[olionel]

Hello all;

Had a wee tumble(s) last weekend and my Ricky Cross "crashbars" crashed in to my fuel tank leaving a nice dent, bit of paint chipped etc... so what's the drill.. clean said area.. then touch up paint?? any paint?

 

[lowflyer]

Get a baglux tank cover

Seriiously,
Depends on the depth of the ding.
I've always found it hard to match in paintwork to a tank because of the nature of it's shape, but then I am no panel beater/sprayer

I am sure someone will come along and explain better than me --- I'll be keeping an eye on this thread

 

[Steve T]

My @ came to me with several dents in the tank, some of which had left the metal showing. I used silver & green Smoothrite to touch up the bare metal bits and them just rode the machine.

To my mind, as long as the machine ain't rusting, all's good :thumbup:

Steve T

 

[lowflyer]

My @ came to me with several dents in the tank, some of which had left the metal showing. I used silver & green Smoothrite to touch up the bare metal bits and them just rode the machine.

To my mind, as long as the machine ain't rusting, all's good :thumbup:

Steve T

Rough as a badger's wotsit

 

[beddowsm]

Get back out on the trails and get it covered in mud. That will sort the problem out....what you cant see you cant worry about!

Seriously, as Lowflyer says, Baglux.

 

[olionel]

cheers folks, I'll get smoothrite-ing... then pretend to be santa and get myself a tankcover...

 

[AckAckFlack]

Why do you think I have a tank cover! I'd I was to repaint or tidy up after every fall there wouldn't be any time to trail ride!

I am a bit worried about how easy the crashbars pressed in on the tank.

 

[olionel]

I am a bit worried about how easy the crashbars pressed in on the tank.

Yeah me too... it could make it worse if it was to happen again.. don't wana be p*ssing petrol everywhere... maybe I'll carry some epoxy metal in my pocket for that dreaded day... it's just daft daft design though... tempted to change over to what you have (but then surely £200 Ricky cross bars aren't made to crash once and bin? )... I'll see how it goes from now anyway. See what damage the next few tumbles will do (ever the optimist)

 

[beddowsm]

My Givi bars bent easily. Remember, the bars are not supposed to be rigid. They are designed to bend and absorb the shock. But it sounds like your bars bend more than most?

 

[BobA]

The answer is to drop it on the other side next time, so both sides match. If you have any trouble with this, let me use your bike for half an hour and I reckon I'll be able to sort it for you!!!

Any good tank I've had on an Africa Twin, rarely stays that way for long!


:teeth:

 

[raymo]

Rough as a badger's wotsit

badger has more Hair

except the one Mr T hit on the night ride from Stour

Motad Desert Bars.. no dings on the Frankien twin Tank just a few in the nice shiney Bars :thumbup:

 

[olionel]

yeah I just couldn't get hold of any Motad ones at the time... might be interested if some come up like...

 

[AckAckFlack]

Oli can you upload a close up of the bars.
I thought the u shape tube which juts out was a good idea but maybe that was what caused it to push in more. If the bars are flat then the pressure is distributed more evenly.

These are the high ones from wemoto

 

[olionel]

here they are...crash bar vs tank...

 

[Stormforce8]

here they are...crash bar vs tank...

Hmmmmmmmm - never seen that with a pair of Riky Cross bars...................I know quite a few @'s that have been down on both tarmac and offroad, and the bars have remained in place.

Were the top clamps clamped up tight, as it looks like the bottom tubes haven't moved but above them the bars have rolled into the tank, as if they have pivoted around the two lower mounting points.

What speed were you doing?
Was it on tarmac or mud?
Was it a straight lay down or did the bike slide and spin at all?

The Motad Desert Bars won't offer any more protection IMHO as they use a smaller diameter tube, and only some of the very later versions mounted above the bashplate. Any crashbars that use the 2 front mounting points shared with the bashplate are inherently weak.

I'm really interested to understand exactly what has caused the upright rear tube to impact your tank.

Keep us posted :thumbup:

 

[olionel]

right I'll check the tightness of the mounting bolts, I did wonder that when it happened. Since installing I have checked their tightnesses every now and then and they seemed fine, but I didn't check just before the ride so I can't be 100% sure. It was a stoney offroad section and there was a wall involved as far as I can remember..I can't remember if the wall got involved with the crash bars though (sorry a tad blurry)..speed 20mph-ish or below I'd say.

I have managed to bash the bar away from the tank with a rubber mallet, you can also see just under the chain the stuck out bit is slightly bent too (from the initial incident).

 

[olionel]

Hello again;

Some more photos. I didn't find any bolts very loose, only the left hand side top one needed tightening up about an 8th of a turn if that (result of the impact and me bashing it back. The top brace is also fitted a bit left biased I think I was trying to get the whole set up to be equal distances from the bodywork. The left hand side bottom bracket attachment is shown below the lhs tab (rhs on the photo) is already slightly angled upwards...

and now the lhs protector itself is welded wonky, when compared to the rhs (the two piece are in line on the rhs on the lhs not), bringing that piece close to the tank, if it was straight I don't think it would have touched it as deep.

I think it's a result of the impact and the wonkyness of the lefthand side protector... I have gone over all the bolts again maybe a tiny tiny bit of extra tightening was needed... just worried it will happen again, especially on my big trip fully loaded up, I might wrap some pipe insulation material round it just incase...or try locate a symmetrical lhs crash bar..

 

[AckAckFlack]

Oli will have a look at the difference in the crashbars when we meet uP on Thursday.

 

[olionel]

Oli will have a look at the difference in the crashbars when we meet uP on Thursday.

LOL I shalst be bringing some swimming gear and will mod my helmet to fit a snorkel... (looking at the rain we've had on this side of the Pennines anyway) I really should get some heated grips too...

 

[AckAckFlack]

LOL I shalst be bringing some swimming gear and will mod my helmet to fit a snorkel... (looking at the rain we've had on this side of the Pennines anyway) I really should get some heated grips too...

Snow in Buxton, 4mph winds, lashing rain and temps down to 2 degree- perfik trail riding weather


So anyone else fancy throwing a sickie and coming for a ride in the peaks ?