[chrisinabox]

Hi,

Newbie here; I bought an XL700 last year with the aim of branching into the duel sport life.This weekend I took my first off road course on the bike, lots of fun and am eager to get out more on the trails. When I bought the bike it had the Givi bars fitted (which don't seem to sit nicely, seems to be manufacturing issues rather than fitting) however the "sump guard" is the plastic one that comes stock with the bike.

After taking a few hits over the weekend (mostly onto the center stand which sits incredibly low!) I am very keen to get a sump guard on. I'm basically wondering if anyone has any advice about which bars and sump guards are compatible? It doesn't seem that any would fit with the Givi bars but definitely want bars on as they held up well when I went down a few times and no damage to the bike.

As far as I can work out the only compatible pair are the motech ones but would rather not spend £400 if possible. There is also a company called Recraft that sell an interesting looking bar set however I've never heard of them so I'm a little skeptical. I'm Norway based but all the accessories seem to be available here.

Sorry if this has already been asked but I tried searching and had no luck on a number of other posts.

Thanks for you help!

 

[queasy rider]

heavyduties.ro are making them. I have not used them myself but heard they are good on the forum somewhere....

 

[chrisinabox]

Yeah, I remember reading about them somewhere but couldn't find the site again! They make the bars but not the sump guard - I'll give them a call though as their setup looks like it could work with other sump-guards such as the hepco or motech one.

 

[queasy rider]

I think they are small operation fabricators so it is worth a try

 

[chrisinabox]

I've sent them a message and will give an update on here when I hear from them! Very competitive prices and the gear looks solid though. I could get full crash bars, pannier rack + hardcases and a center stand (already have one but just for completeness) for less than the cost of just the hardcases from hepco that came with my bike and I'm pretty unimpressed with the fit of the Hepco stuff if I'm honest given how well known they are.

 

[ds99]

off-road on a transalp 700? you are a brave man....

 

[chrisinabox]

Well by offroad I mean gravel roads, trails and tractor ways. I am by all means a beginner but the bike handled everything thrown at it on an gravel riding course this weekend (I'm not UK based, but am British). The only issue I had was the ground clearance due to the center stand which took a few knocks and not being able to turn the ABS off is a little bit of a pain but manageable. Changing bikes isn't really in my budget for the time being so the transalp it is

 

[chrisinabox]

Just for completeness - currently I've spoken to Touratech, SWMotech and Heavy Duties. Unfortunately HD cannot make a sump guard and there bars are definitely not compatible with the other parts as they fasten to the frame cross tube right next to the sump.

The Givi bars (currently fitted) are apparently compatible with the Touratech guard, however, Touratech have stopped making parts - the Wales distributor has some (or one) piece of the sump guard left so I'll try and get a price however I suspect it will cost more than both the crash bars and sump guard from SW Motech combined once shipping and taxes are included.

SW Motech make both parts however I would prefer crash bars which wrap around a little more if I'm honest. I can't find any/many posts which speak for how well they protect the bike. I've put the bike down a handful of times on mud and dirt and the Givi bars + bark busters have done a good job.

The final option are these bars from Heed. However looking at some of the other forums it seems that their bars are of questionable quality and they're not the prettiest thing. Given how high they are the fastening points don't look lie they would interfere with any of the other sump guards.

Hepco make some bars which look useless as they sit incredibly low. And they're not compatible with their own sump guard so who knows what was going on in the design office that day.

As it stands I'm waiting for a quote from Touratech. If that's reasonable I will likely buy (maybe) the last remaining sump guard in Europe. Otherwise I will opt for the SW-Motech set-up unless someone can say the Heed bars do a good job or share some photos!

So if anyone has some photos/reviews of the heed bars with actual crash tests it would be great to know!

 

[tran]

i have a tourech bash plate and i can tell that Givi bars dont fit round i have a set you can force them on but remember the oil change the engine bars and the bash plate have to be removed major pain

 

[chrisinabox]

Thanks for the input! Saves me dropping nearly £300 on something that won't fit. SW-Motech it is I suppose.

 

[mazak]

I've got heeds crash bars on my and they to the job are scratched but protect quite allright, maybe that issolution for your sump guard its cost 65-70 quid two options low one for givi crashbars and standard one forum.transalpclub.pl • Zobacz temat - (S)Płyta osłona aluminiowa pod silnik TA 700, 650

 

[chrisinabox]

Thanks for the tip @mazak. I actually ordered the SW motech parts last night for more money than I care to think about but that part looks nice! Maybe someone else in future will see this

 

[chrisinabox]

If anyone is interested or cares, I finally had time this weekend to fit on the parts. I didn't think I would be a fan of the gloss look on the bars but I actually quite like it. Fitting of the bars was a little more involved than I thought and requires the removal and replacement of one of the engine mounting bolts connecting to the front of the chassis - it was a tight fit to the cross brace which supports the fairing but it just about fit in. Sump guard was a relative breeze to fit so that was nice.

New tires are waiting in the shop and then I think I'm done! No more changes to make

 

[ds99]

engine bars do look good, but i find they are a right pain when you want to do any work to the bike

 

[chrisinabox]

@ds99 - They are for sure a pain. I had the Givi bars on before this, but the pain in taking them off has been more than made up for in the amount of money they saved me when putting the bike down on trails. I think the Givis were more of a pain to be honest as they were impossible to get fitted looking even and came very close to the fairing on one side. Hopefully these will be a bit nicer when it comes to the service. At least now I can do an oil change without needing the bars removed as the sump guard is literally 4 bolts and it drops off.

 

[queasy rider]

Those crash bars do look good. Taking them off for the oil/filter change is not that much of a pain after you've done it a few times

 

[chrisinabox]

For those interested - I was trail riding this weekend and put the bike down on a muddy lane when coming to a stop. Very low speed onto grass, had the crash bar bags on the bars - crash bars bent in to where they were touching the fairing. We were able to bend them back by pulling them out, however, I'm not sure it bodes well for the longevity of the bars. In their defense I suppose they did protect the bike a bit maybe although the shift lever was also bent so who knows ... just worth thinking about if you're thinking of buying these guards. I have also been noticing some increased vibration and I think it's due to the bars acting like a tuning fork as there is no support at the top.

For comparison - I put the bike down a couple of times with the Givi bars on harder ground and had no visible damage or bending by comparison.