My new ride Bean, so what do I think will get bashed first? Looking at Bean I realize the heads are the most expensive thing sticking out there so that will be my starting point. My bro has a 1250 GSA, which is a monster and I look at what is stock and the things he has done to make it a solid ride I try to think what applies to Bean. Of course, I am not my bro and so I am not going to abuse Bean like he might, however, Bean is a boxer twin so what do I need first. Of course at the same time whatever I do I need to keep it sexy.
With those two beautiful cylinder heads protruding out there on the sides, I am positive, knowing my luck, that there will come a day when I tip Bean over or bump into something solid like a wall, car, tree, or tall curb. With that, it is paramount to take care of those heads and get them protected.
Puig Crashers
After looking at a plethora of different engine guards I decided for my usage I would go with the Puig Engine Guards. They are well built, and I have read good things about them. Mounting them up was not a problem and accomplished relatively easily, however, did have a minor issue and I will get to that in a moment. I saw a nice review on Revzilla and since I have ordered before from them and they have always provided excellent service and support I bought them online from them.
The crashers I choose are a black semi mat finish and compliment Bean’s colors nicely. I did think of getting them powder-coated in red to match the red frame but I think it may be a bit over the top. One of the reasons I went with the Puig is they do a good job of protecting the front, sides, and bottom of the heads. Other offerings seem to offer protection for the valve covers or bottom sides which if you are a corner carver a good thing. However, if you smash around in the trees and rocks AND blast around the curves you may want more.
Pros / Cons
I have been asked if they drag in the corners, not yet. In the twisty’s I can get very aggressive and I believe that my body position and style of riding have a lot to do with the fact that so far I have not dragged my crashers on the road. There have been a couple of times out on the trails where I had to hold my breath to squeeze between logs or rocks, however, that was to be expected. So yes they do stick out a bit more but it is manageable and for the most part unobtrusive.
What else, they do get in the way of pulling my valve covers when I need to adjust the valve lash, however, I can loosen the bottom mounting bolts and take the nut off the top mount and that lets me pull them down just enough to pull off the covers with a bit of finesse.
They were relatively easy to mount, and I found that if you support the engine it is easier to line the bolts back up. As for utility although I can’t ride using them for a footrest, they do make a good perch for mounting your accessory lighting.
So you can see in that series of pictures the cylinder heads are well protected and unless you really smash into something all should be good when you do drop your ride or have a minor bash.
I did mention that although the bars went on pretty much without any problems there was one thing you should check and make sure of if you mount the Puig bars. They come with a set of spacers that you need to use to step them out a bit so that the bars do not rub or touch any part of the bike. When I put my bars on I had to play around with the spacers to get the correct ones in the right places. They are different widths to go on the top mount and bottom mounting points.
After getting the bars on, with the spacers in place I noted that the left side was just barely touching the cylinder head. This can be a very bad thing because the vibration will eventually wear through and cause a hole or a crack in the cover. Also, if you were to have even a minor impact there is no space between the bars and the head so that impact would be directly transferred to the head.
The simple solution to this problem was that I took a couple of thick washers from the hardware store and put them behind the bar mounting bracket. Note that if you encounter this issue when you put in washers, 1. just give yourself a reasonable amount of room between the bar and head, 2. make sure that you balance the washers/spacers so that when you tighten the crasher down it is not torqued or bent. It should touch all mounting points when loose and if needed you can use a thin washer to adjust.