Engine/Crash bars.

[Cal Price]

Following my rather embarrasing "drop" last week I have ordered some engine bars from Buster's Accessories. Looking around the forum they are pretty much identical to those on Kerry-the-cow-slayer's yellow bike pictured on a recent thread about luggage. Anyone fitted these, anything to watch out for? any problems?

[Kerry]

Do you have a direct link, Cal?  Or a link to the website and instructions on how to find the part?

Any idea who the manufacturer is?  (Could it be our old friends Five Stars?)

[Flash]

From my search I found this website:
http://www.busters-accessories.co.uk/products.asp?id=27

They offer four different styles. However, unlike other websites, this one does not seem to allow you to check to see what bikes are compatible with it. I hope he didn't just throw his money away.

[Cal Price]

Yup, that's the correct site. They don't illustrate each individual item as they seem to do loads. I have dealt with them before for bike bits and a flip-up helmet. My experience has been good. Oh well I should know on Tues/Weds.

[Cal Price]

Just had another look at Kerry's homepage, I think they probably are the five-star item or something very similar. I ordered by phone and they were very bike specifice, model, year, what shade of black? etc so I'm not too worried about getting the correct item.

[Cal Price]

When I got home from work on Monday evening (19th) They had been delivered, they are RENNTEC and specific to the GS. Come with all the bits needed etc,. the first line of the instructions is, "Remove the front engine stud and the rear top engine stud" They supply replacement studs to accept the bars held on with 10m Nyloc nuts. The bottom bit does not go onto a stud but clamps around the square frame.

My only concern is will the engine need to be supported for the short time the two studs are removed? Apart from clamping onto the frame under the engine instead of using the lower stud they are pretty much the same as Kerrt's five-star bars shown on his homepage.

[Kerry]

My only concern is will the engine need to be supported for the short time the two studs are removed?

No, it shouldn't need extra support.

I don't suppose you can do one stud at a time?  Probably not, because of the anchoring method for the lower bit, eh?

Are you going to be able to borrow a digital camera for this mod?  

[Cal Price]

Kerry,
I think that I could probably do it one stud at a time but it would be a bit fiddly, probably best to take them both out and go for it. I am off work thurs 22nd to Sunday 25th inclusive, quite an event for me being off for a weekend! I have got a few things to do but I should get it done during that period, with luck it's only a half-hour job.

I have just upgraded my cellphone, and lo and behold, it incorporates a digital camera, not brilliant quality but should be OK. I can take pic, e-mail it to myself at work from the phone and then hopefully post it (I will have to read the how-to info on the site) next week whilst working nights.
Who knows, I might even manage an Avatar.

[Kerry]

I can take pic, e-mail it to myself at work from the phone and then hopefully post it [...] next week whilst working nights.
Who knows, I might even manage an Avatar.

That would be awesome!  If it turns out that you don't have any way to host your images, let me know....

[Cal Price]

Righto will do, you can be fairly sure of getting a shout from me, after all I am about as techno-savvy as a horse and cart. That phone realy foxes me! Thanks for the earlier advice, Cheers, be lucky.

[2Twin]

I put a car jack underneath the engine to help support it. You need to raise or lower the engine for the studs to come out easy. I also found that the bracket for the lower that goes around the frame was hard to get on until I got a g-clamp onto it to allow the bolt to go through. Took me and a friend about twenty minutes, one beer each and two cigs.

[Kerry]

I put a car jack underneath the engine to help support it. You need to raise or lower the engine for the studs to come out easy.

When I installed my Five Stars engine guards, the change from the stock bolts to the (included) threaded rods was simply to get the extra length needed.  Since the threaded rod didn't have a hex head on it, it didn't matter which end went in first, and I didn' have to worry about threading one of the guards on before pushing the rod through the engine mount holes.

Given all of that, I was able to put the end of each threaded rod up against the threaded end of the stock bolt it replaced and pound on the free end with a hammer.  This pushed the old bolt out and the new rod in all at the same time.  I didn't have to worry about spacers or anything.  And AFTER the rods were place, I just slid the guards over the ends and added the washers and nuts.

I guess this isn't an option with your hardware, Cal?

[Cal Price]

The supplied rods I have are the same as yours Kerry, threaded at both ends and a tad longer than the stock bolt. I like the idea of using the new stud to shove the bolt out, bit like the trick with using the old chain to put a new one in place.
I take 2Twin's point, I might just keep a jack and a mate on standby, the instructions on fitting the bracket to the frame state that the bolt should be inserted from underneath when all my instincts are to drop it in from above, I suppose there is some reasoning behind this. 2Twin, which way did you bolt the bracket?
Cheers Guys, Be Lucky.

[2Twin]

I put the bolt through the bottom and the nut on top. From memory there was not enough room to get the bolt to drop in from the top due to the engine cases extending out.

I was thinking of using a hammer to push the rods through and take out the old on at the same time but was worried about stuffen the thread. With the scissor car jack under it I just got the right height and it slid through without the need of a hammer or anything.

[Cal Price]

Thanks for that, I will see how it works out, I find I have some other things already mapped-out for me to do but with luck I will do it over the weekend, be lucky (it's more fun than being careful)

[Cal Price]

Well, did the job last Friday evening, hope to put a couple of pix on "members bikes" if "K-the-cow-slayer" is kind enough to assist.
Job went simple enough, I took out front engine bolt simply by removing the 17mil nut and pushing the stud through just using hand presure, I sprayed the stud with Wurth Saybeso, which when the propellant evaporates leaves a very sticky grease. As Kerry said by doing it this way you can leave the spacers in situ. The top rear engine bolt was a little tougher, same procedure but I had to tap the stud through, I used a bit of 2" x "2 timber not a hammer so as not to damage thread etc. i did not need to support the engine. I found working on both sides of the bike was simple enough at the front but the rear stud was slightly awkward, fortunatly I had borrowed a mate's socket wrenches as well as using my own and it worked best with two rachets and short extension bars. I will shortly invest in another set (Well you cant have two many tools can you) also a torque wrench & impact driver for future ref.
The left side lower frame bolt worked as the instruction suggest but the experience of 2Twin is correct, there is no way to get the nut 'n' bolt in place with nut on the "down" side, in fact there is so little room I am using a slightly slimmer bolt for the job, other than that. Slice of gateau.