How many grab points do you need. They add weight, add protrusions which increase bone breaking risk during the many falls these ADV riders seem to experience....and call it normal....., and they increase the feeling of security about damage during a crash....Listen to this fella...he says..the main concern in a drop.....is not the bike...but your body....if you thing about it....don't crash so much newbies.....its basic....
I thought the same as you. I ran bark busters and lower crashbars from Outback Mototek. Damaged the stock fairing on a crash so I put the upper crashbars on too. Now I have small storage bags attached the the upper bars, so it all worked out. I also mounted an Estwing axe to my left side bash plate and the handle tucks nicely behind the upper crash bar. I technical trail ride a lot, so having the bike go down at low speed is typical because I'm a shorter rider. I'm running full crash bars front and back. I ride by myself, so if I damage the bike too much - I'm walking... and that's detracts from my idea of adventure motorcycling. Those videos commenting about too much weight with a 'armored' T7; I suggest you get a proper dirt bike if you want lightweight. I want reliability, which is a major reason I bough the T7 and I'll live with a few extra pounds.
Had crash bars mounted on my old Honda NTV 650. Crash bar was hold onto the frame at the front by only one bolt and at the rear by two. Front one wiggled loose, crash bar folded down at 140km/h on the Autobahn giving me a good shock for the day. No crash bars ever again. What you can do is to get engine cover protectors to prevent the engine covers from scraping directly and maybe risking a cooling or oil leakage. Also crash bars can damage more than they protect.
I have removed the upper crash bars on my t7 and installed lower crash bars. Even with upper crag bars I broke the side plastics because crash bars do bent as they cover a lot of area with few attachment points. So they actually press on the plastics. On the handle bar protectors, I’ve realized that the angle of installation matters. If installed level with the ground they will be pushed upwards when the handle bar hits the ground, which can result to broken protector parts. Instead the protectors should be installed at angle downwards, so when hitting the ground they take the impact from the front instead of the bottom. The limiting factor here is the tank, if you install the protectors too low they will hit the tank when turning the bar. A detail that matters.
My Adventurespec crashbars are pretty scratched up and bent inwards having ridden in Romania.The offroad track is not flat and there is always a rock protruding. I agree with you that the lower crash bars make more sense
I scratched up my side panels after crashing several times without crash bars. Since then I got crash bars and in a few ridiculous drops on pavement from a parked position it saved the bike especially the bark busters.
Was about to pickup the poly fairings instead of crash bars. Ended up with the Adventure Spec aluminum bars, pretty light weight. I just like the extra protection around the radiator
That is more like it....a thinking person....crash bars are for those who crash too much and worry too much, and in my view they are a fad...people buy them, install them..then take them off, and they become scrap metal....A con aftermarket product. Cheaper and wiser to replace broken parts, then fix and snapped broken leg...from a crash bar landing on it.
I have crashbars from Outback Motorteck. They have saved me a LOT fo Money in plastics in cause I was a newby to off-roading (yes, I didn't plan on doing off-road trails on it, but I fell in love with the T7 and I want to ride it everywhere!) nut I'll say that now that I have a bit more experience (and I have the R-Tech PP plastics) I have now removed the upper section of the crashbars and boy did I feel a difference! I can't imagine how much lighter it'll feel when I remove the lowers that are about 2/3 the total weight! I will remove the lowers as soon as I feels confident about my riding 😅 I have now the R&G engine covers cause the crashbars didn't save my clutch cover from being pounded by a rock on a low speed tip over her the T7 landed on a higher rock that managed to poque through... My thoughts on everything are to ask the people with experience but don't take their word as gospel! Have them explain properly why they say you should get something for your bike. This being said, a lot of our confidence in riding comes from being at ease and okay with crashing and dropping the bike. For me, I can say with 100 % certainty that I would have felt heart stoppingly nervous when I started out cause it was the first bike I bought and using my own money, but now it's been almost 2 years and I love my T7 more than anything, but I don't like the way the crashbars look on the bike. It's a beautiful and slim bike and I want to see it more than feeling she'll be safer :) Also the Outback crashbars weigh 5.5 kg! The bike is heavy enough :D Do what makes your experience more comfortable and enjoyable!
