[DamonYVR]

I'm confused about who was quoted in various posts. I may have done an '@" for the wrong person. Bawin1 or Lone Wolf 2022? I don't know who to quote. Anyhow...

@Lone Wolf 2022,
I'm glad that your experience with the staff at OM was good. Mine was not, and others here have had the same response. So we can legitimately share our experiences of poor customer service.

Nobody said the bolt issue was OM specific, (or at least I didn't) but their mounting point on the front of the engine seems to be a more common breakage point, and it is a bitch to get at to remove the broken bolt. Which does not align with Lorry's '15 or 20 minute job' as quoted, with photo of that communication in a post on the previous page.

Finally, how does one decide that the OM crash bars are the best on the market without having even installed them, or tipped over with them? At least I can say that my bolt failure occurred without any hard crash. And we mostly agree that the OEM upper bars are seriously flawed, just as we mostly agree that the OEM lower bars are good, just as I and others have said that the OM skid plate and lower bars are good.

Do you have an alternate crash bar set that you are interested in; a set that you think will fit your feet as well as be safe on & for the bike? No, not to be perfect in every situation but bars that you think are well designed for the Tiger 900s?

 

[flyingburritobrother]

Further proof that crash bars are not some magic shroud that protect your bike in every scenario. Factory lowers are involved in this one.

From another board. Crash and aftermath starts @ 2:05

 

[DamonYVR]

Ewwww.... that was a fast drop and a sudden stop. Ripping the engine case is especially yucky.

 

[flyingburritobrother]

Ewwww.... that was a fast drop and a sudden stop. Ripping the engine case is especially yucky.

He's very lucky that branch didn't punch a hole in his leg.

 

[Orangelion56]

So I did end up buying a Tiger...a 1400 mile 21 RP back in November. Came with OEM lowers, T-Rex uppers, and T-Rex skid plate. I purchased used Outback pannier and top racks from that fellow in Texas that had his frame break while using Outback uppers. Got a great deal =) Replaced OEM lowers with T-Rex lowers. Have not been able to find any comments regards bolt failures on T-Rex parts (unless I missed one above). They use 8.8 hex bolts at the upper mounts and 12.9 cap bolts on the laterals. So the mental debate rages...do I just take the damn uppers off?

Great bike by the way =)

 

[flyingburritobrother]

So I did end up buying a Tiger...a 1400 mile 21 RP back in November. Came with OEM lowers, T-Rex uppers, and T-Rex skid plate. I purchased used Outback pannier and top racks from that fellow in Texas that had his frame break while using Outback uppers. Got a great deal =) Replaced OEM lowers with T-Rex lowers. Have not been able to find any comments regards bolt failures on T-Rex parts (unless I missed one above). They use 8.8 hex bolts at the upper mounts and 12.9 cap bolts on the laterals. So the mental debate rages...do I just take the damn uppers off?

Great bike by the way =)

View attachment 803541

Let's just put it this way. Do you want to risk a total catastrophic frame failure caused by aftermarket parts attached to places that were not designed for different sheer loading?

Plenty of horror stories out there with pictures to back up the issue.

....and Outback Mototrek is leading when it comes to reported failures.

 

[snowcatxx87]

I just got the updated uppers to go with the factory lowers already on my '23 rally pro. Probably going to do the trick that someone else did in this thread, skipping the subframe connection. Ideally I will be doing slow technical things that it may get dropped, not these crazy high speed into log crashes we've been seeing.

Now, to get a upper crash bar bag to look extra ADV? lol.

 

[Deep Bass]

I'm a bit late to the party on this one but the Hepco & Becker guards were cost competitive with the barkbusters when I priced them up a month or so ago because they were on clearance. I went ahead and bought the H&B because they went over the existing handguards and didn't look as gaudy as the BBs.

HOWEVER, I have a feeling that there may be a design flaw with the H&B guards. As they are mounted to the bar end and, importantly, the handlebar yoke, when you drop it the force will be transferred through to the forks and may result in them twisting out of line. The H&B guards are not "sacrificial" enough in a crash and appear to survive while everything else has to bend. This is not a good idea and is potentially expensive. I've got my Tiger going into the shop this afternoon for a full diagnosis so I'll let you all know what happens. I hope it's just an untwisting of the forks rather than a replacement handlebar.

