27th October 2012 – Had to do some homework and checkout some forum threads for this. E.g. UKGSER.com for BMW owners. It cost £165.17 from BykeBitz.co.uk. SW Motech appear to be a German company and these bars were made in the Czech Republic (from label).
In the end, I went with SW Motech as they were competitively priced versus OEM (and so was SW Motech’s Engine Sump Guard/Bash Plate which I would save-up for and later get in time). To me, they also offer higher protection of the side fairing panels. I noticed from reading the forums a lot of people were asking about compatibility between crash bars and sump guards. So, in order to remove any doubt, I knew I had to choose a combo that was stated to have worked together and where both seemed to have offered good protection (and within my budget). So, I decided to go with SW Motech for both of these protective pieces of kit.
 |
 |
 |
With not all bolts, nuts and washers being symmetrical to the motorbike (and it being cold and wet outside at the time), I decided to look at the overall installation process, layout all the pieces (below) and broke it down into 3 manageable parts. Thereby, when outside it would just take a matter of minutes to install.
with the above, I bagged the 3 separate sections (left-hand side’s, right-hand side’s and the central part) into 3 bags. Install must have taken about 45 minutes in the end.
Review: Very pleased with these bars. Very strong and sturdy. The design seems to blend-in perfectly with the BMW F650GS. They’ve already paid for themselves with 2 drops, recently. There’s barely any noticeable scratches and in the future at some point, I’m looking forward to smoothing them out (maybe with a bit of grit-wet paper) and re-spraying them. 🙂
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
PackedPanniers.com 
Leave a comment