I ride too fast off road in rocky desert terrain to not have crash bars. Full front and rear. I have Akrapovic exhaust…it will not be damaged with my pannier racks. I have stiffer springs installed.
No. If you crash a bike, and it falls on your leg, or any body part....you would want that bike to free of protruding bars, hard luggage racks, and metal boxes etc. As a rule, soft luggage, collapsing flat side panels, and well...again..nothing protruding. The biggest trick to protecting your bike from a crash is to not crash...and I say that seriously enough know that some crashes are going to happen in any learning curve, and any "adventure" journey. But still....crashing a bike can be life altering and catastrophic to your body if you are unlucky. So why increase the odds of injury. Its simply beyond any sense of logic to add weight up high, and add risk to bodily injury, in the name of protecting your bike. Modern thinking would suggest that there are inventions being made in the areas of styrofoam/plastic covers for this that and the other thing people are worried about breaking in a crash....just stop crashing Adventure riders out there, there appears to be a plethora on you tube.
I’m planning on buying a t7 soon for some longer range travel. And I’m thinking exactly like you do, too many people are worried more about scratching plastics on this bike. And seem to not be very good riders to begin with. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve tipped my dr650 over and it’s usually on soft sand. I’ve never ridden a bike as heavy at the t7 so I’ll probably eat my words but it really seems like riders need to focus on getting better at not crashing then weighing the bike down with crash bars. Plastic engine covers and a skid plate is all you need realistically.
Yeah this is a huge topic. Personally I’m not going to put crash bars on. I mostly ride single track and back roads. Good demonstration and the other great point of the parts are relatively cheap and readily available. Heck I went OTB on my 1290 SA-R last year and the factory blinker was $40 and took 3 months to arrive. Other than the skid plate, i think think the only other protection i may add is a headlight guard. Those are pretty pricey.
You hear a lot of complaints about the T7 being top-heavy, and yeah, it is. The tradeoff that gets overlooked is the bike is very slim, which I certainly appreciate. ADV bikes that feel like ATVs just don’t do it for me.
Completely agree. One of my biggest complaints about my old AT is that I felt like a duck trying to stand up on it. Because of how wide it was, it was always forcing my legs outward putting me into a very unnatural stance. The T7 ergonomically feels like a dirt bike in that sense. Very slim, narrow, and natural when standing!
Not sure if you already picked up the tail fairing, but there's a company called Rtech out in Europe somewhere. They make a "T7 Revolution" full polypropylene plastic kit in multiple colors, but you can also buy the pieces separate. The price point isn't too bad either. I can't speak to the fitment, but once I get into more serious off road stuff i may pick it up.
I have them, they're great! And the pricepoint is great in comparison with how the OEM plastics cost. I only broke the tail but I replaced everything cause the kit cost me less than the OEM tail section...
That entirely depends on what you want or need from the bike honestly. Pretty loaded question lol. I highly recommend a chain guard if riding hard offroad though.
Get the crash bars! Its a heavy bike! Get crash bars that specially to cover top near fuel tank. Trust me those plastics breaks super easy, parts underneath it and gas tank corners.. its costly. :)
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Another benefit of crash bars that I don’t see discussed often is extra grab points to pull you through shitty terrain or mud.
That's actually very true. Great point!
And they would break your leg in a simple crushing manner....ever considered that?
How many grab points do you need. They add weight, add protrusions which increase bone breaking risk during the many falls these ADV riders seem to experience....and call it normal....., and they increase the feeling of security about damage during a crash....Listen to this fella...he says..the main concern in a drop.....is not the bike...but your body....if you thing about it....don't crash so much newbies.....its basic....