Stats of the drop: probably doing 15-20kmh, hit moss on exit of causeway and dropped it on the RHS when the back went out. Full sideways force was first on the Oggynob (on the lower bars - custom, homebrew design), then the soft pannier then the H&B guard. So I don't think the H&B got the initial impact but it was a solid drop onto concrete. The mirror was untouched and there were no scratches on the tank or bodywork.

 

[snowcatxx87]

Looks like they are already out:

original upper bars (model A9780051)

new model (A9780275)

I messed Triumph back in Jan, and they finally messaged me today - they have added the new PN to their official parts site

Shop

Triumph Motorcycles

shop.triumph-motorcycles.ca

 

[xtypeinct]

Interesting Hepco and Becker update on their original tank bars.

I contacted H&B directly in Germany. Discussed my concerns with the poor track record of the original tank guards. They advised me that there was an engineering change, that quite frankly seemed spot on!

The original design of the tank guards mounted to the upper engine mounts, and the horn/light mount on the front beak. Seems that the mounting at the beak was the key weak point. It was a light weight point, never designed to handle any sort of loads, especially when coupled to the rigid mount of the upper engine mounts with a strong design of material that the tank bars are. The transfer of motions caused issues with both the upper engine mounts and the very weak beak.

So….

Hepco and Becker have redesigned the mouting at the beak. They now supply a very sturdy steel forward frame mount bracket assembly that attaches to the two bolts at the steerer tube to the frame, thus eliminating the weak point at the beak, and eliminating the the excess motion that occurred at the beak and the engine mounts.

Ordered the new bracket assembly from their US Distributor, along with a complete set of mounting hardware. I will completely remove the entire tank guard assembly and reinstall with new hardware and the new frame bracket.

I was able to track down the original selling dealer on my Rally Pro, and it turns out that they did the original mounting of the H&B kit.

I would highly recommend anyone using the original tank guards to order the new bracket and bolt kit and reinstall. If not, remove the tank guards from your bike as they are an imminent cause of failure and potential damage to your bike. Cost to me from the US Distributor was $70.00.

Anyone who purchases the original tank guards new, and the new “Solid” tank guards will receive the new forward frame mount brackets and appropriate installation instructions for same.

Kudos to H&B for addressing an engineering deficiency.

Cheers
RD

 

[Orangelion56]

Have Akurat bars on order, meanwhile, I have submitted my T-Rex bars (came with bike) to some moderate field testing over the past few days.

 

[flyingburritobrother]

I have to laugh at Hepco and Becker "addressing" this.

It's been 2 years since the first reported failure.... yeah, I was that guy.

Hepco Becker and Motomachines (US distributor) tired to blame "faulty installation" on me. A rash of failures after that and they continued to sell their "protection" bars to unsuspecting/ill-informed consumers. I won't ever buy another H/B product or anything from MotoMachines again.

They're still mounting the crash bars to the upper/front cylinder mounts which have been proven to be an issue across multiple after market vendors.

I'm not shy about saying....get those Hepco Becker bars off your bike.


As far as the beak bracket change. ...how much does that monstrosity weigh? The front of the Tiger is already top heavy enough.

Interesting Hepco and Becker update on their original tank bars.

I contacted H&B directly in Germany. Discussed my concerns with the poor track record of the original tank guards. They advised me that there was an engineering change, that quite frankly seemed spot on!

The original design of the tank guards mounted to the upper engine mounts, and the horn/light mount on the front beak. Seems that the mounting at the beak was the key weak point. It was a light weight point, never designed to handle any sort of loads, especially when coupled to the rigid mount of the upper engine mounts with a strong design of material that the tank bars are. The transfer of motions caused issues with both the upper engine mounts and the very weak beak.

So….

Hepco and Becker have redesigned the mouting at the beak. They now supply a very sturdy steel forward frame mount bracket assembly that attaches to the two bolts at the steerer tube to the frame, thus eliminating the weak point at the beak, and eliminating the the excess motion that occurred at the beak and the engine mounts.

Ordered the new bracket assembly from their US Distributor, along with a complete set of mounting hardware. I will completely remove the entire tank guard assembly and reinstall with new hardware and the new frame bracket.

I was able to track down the original selling dealer on my Rally Pro, and it turns out that they did the original mounting of the H&B kit.

I would highly recommend anyone using the original tank guards to order the new bracket and bolt kit and reinstall. If not, remove the tank guards from your bike as they are an imminent cause of failure and potential damage to your bike. Cost to me from the US Distributor was $70.00.

