R&G crash protectors for GSX1250FA

A few weeks ago I enquired about these from the Australian distributor AMC. Rob at AMC wouldn't take my order until he had them available is Aus. Which is fair enough as I had not made any outlay. He did keep me well informed and PM'd me to place the order when they had arrived. Once the order was made AMC was quick, delivery was 4 working days.

The Crash Protectors.
This job was awkward to say the least.
Obviously you need to remove both fairings
Then you need to remove the 3 mounting bolts to the radiator and tie the radiator forward to the front forks.

You can do either the left side first or start with the light side. Either way you choose the link bar must go in before the second mounting block is installed as it fits into a recess in the back of each block.

The left side mounting block is clamped around the frame.

View of the left side mounting block, loosely fitted in place



Right hand view of the left side mounting block


A more top down view of the left side block showing the link bar running above the headers


To fit the right hand mounting block you need to remove the 2 frame joining bolts. The mounting block sits over the frame join and 2 new bolts are supplied


Once the mounting blocks are in place and tightened up the instructions tell you to refit the radiator and fairings.
This is interesting as I wonder if you need to remove the knobs to remove the fairings or whether they will fit through the hole?





My first thoughts, the kit is well made, very solid. The instructions are easy to follow. Installation is awkward unless you have small hands. The biggest problem I had was removing the 2 original frame bolts which required a 450mm breaker bar and an 8mm Allen socket to loosen.

Personally I don't like them . They seem to stick out further than I anticipated. The knobs themselves look huge and I think ruin the lines of the bike.
The size of them suggests they have been designed to protect the indicators as well as the fairings.

If they look wide on the FA they will look HUGE on a naked .I guess its a trade off .Good protection but odd look .What now happens ,hope you get used to the look?

Can we have a front on look ?

Is there much chance of frame damage in an " off " ?

paul wrote:Is there much chance of frame damage in an " off " ?

They are connected to each side of the frame with a solid link bar between them. I guess it would depend on how hard it went down.
I mainly got them in case the bike fell over, because we all know how easy that can happen.

Gus I'm going to hang onto them, hoping I'll get use to them

For a moment i read that as "i'm hoping i get to USE THEM."

I reckon you'll get used to them.
If not what's stopping you getting some different knobs turned up because they are an unusual shape?
The knobs on my FZ1 are round and about half that length.

Its not the shape of them its the size of them, how much they stick out. Yeah I reckon I could cut them down, but would they then be as effective?

You have to remove the end pieces to remove the fairing. Once you have them installed, taking the ends off is easy, as long as you have a long enough socket. I've not had any movement from them and thanks to a low speed u-turn on gravel, I've tested them out. A few scratches on the knob, nothing to the fairing. On a long ride, they make for good leg stretching pegs.

A bit hard to tell from the close up pics. Could you take a wider shot for us to see ? Ta.

They look solid.

I've been away, so only now getting to see Max's post.

The knobs do stick out a fair distance.

It's a bit of a trade off. Everyone wants them tight and tidy, however everyone also wants as much of the bike protected as possible.

R&G have gone for the latter, after complaints from some buyers of earlier, smaller products on various bikes, that too much of the lower fairing, or fuel tank edges were open to damage in a big off.

As always, if a customer is unhappy with a product (and the bike hasn't been dropped), I will entertain a refund request.

amcmo wrote:I've been away, so only now getting to see Max's post.

The knobs do stick out a fair distance.

It's a bit of a trade off. Everyone wants them tight and tidy, however everyone also wants as much of the bike protected as possible.

R&G have gone for the latter, after complaints from some buyers of earlier, smaller products on various bikes, that too much of the lower fairing, or fuel tank edges were open to damage in a big off.

As always, if a customer is unhappy with a product (and the bike hasn't been dropped), I will entertain a refund request.

Not think of a refund, thanks anyway. Just hoping they will grow on me.