I thought the same as you. I ran bark busters and lower crashbars from Outback Mototek. Damaged the stock fairing on a crash so I put the upper crashbars on too. Now I have small storage bags attached the the upper bars, so it all worked out. I also mounted an Estwing axe to my left side bash plate and the handle tucks nicely behind the upper crash bar.
I technical trail ride a lot, so having the bike go down at low speed is typical because I'm a shorter rider. I'm running full crash bars front and back. I ride by myself, so if I damage the bike too much - I'm walking... and that's detracts from my idea of adventure motorcycling.
Those videos commenting about too much weight with a 'armored' T7; I suggest you get a proper dirt bike if you want lightweight. I want reliability, which is a major reason I bough the T7 and I'll live with a few extra pounds.
Had crash bars mounted on my old Honda NTV 650. Crash bar was hold onto the frame at the front by only one bolt and at the rear by two. Front one wiggled loose, crash bar folded down at 140km/h on the Autobahn giving me a good shock for the day. No crash bars ever again.
What you can do is to get engine cover protectors to prevent the engine covers from scraping directly and maybe risking a cooling or oil leakage. Also crash bars can damage more than they protect.
I have removed the upper crash bars on my t7 and installed lower crash bars. Even with upper crag bars I broke the side plastics because crash bars do bent as they cover a lot of area with few attachment points. So they actually press on the plastics.
On the handle bar protectors, I’ve realized that the angle of installation matters. If installed level with the ground they will be pushed upwards when the handle bar hits the ground, which can result to broken protector parts. Instead the protectors should be installed at angle downwards, so when hitting the ground they take the impact from the front instead of the bottom. The limiting factor here is the tank, if you install the protectors too low they will hit the tank when turning the bar. A detail that matters.
My Adventurespec crashbars are pretty scratched up and bent inwards having ridden in Romania.The offroad track is not flat and there is always a rock protruding. I agree with you that the lower crash bars make more sense
I scratched up my side panels after crashing several times without crash bars. Since then I got crash bars and in a few ridiculous drops on pavement from a parked position it saved the bike especially the bark busters.
Was about to pickup the poly fairings instead of crash bars. Ended up with the Adventure Spec aluminum bars, pretty light weight.
I just like the extra protection around the radiator
I wish I would've known that R-Tech was making a full plastics kit for the T7! I would've just held out for that!
That is more like it....a thinking person....crash bars are for those who crash too much and worry too much, and in my view they are a fad...people buy them, install them..then take them off, and they become scrap metal....A con aftermarket product. Cheaper and wiser to replace broken parts, then fix and snapped broken leg...from a crash bar landing on it.
I have crashbars from Outback Motorteck. They have saved me a LOT fo Money in plastics in cause I was a newby to off-roading (yes, I didn't plan on doing off-road trails on it, but I fell in love with the T7 and I want to ride it everywhere!) nut I'll say that now that I have a bit more experience (and I have the R-Tech PP plastics)
I have now removed the upper section of the crashbars and boy did I feel a difference! I can't imagine how much lighter it'll feel when I remove the lowers that are about 2/3 the total weight!
I will remove the lowers as soon as I feels confident about my riding 😅
I have now the R&G engine covers cause the crashbars didn't save my clutch cover from being pounded by a rock on a low speed tip over her the T7 landed on a higher rock that managed to poque through...
My thoughts on everything are to ask the people with experience but don't take their word as gospel! Have them explain properly why they say you should get something for your bike. This being said, a lot of our confidence in riding comes from being at ease and okay with crashing and dropping the bike. For me, I can say with 100 % certainty that I would have felt heart stoppingly nervous when I started out cause it was the first bike I bought and using my own money, but now it's been almost 2 years and I love my T7 more than anything, but I don't like the way the crashbars look on the bike. It's a beautiful and slim bike and I want to see it more than feeling she'll be safer :)
Also the Outback crashbars weigh 5.5 kg! The bike is heavy enough :D
Do what makes your experience more comfortable and enjoyable!
