AltRider Crash Bar and Skid Plate System for the BMW R 1200 GS Water Cooled

Reviews

• Fri 12 Jul, 2019 by Ofer

  Crash tested. Below I will attempt to attach the pictures of a sad day when a Colorado driver "never saw me" (or used a turn sign), and I got T Boned on my r1200gs equipped with head guards and the alt rider lower/crash skid. I will be Looking into adding lights and a louder horn to avoid this problem in the future. The crash bars saved my riding career by disabling the possibility of that driver severing my knees because his car direct impact with side of my motorcycle. The bars also played a role in protecting the integrity of the bike itself and the opposite side slide. I was lucky or maybe prepared to walk away that day, In this scenario these crash bars where the difference between serious bodily damage and a totaled machine. This only occurred at speeds less than 15-20 mph in a downtown areal so watch out, and be safe out there. Wear the right gear the pick the right amount of protection My experience with this kit in comparison to other Alt Rider/Touratech kits is that this products is superior in both strength and design, as it can actually disperse a lot impact between itself and the frame directly. These bars use brackets to mount directly to the frame which cut back on any direct engine mounts (in those few places aluminum bolts would work better than the provided steel). a few miss-sized small bushing and bolt pains came along with instillation. Fitments was also Alt rider fashion of being strong but having slight tolerances imperfections. Also the Rallye blue color option does not match the true frame color so I live with that others do not.

• Sun 24 Sep, 2017 by Timothy

  Heavy Duty Protection These crash bars and skid plate are heavy duty serious protection for my 2017 R1200GS Rallye. The crash bars and skid plate welds are much nicer looking than the typical crash bar welding job seen on other brands. (I ordered the silver bars with black skid plate). These crash bars utilize a through bolt for the upper-rear mount (often just a "floating" plastic insert on other brands), but this through bolt requires removal of the OEM through bolt/nut (which is installed with thread locker), which was rather difficult, but doable. I heated up the existing nut with a heat gun (using a small metal tube to keep the heat away from the frame's paint), and it came off slowly. The skid plate is very tough hard anodized aluminum, and bolts onto the lower crash bar mounting plate, in addition to the rear mounts (at the center stand pivots). BTW, I do not have a center stand on my Rallye version, and I was able to install the crash bars/skid plate (by myself) using the skid stand for the right side work (and leaning the bike up against a wall carefully for the left sid work). Also, I later ordered the AltRider cylinder head covers, and was miffed to find out that installing the left cover requires one to completely loosen the crash bars. This is due to th shape of the covers, and the proximity of the bars to the cylinder heads. If I'd known that I would have to almost remove the crash bars (which I had just installed two weeks earlier), to install the covers, I would have bought them all at once and installed the covers first.

• Fri 11 Nov, 2016 by Chris

  Crash Tested I wanted to thank these guys at AltRider for making such a beefy and well engineered product. I've had them on 3 R1200GSW's now and they handle off road spills with ease. In addition, recently I was T-boned by a car at speed and I am certain they saved my right leg as the crash bars tore the front bumper of the girls car off. The bike was a write off obviously but I am thankful to have had the crash bars installed. I'm setting up the new bike now with the same skid plate and crash bar set up as before. Thanks AltRider! See you on the trail. Chris R. Velocity Cycles

• Wed 05 Nov, 2014 by Josh

  Great Product This set up (skid plate and crash bars) has saved my bike several times. I installed their product with ease the week I bought the bike almost 10,000 miles ago. After some research and using other manufactures on past bikes, I knew Altrider was going on my new R1200GS. This combination has proved to serve my bike well. While on the COBDR in August I over shot a gravel road and caused almost $10,000 in damage to my bike. Besides the main frame and motor, almost everything was damaged, except the crash bars. Pretty miraculous really! I posted some information on ADV Rider and received an almost immediate email from Mitch at Altrider asking me how I was. I’m not much of a story writer and I’d rather ride than surf the internet, so what I’m trying to say is, buy these! You won’t be sorry. They also provide a great leg rest on long rides, if that means much to anyone… Thanks Altrider!

