Engine Guards

As an aging GRiSO rider I find my slow speed maneuvering skills are trash. Dropped the bike in my own driveway. I have registered for a slow speed maneuvering course being given in April where all riding is under 8 mph. I strongly suspect that I will drop the bike during class. Does anyone have recommendations for engine guards? I have seen the Hepco & Becker guards and they would probably solve my needs for class. Can anyone recommend guards from other manufacturers?

Thanks for your help.

Tom

Idk what type of engine guards are on my 1100;little triangular things that look like they'd fold up like a cheap suit if the going got tough,jmo.

If slow speed ground contact is likely,I'd plan my points of contact further out.

I have Stelvio ? hand guards & soft bags installed,not sure of the angles involved,but things like that might mitigate serious damage.

I have a right side exhaust,so my CARC is somewhat protected;look at your bike & assess if a CARC guard is something worth considering.

Big old fairings are heavy and ugly af,but usually hit the ground first;if you're lucky,with minimal damage.

fwiw good luck

I have Hepco and Becker guards and they fit seamlessly, not at all disturbing the looks of the bike. I had Stucci ones before and they looked gopping.

I have GTM GRiSO Crash Bars - expensive! The page says they are sold out, I would suggest contacting them cuz they might make a set for you. I'm extremely happy with the set I have - not had the opportunity to test them, they are robust.
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BTTT

80CX100 wrote:

 If slow speed ground contact is likely,I'd plan my points of contact further out.
     

I have had guards save my ass on other Guzzi's, (nice big triangular bars on a Tonti) but to your point, CX, all the designs for the GRiSO don't create much of a buffer.

Can anyone confirm that the Hepco Becker Guards specifically WORK? ie, you went down or dropped your bike?

I agree that the GTM guards look very robust, but they are priced to include the SOCAL premium price point.

Moto Machines is offering a bit of a discount on the HB's. They're in my cart while I debate the issue.

As I'm sure I've said before I have yet to see any engine, or even head guards that I'd trust on a GRiSO.

The problem is they mount on the front engine mounting bolts where the frame joins the motor and that is cast in bosses on the timing chest cover. In he event of any tip-over the bars may indeed transfer the energy away from the rocker cover and/or head but it will feed it into that mounting point.

While Grisos seem to crash well and rarely seem to wipe out more than a rocker cover and, on the right, the oil cooler housing, the earlier V11 series which had a similar attachment point were notorious for smashing their timing chest covers and crankcases, even in the most minor of dismounts. I've even heard of them doing it by rolling off the sidestand!

While the GRiSO frame is orders of magnitude stronger than that of the V11 I am still somewhat ambivalent about the benefits of 'Crash Bars' on a GRiSO and, because of the way the rocker covers are affixed on the 8V, there is no way to fit 'Rocker Protection' bars as can be used on the earlier 2V models.

I've bought several Grisos now that were written off due to low sides, Red Bike is one of them. Yes the rocker cover was holed and it had scooped up a bit of dirt but because you can just drop the sump and spacer off the motor and rinse all of that shit out with a few litres of kerosene from the top it wasn't the end of the world and the only real *Expense* was a new rocker cover!

Let's face it, if you trowel it at any kind of speed it's going to do a whole lot more damage than is likely be prevented by a set of bars and I have yet to see any that aren't as ugly as a hat full of farty arseholes so as far as I'm concerned they all get a hard 'No' from me.

I appreciate the voice of experience relative to ‘salvages’. Thanks Pete.

& then there's the aesthetics of sticking lumps of metal on a piece of art.....somehow crash bars looked 'right' on my Japanese era bikes...

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paulbrice wrote:

& then there's the aesthetics of sticking lumps of metal on a piece of art.....somehow crash bars looked 'right' on my Japanese era bikes...

very true

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That looks lovely !