I ride too fast off road in rocky desert terrain to not have crash bars. Full front and rear. I have Akrapovic exhaust…it will not be damaged with my pannier racks. I have stiffer springs installed.
No. If you crash a bike, and it falls on your leg, or any body part....you would want that bike to free of protruding bars, hard luggage racks, and metal boxes etc. As a rule, soft luggage, collapsing flat side panels, and well...again..nothing protruding. The biggest trick to protecting your bike from a crash is to not crash...and I say that seriously enough know that some crashes are going to happen in any learning curve, and any "adventure" journey. But still....crashing a bike can be life altering and catastrophic to your body if you are unlucky. So why increase the odds of injury. Its simply beyond any sense of logic to add weight up high, and add risk to bodily injury, in the name of protecting your bike. Modern thinking would suggest that there are inventions being made in the areas of styrofoam/plastic covers for this that and the other thing people are worried about breaking in a crash....just stop crashing Adventure riders out there, there appears to be a plethora on you tube.
I’m planning on buying a t7 soon for some longer range travel. And I’m thinking exactly like you do, too many people are worried more about scratching plastics on this bike. And seem to not be very good riders to begin with. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve tipped my dr650 over and it’s usually on soft sand. I’ve never ridden a bike as heavy at the t7 so I’ll probably eat my words but it really seems like riders need to focus on getting better at not crashing then weighing the bike down with crash bars. Plastic engine covers and a skid plate is all you need realistically.
Yeah this is a huge topic. Personally I’m not going to put crash bars on. I mostly ride single track and back roads. Good demonstration and the other great point of the parts are relatively cheap and readily available. Heck I went OTB on my 1290 SA-R last year and the factory blinker was $40 and took 3 months to arrive.
Other than the skid plate, i think think the only other protection i may add is a headlight guard. Those are pretty pricey.
If you’re in the US just get a Tusk headlight guard, easily removable when you need the full visibility and very cheap!!
@@OgreMotoyeah I’m in Texas, good info I will check it out.
You hear a lot of complaints about the T7 being top-heavy, and yeah, it is. The tradeoff that gets overlooked is the bike is very slim, which I certainly appreciate.
ADV bikes that feel like ATVs just don’t do it for me.
Completely agree. One of my biggest complaints about my old AT is that I felt like a duck trying to stand up on it. Because of how wide it was, it was always forcing my legs outward putting me into a very unnatural stance. The T7 ergonomically feels like a dirt bike in that sense. Very slim, narrow, and natural when standing!
Not sure if you already picked up the tail fairing, but there's a company called Rtech out in Europe somewhere. They make a "T7 Revolution" full polypropylene plastic kit in multiple colors, but you can also buy the pieces separate. The price point isn't too bad either. I can't speak to the fitment, but once I get into more serious off road stuff i may pick it up.
I have them, they're great! And the pricepoint is great in comparison with how the OEM plastics cost. I only broke the tail but I replaced everything cause the kit cost me less than the OEM tail section...
Looking to possibly get a T7, what mods do you recommend besides the skid plate?
That entirely depends on what you want or need from the bike honestly. Pretty loaded question lol. I highly recommend a chain guard if riding hard offroad though.
no crash bars!
Get the crash bars! Its a heavy bike! Get crash bars that specially to cover top near fuel tank. Trust me those plastics breaks super easy, parts underneath it and gas tank corners.. its costly. :)
I went for heed bunker after my crash :)
Crash bars saved my t7 from any scratches one week ago
Now you have scratches on your 200$ crash bars.
@@majormassenspektrometer This crash bar fad is pure non sense....
Crash bars....break legs, and feet...etc etc...think about it....
yes crashbars. mine saved my bike from getting totaled when i got hit from behind