• Fri 08 Aug, 2014 by Colin

  Very easy to Install. Quality Protection. After reading the installation instructions, I was anticipating problems installing both of these items (Crash Bars and Skid Plate). There are almost always a few gotchas with projects of this 'scale'. I am very happy to say that this was not the case at all. The instructions and youtube video were very clear and covered everything. I was able to install these easily by myself, only needing help in one area (torquing the engine bolt). After installation, I could not have been happier with the result, fit and finish. Everything fit precisely which made installation that much easier. I have every confidence that these are currently the best set on the market. Absolutely Outstanding. I'm very very pleased with my purchase.

• Fri 06 Jun, 2014 by David

  Incredibly engineered, great protection. This is my first purchase from AltRider, and it will NOT be my last. I have installed many aftermarket parts on bikes over the years and this was the easiest ever. I was very impressed with the packaging...all sharp corners on the parts were covered in either bubble wrap or heavy duty cardboard, ensuring nothing would poke through the box. All parts and hardware were individually wrapped and sealed in heavy plastic bags. The included instructions were the best I've seen...even including a pictorial list of the needed tools. Speaking of tools, there were 2 Torx bits included with the parts, a T50 and a T55 ensuring anyone could perform the installation without a trip to Sears! I pre-read the instructions (I recommend this), got the tools ready, opened the boxes and lit up a cigar. The installation was straightforward. All parts were well machined and fit together perfectly...no tweaking or re-designing needed. I finished the installation of the crash bars, skid plate, and installed a set of highway pegs, all before I finished the cigar! I rated this product 5 stars only because there was not an option for 10 stars!!

• Mon 26 May, 2014 by Kristen

  Engineered together Each piece by itself is pretty clever, but together I think it's the best crash protection option on the market. As a combo, the crash bars help strengthen the skidplate mount points when you're bashing into things and in a crash, the skidplate helps strengthen the crashbar mount points. I know I'll be dropping my R1200GS and crashing into things off-road, it's the biggest, heaviest, dirt-bike ever. If your biggest worry is tipping over once in a parking lot, there are cheaper options, but knowing how I ride, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. See the individual parts for more thoughts on them.

• Wed 19 Feb, 2014 by Ryan

  Solid protection, good design I ordered these parts when they were in development so had a long wait, now that they have arrived I am glad I decided to wait. All parts were delivered well packaged, no scratches or nicks and shipping was on par with typical delivery for my area. The crash bars are very solid, the thicker stock material used in these bars is very stout, same goes for the skid plate providing a solid flat surface from wheel to wheel. Both appear more solid and robust that I expected. The finish and manufacturing detail is excellent, welds appear very clean and all parts fit up to the bike with little issue. One of the design features that led me to the AltRider skid plate is the attachment method to the side crash bar brackets instead of directly to the bottom of the engine. In addition I like that there is an access hole to the oil drain plug so short of major issues with the bike I do not expect to have to remove the skid plate to perform regular maintenance. And if I do have to drop the plate it's four bolts up front with captured nuts and two in the rear... and you don't have to lay on your back to see what you are doing. Likewise with the crash bars the design allows for the valve covers to be removed for service without removing the bars. As well there is access to remove the oil fill cap, remove the oil filter, and preserve access to view the oil sight glass. An added bonus I had not expected is that the design of the bars provide a resting place for your legs on top of the cylinder heads. Installation had some tricky spots so make sure to clearly read all instructions. Of particular note are the instructions tips on installing the skid plate center stand pivot pins and aligning the crash bars to the brackets, the instructions include tips to make these steps easier. Once these steps are complete you don't need to re-visit them as you can remove both the crash bars and skid plate without having to perform these steps. Overall I am very happy with my decision to go with this kit.

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