If you like our site, please consider joining our club!
By joining you will help ensure that we can continue to provide this service
JOIN HERE!

Show your crash bars…

Post Reply
User avatar
schrader7032
Posts: 9016
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:00 am
Location: San Antonio, TX
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 29 times

Show your crash bars…

Post by schrader7032 »

Duane has some pictures of engine guards on his website:

http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/crashbars/index.htm

Here's a picture of a safety bar that's similar to what's on my R69S:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=46&fg=70

It has u-bolts in four locations where it crosses the frame. The outside diameter of mine is about 24mm.

Kurt in S.A.
Kurt in S.A.
'78 R100/7 '69 R69S '52 R25/2
Fast. Neat. Average. Friendly. Good. Good.

Allan.Atherton
Posts: 503
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:00 am

Re: Show your crash bars…

Post by Allan.Atherton »

I am interested in building and installing those ugly bars (to protect the cylinders) on my R51/3. I will appreciate pictures and technical details such as diameter, so I can get the idea of how to build them and how to put them on the bike...
If your bike has a front frame similar to 1955-on /2, crash bars should be available new or used, with no need to build them.

The crash bars protect the valve covers, not the cylinders. Cylinders can be torn off, but the impact required to do this is far beyond the capability of a crash bar to prevent.

The valve covers can be scratched by a tipover on a hard surface, or ground down if the bike low-sides and slides on pavement. Crash bars will be the first to contact the ground, but as Duane's page notes, there is a danger that the sliding crash bar will catch on the ground and flip the bike, where the bare valve cover would slide smoothly . And the crash bar does not protect the rider.

Another problem with crash bars is their economics. Except in a tipover, the crash bar is ground down, if not bent, in a slide and so must be replaced. A crash bar costs more, and can be more difficult find, than a valve cover. That was the case with my /2's and is may be true for your R51/3.

I ordered a crash bar for my first R27 in 1966, but after that, I never used them again.

User avatar
Micha
Posts: 759
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:24 am
Location: Israel
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Show your crash bars…

Post by Micha »

Thank you Allan. That is good advice. I never thought about it that way.
I dropped the bars idea.
Cheers, Michael.
Michael Steinmann
R51/3 1952
Engine Nr. 529466

User avatar
VBMWMO
Posts: 1322
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:49 pm

Show your crash bars…

Post by VBMWMO »

I am interested in building and installing those ugly bars (to protect the cylinders) on my R51/3. I will appreciate pictures and technical details such as diameter, so I can get the idea of how to build them and how to put them on the bike.
Thank you all in advance.
Micha.
Dedicated to the Preservation of Classic and Antique BMW Motorcycles.

Post Reply