Anyone who purchases the original tank guards new, and the new “Solid” tank guards will receive the new forward frame mount brackets and appropriate installation instructions for same.

Kudos to H&B for addressing an engineering deficiency.

View attachment 805339

Cheers
RD

 

[flyingburritobrother]

Love it. I always like seeing people post "downed" pics...shows the bike is actually being used for what it was designed.

Have Akurat bars on order, meanwhile, I have submitted my T-Rex bars (came with bike) to some moderate field testing over the past few days. View attachment 805349

 

[Orangelion56]

Love it. I always like seeing people post "downed" pics...shows the bike is actually being used for what it was designed.

Took a refresher training course with Black Swan this past weekend (great way to familiarize myself with the Tiger) and it took a few naps, then rode locally Wednesday and Thursday (Charlie Canyon near Castaic)...that image was the third drop. Fortunately no others after the trail got rutty and rocky =0
I do find the bike difficult to pick up because it lays so flat compared to my GSs, but it far easier to handle on the many "almost" falls.

 

[zolo]

Interesting Hepco and Becker update on their original tank bars.

I contacted H&B directly in Germany. Discussed my concerns with the poor track record of the original tank guards. They advised me that there was an engineering change, that quite frankly seemed spot on!

The original design of the tank guards mounted to the upper engine mounts, and the horn/light mount on the front beak. Seems that the mounting at the beak was the key weak point. It was a light weight point, never designed to handle any sort of loads, especially when coupled to the rigid mount of the upper engine mounts with a strong design of material that the tank bars are. The transfer of motions caused issues with both the upper engine mounts and the very weak beak.

So….

Hepco and Becker have redesigned the mouting at the beak. They now supply a very sturdy steel forward frame mount bracket assembly that attaches to the two bolts at the steerer tube to the frame, thus eliminating the weak point at the beak, and eliminating the the excess motion that occurred at the beak and the engine mounts.

Ordered the new bracket assembly from their US Distributor, along with a complete set of mounting hardware. I will completely remove the entire tank guard assembly and reinstall with new hardware and the new frame bracket.

I was able to track down the original selling dealer on my Rally Pro, and it turns out that they did the original mounting of the H&B kit.

I would highly recommend anyone using the original tank guards to order the new bracket and bolt kit and reinstall. If not, remove the tank guards from your bike as they are an imminent cause of failure and potential damage to your bike. Cost to me from the US Distributor was $70.00.

Anyone who purchases the original tank guards new, and the new “Solid” tank guards will receive the new forward frame mount brackets and appropriate installation instructions for same.

Kudos to H&B for addressing an engineering deficiency.

View attachment 805339

Cheers
RD

Just wow. They’ve owned up to one single element of their obvious design flaws, as proven in-the-wild MANY times over, only to have the balls to actually charge people for a partial fix??

 

[flyingburritobrother]

Just wow. They’ve owned up to one single element of their obvious design flaws, as proven in-the-wild MANY times over, only to have the balls to actually charge people for a partial fix??

An excellent point. ^^^^

....and after looking closer at their "fix".....it's $70.00 to make the problem worse. Before you might just break your sub-frame. Now, you're more likely to cause actual frame damage.

We've seen where people actually crack the frame tabs that the sub-frame mounts to. Swing an a huge miss Hepco and Breaker....

Here's a pic.

 

[snowcatxx87]

I just put the new oem bars on - it has a bracket that comes off the frame - and does not attach to the beak subframe.

 

[xtypeinct]

Mounts to the same frame tabs as mentioned above that crack…

Geeze, where to turn, who to trust?

Cheers,
RD

 

[flyingburritobrother]

Based on personal experience, I know 100% not to trust MotoMachines and Hepco/Braker.

The 900 model ( and specifically the frame) has been proven to withstand a beating off road.... but for whatever reason, upper protection bars and this bike just do not mix.

I've gone without for 2 years now, dropped a number of times...no damage other than a scratched tank. No bars will protect in all scenarios anyway.

 

[snowcatxx87]

I’m not going to be crashing at high speed, these are for slow drops if that happens off road. Rather have to deal with cracked parts than painted parts!

looks good and beefy - waiting for the relocation kit for the oem fogs for visibility in traffic and went for Denali D4 for the beans 💪