You are spot on. The fix is easy though, I added a hose clamp that keeps the bracket from riding up and hitting the exhaust pipe. The nice thing about this is that it is adjustable. So far it seems to be working fine, but I'll keep my eye on it. I'll drill through the brace and put a screw in it to act as a stop if this doesn't hold. That said, the Altrider crash bar is awesome. it is very robust and looks great. My RH side is not quite at the same level as the LH side as you noted, but go away for a day and you won't notice. One unanticipated bonus is that the angle of the bars make for a perfect foot brace. No highway pegs needed. I have to scooch back on the passenger seat, but that also provides a rest for my non-iron butt. I am 5'9" with a 30" inseam, so it may not work so well for you giants out there. For once, sucks to be you
Darn it TE250Guy, I wish I had seen your post before I put my brain into gear. Your 'fix' wouldn't have cut into my beer drinking time so much. I went with a link between the upper motor mount and the lower hole in the Altrider bracket. That and M10 bolts instead of the supplied hardware put everything where I wanted it.
I like your fix. I think the AlrRider guys watch this thread. I have talked to them since I live in the same area and they are very nice guys who are very responsive and are extremely quality conscious. I think your fix might be a good factory design update. I'll give them a call or shoot them an email.
Interesting. I suppose yet another solution would be to simply cut the part off the plate which would otherwise touch the pipe. But then the ALTRider logo would probably be removed. I believe the way the bars work is that the structural soundness comes from having the flat plate squeezing the down tube firmly, that way the side bolts going into the cylinder would not take as much of the load.
I noticed the interference issue when installing my Altrider bars, but just didn't have time to do the required grinding. I was up against it timewise for my COBDR. The bike is in AZ now and I am in TX, so I can't go out to the garage to look at the results after several thousand miles of hammering the bike. Later.... I like the hose clamp idea for a quick fix!
I don't think this would necessarily solve the issue, if I understand your intentions. I think the point was made that since the engine mounting frame tapers from large at the bottom to smaller at the top, then the bars would continually creep upwards until stopped by the exhaust pipe.
The great thing about this forum is that every day I have something new to go home and check on my bike when I finish work...
If I had the Altrider bars, I'd be doing this fix, and putting one on the other side too, to stop any chance of twisting and keep it right where it belongs. Good use of brain power and not a waste of beer drinking time! It works great with your skid plate. I think it'd be fine with the B&B like Nev and others have, as it goes up steeper than the SW-Motech mount. Altrider claimed theirs was better due to the top mount. I'd say that part of the design is solid. The compression fitting lower mount, not so much.
The AltRider bars were designed to sit below the exhaust to avoid causing damage to the pipe in a wreck. As obvious as it seems, please double check that the front of the bars are mounted with the longer bolt on the bottom and the shorter bolt on top. If reversed, the bars cannot properly clamp the frame, allowing that clamp to rise over time. We've had a few people contact us with this same issue that you all are having – only to be remedied by carefully following the instructions by mounting the longer bolt on bottom. Currently our President is out of the office, and will be back next week. Any further decisions regarding the crash bars won't be made until he returns. We want you to know we are aware of the issues, and will work with you to sort them out – please call our office at 206-922-3618 or email info@altrider.com to talk to a customer service representative. We take pride in our products and strive to create designs that are ready to install when you receive them - no cutting, grinding, or modifying required.
I don't buy it. TE250Guys pic at the top of this page clearly shows the longer bolt in the bottom hole.
When I installed the Altrider bars on my bike I followed the instructions provided and never saw any evidence of the bars wanting to creep up the frame during installation. I checked mine last night and the frame clamp is still mounted exactly where it was when I installed them. That was 5 weeks / 500 km ago.
Thanks for the heads up fellas. Mine have also crept up & touching the header pipe. I've had them installed for two weeks and have not been off road so bumps, etc is not the cause. The longer vs. shorter bolt installation will not cause retention problems. I was also disappointed with their packaging as they were chipped when I received them (or the powder coating is of poor quality). I paid a premium price for these which makes this purchase unfulfilling.
I bought mine direct from Altrider and had them shipped to Australia. When I checked the price on the Australian distributors website, shipping included, the local price was only about $5 more than what I paid in $US.
Mine have the creep problem and the powder coating is like spray can quality. very thin and comes off easy. Took me forever to get them not to hit the header pipe. So i am not happy. You would think with all the time it took to get them they would be perfect.
If I bought the Altrider bars I would demand they make brackets like this and a shim for side that is off. Just the idea of bars that clamp onto a frame that is tapered makes me want to throw up. It looks like a decent bump from the left bar would send it right into the exhaust.
Installed the SW-Motech crash bars a month ago. Installed easy, no issues, looks good. Did my first lay down... on a steep, lose and rocky climb that I should not of been on. I feared damage to the bike after I took my own inventory and found only small deep cuts to the upper corner of the bar. I could find no other damage after washing. Without a guard (from any manufacturer) I would possibly be replacing a case cover, plastic and who knows what. Happy?... Yes.
