Custom made crash bars

[slime bomb]

I have Husqvarna 701 LR that I would like to have crash bars for the front end (around the tanks) but no one does them because they are of of such low volume.

Does anyone know who could make a set? I've looked on the interweb but there's nothing.

[trickywoo]

Could be worth asking a roll cage company as they will be used to fabricating similar.

Ideally a local bike mechanic who can fabricate but they are very rare. If you are anywhere near JHS Racing it would be worth speaking to them.

[Rubin215]

Any decent blacksmith or steelwork company should have the right kit for doing it, the problem is that a one-off is going to be expensive and they might struggle to produce something that is genuinely protective if they haven't done that kind of thing before.

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

Touratech or Rally Raid not have something that could be adapted from a sister KTM?

[srob]

A local fabrication company would be able to do the making bit but without drawings the issue will be it'll have to be trial and error whether they fit or not as it'll likely be a 3D shape that have to fit, so it'll be a job without drawings or CAD!

And as mentioned, it's likely to be pretty expensive too.

You could maybe contact someone who already does them and offer your bike as a template for a bit of a discount if they can then retail them?

I went to a well known tail tidy and crash bung manufacturer and they 3D scan the fitting points on a bike then generate the CAD from that. May be worth emailing a few and seeing if that's an option?

[Drawweight]

I don't know Husqvarna's but I'm assuming the LR is different from the Enduro as there seems to be bars for that?

https://outbackmotortek.co.uk/product/husqvarna-70...

Would it be possible to buy a set and get them modified, presumably the mounting points are similar?

[KTMsm]

I'd either Google motorcycle fabricator or call a couple of custom shops

There are people about who can still do this type of work, but the prices vary enormously

Might be easiest to start with similar protectors from the 701 and then get them modified to fit the LR

[OutInTheShed]

There are people who do stainless tube fabrication for guard rails on yachts.
Used to doing fittings with no drawings.
Might be worth an ask?

[slime bomb]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll have a look at none LR version and see if they can be modified. Good call about yacht manufacturers. I do have a neighbour who used to teach engineering so I'll have a talk to him too.

[moanthebairns]

slime bomb said:

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll have a look at none LR version and see if they can be modified. Good call about yacht manufacturers. I do have a neighbour who used to teach engineering so I'll have a talk to him too.

If this is the case you could always get a length of copper pipe and shape it with conduit benders forming roughly what you want, then take it to a fab shop requesting your design and where you want the fixings to go.

[Omaruk]

I think the issue is where to mount and where the forces are going to go through the bike when it goes over. You get this wrong and you could write off the bike with a bent chassis for a simple lie down

[moanthebairns]

Omaruk said:

I think the issue is where to mount and where the forces are going to go through the bike when it goes over. You get this wrong and you could write off the bike with a bent chassis for a simple lie down

Good point, my O/H got some cheap chinese crash protection from eBay, that was my concern the second I saw them, ended up never fitting them, it didn't help that they sent two left hand side ends.

[KTMsm]

Omaruk said:

I think the issue is where to mount and where the forces are going to go through the bike when it goes over. You get this wrong and you could write off the bike with a bent chassis for a simple lie down

In my experience, the sellers of aftermarket parts simply don't have the knowledge / technology to work something like that out

It's simply a case of in a low speed crash you're better off with the bars, in a hard crash it's anyone's guess

I've seen crash bobbins rip engines blocks apart, I've seen the same bobbins save bikes

Crashes are too individual too accurately replicate but you're not twisting a chassis with a low speed crash

I haven't had experience, but I wonder whether undeclared crash bars that make a crash worse would affect an insurer's payout ?

I doubt it as anything high-speed enough to bend a chassis would have almost certainly have written off the bike with cosmetic damage anyway

[Drawweight]

I had my GS written off when I got sideswiped by a car.

The impact bent the crash bar and pulled a mounting bolt out the crankcase. Being an insurance job that was enough to write it off.

And those were genuine BMW items. Although to be fair I’ve seen and heard of loads of GS’s going down on the bars with no ill effects. It must have been a freak impact just on the wrong spot because I didn’t even come off.

[slime bomb]

Good idea about the copper pipe and yes, crashes are all individual.

[KTMsm]

I've used a few fabricators over the years working on cars and bikes, most would rather you just give them a rough idea of what you want and leave them to it

I had a custom alloy bike tank made and was getting quotes of 2K. Found a lovely old bloke in a shed, who did a beautiful job for £400 - so ask around