Hi Madmax,
I've just read your report on the R & G crash protectors you fitted.
I also fitted a set to my gsx1250 last August & felt exactly the same as you when I stood back & looked at the bike, only I don't think I could have gotten used to them. So I took out the alloy spacers behind the knobs themselves & machined them back in my lathe till I had them at a good compromise between looks & protection. (Also so that they were the same length both sides as one is longer than the other.) I realise this voids any warranty by R & G or AMCMO but I can live with that.
I'm now very happy with them and also like you was happy with the service from AMCMO when purchasing them.

kelpie wrote:Hi Madmax,
I've just read your report on the R & G crash protectors you fitted.
I also fitted a set to my gsx1250 last August & felt exactly the same as you when I stood back & looked at the bike, only I don't think I could have gotten used to them. So I took out the alloy spacers behind the knobs themselves & machined them back in my lathe till I had them at a good compromise between looks & protection. (Also so that they were the same length both sides as one is longer than the other.) I realise this voids any warranty by R & G or AMCMO but I can live with that.
I'm now very happy with them and also like you was happy with the service from AMCMO when purchasing them.

I did think of doing that, thought I don't have a lathe. Guess I could take them to work. Your right about one side sticking out more than the other, maybe there's a reason for that to protect the engine cover on that side.
How much did you cut them down by?

I'm not sure now but I think it was something like 10mm for one & 15mm for the other, maybe a bit more. Looking at your photos & comparing them to mine that would be close but take the shortest one of & hold it in till it your happy with how it looks & take some measurements, then take the same off the other one plus whatever the extra length is. If you take a little to much off, you can pack it out a bit with flat washers.
The other thing you will have to do is use shorter bolts to hold the knobs on.

One other good thing is they will make a great GoPro mount

I did think of that but wasn't sure how to attach the camera to them. 

How did you do it?

Two ways Kelpie the shmick way and cheap way. 

the Shmick way - is to buy the Ram mount which will cost you $59.00 delivered

which included a V-base with strap, GoPro Adapter ball, and a short double clamp  

find then here  http://www.ja-gps.com.au/RAM-Mounts/RAM-B-Size#

the Cheap way - use a flat base, standard mount, and radiator clamp to suit, and some heat shrink 

stick the flat base 90 degrees to the Crash knob clip in the standard mount then undo the radiator clamp slip the appropriate sized heat shrink over the clamp,  slide it over the mount
and tighten  there you have it

Thanks for the advice.

Being a tight ass, I'll try the cheap way first!

Jimcoleman wrote:Two ways Kelpie the shmick way and cheap way. 

the Shmick way - is to buy the Ram mount which will cost you $59.00 delivered

which included a V-base with strap, GoPro Adapter ball, and a short double clamp  

find then here  http://www.ja-gps.com.au/RAM-Mounts/RAM-B-Size#

the Cheap way - use a flat base, standard mount, and radiator clamp to suit, and some heat shrink 

stick the flat base 90 degrees to the Crash knob clip in the standard mount then undo the radiator clamp slip the appropriate sized heat shrink over the clamp,  slide it over the mount
and tighten  there you have it

Today I made up a mounting on my R & G crash protectors to mount my NanoCam on the cheap like you suggested & it worked out quit well. I haven't tested it out on the road yet, but it feels steadier than up on the fairing. Easy to remove when not wanted.


Thanks again for the suggestion.

Here is a "product review" on my modified R & G crash protectors I fitted last August.

The other day I was sitting on my bike in the shed, when I decided to get off and had a "seniors moment" & forgot to put the side stand down.

Fortunately, my modified crash protectors did their job & prevented any damage to the bike, just my pride.

I had reduced their length so that they didn't stick out so far but still gave enough protection for the stationary & low speed falls I've occasionally had over the years. I figure any largish crash I'm going to have will do enough damage anyway to worry about any modification I've done!

My R&G crash bars turned up today so fitted them up very nice just a couple of questions, the left hand block looks very close to the radiator and both blocks look very close to the pipes is this ok

Both sides are about 1-2 mm from the pipes but well clear of the radiator. Mine just clear the fairing with slight rub marks on the rear probably due to vibration.

If you can, send some pics looking in from each side & I'll compare them to mine.

Jimcoleman wrote:My R&G crash bars turned up today so fitted them up very nice just a couple of questions, the left hand block looks very close to the radiator and both blocks look very close to the pipes is this ok

And I'll check mine tomorrow

All Good there is a nice gap between the block and the radiator, Phew