maintenance and even make gear changing awkward as has been described in this thread. And all just to look like a hard, dirt ridin' man.

Some will claim that they protect the bike in a fall but most motorcycles in general don't have them and it doesn't seem to worry their riders much. It follows that there is no special need for Alps to do so, particularly where they are never used on dirt, which is why I conclude they are principally for looks.

Nothing wrong with dressing up a bike just for cosmetic reasons of course, I come from a background of having owned several Harleys where people spend vast sums purely for looks. It just appears that some newcomers here are being persuaded to fit these needless bars as though the bike is somehow incomplete without them. Personally I think the Alp looks grand without clutter attached to it like crashbars, belly pans, extra lights and so on. Whatever greases your axle though.

My Transalp has been knocked over and dropped a couple of times, the Fairing cracked and needed replacing, one side panel costs £105 + VAT.
The cost of protection is worth it.

[veodoble]

I used to agree with that last way of thinking, until some asshole pushed the bike and it fell badly and broke the fairing. Then I fitted the bars, and they have a few pro's:

On long trips you can put your feet on them and change butt position, and they are really comfortable. Also you can attach some light stuff to them.

Givi Crash Bars DO protect the bike. I had an accident 3 weeks ago and they saved the bike of a great mess, as I was forced to go to a ditch by an asshole mobile-speaking driver. It was easy enough to bend off again the bars to their original position.

While off roading they aren't of much use because they are steel bars, not bash plates, and don't get the little stones off, but they DO protect against protruding branches and these things.

In city riding they save the fairing when those "small drops" occur. You know, those when you feel that you cannot hold up your bike and decide to let her down gently. And, as said before, they are specially good in Transalps because they have no heavy duty bash plate.

I don't agree with your point about "adventure looking", at least not with the Givi ones, because they (IMHO) don't make my bike look better.

Ah, and they have already protected my right side of the radiator of a severe hit, by absorbing the biggest part of the crash.

Crash Bars are useful.

[veodoble]

It follows that there is no special need for Alps to do so, particularly where they are never used on dirt, which is why I conclude they are principally for looks.

You'd freak out how many people take their Transalps to extreme places. Myself, for instance. So these statements are just false.

Personally I think the Alp looks grand without clutter attached to it like crashbars, belly pans, extra lights and so on. Whatever greases your axle though.

I agree. But your complete comment makes me think you got some unresolved issues with these things .

[ABC]

My Transalp has been knocked over and dropped a couple of times, the Fairing cracked and needed replacing, one side panel costs £105 + VAT.
The cost of protection is worth it.

I understand but my point was that any machine can go down yet you don't see crashbars much. So what makes a purely roadgoing Alp particularly in need of them? It has to be primarily about styling. Not that there's anything wrong with styling, as I said earlier, but that I feel is the main attraction.