Mastech crash bars
- Thread starter Muggy
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Chuck B
New Member
I'm interested in your thoughts when you get the guards.
jimsgone
New Member
Ditto, would like to hear your thoughts also !!! ::008::PowersUSA said:
Shipping fail. The "package" arrived today but it contained another customers part (a Mastech Muffler shield for an F800 GS) and not the crashbars. I called http://www.pak-meister.com/ and got an answering machine. I'm leaving next Wednesday for a 5 day trip and was really hoping to have the crashbars all mounted up by then, I guess not.
awork13
New Member
Any update on the crash bars?
When I last posted I had received the wrong package from PAK-Meister. That was a Saturday and I had a trip planned for that following Wednesday that I was really hoping to have the bars for. I explained the situation to them and without hesitation they offered to overnight me a set of bars that Monday so that I would have them on Tuesday and in time for my trip. In this regard PAK-Meister went over and above for sure.
The bars come packaging from Mastech in a two compartment heavy gauge clear plastic bag (see pictures blow). PAK-Meister packaged the bars in a box with ex-large bubble/balloon type packaging separating the two compartments of the bag. Unfortunately the bars did NOT arrive unscathed. The pictures below highlight the worst of the scratches and there are a couple areas, not necessarily discernible in the pictures, where the finish is scuffed or dull from apparent rubbing. These are steel bars (NOT stainless) and will rust if the metal is exposed. Impossible to say for sure when the bars incurred the damage but suffice it to say the packaging from Mastech was minimal at best and I'd be shocked if the bars could arrive to customers as nice as they came from the finishing step at the factory. Due to my low confidence in getting clean bars I'm opting to take a slight refund and repaint the bars myself as opposed to exchanging the bars for new ones. PAK-Meister tells me they have addressed the packaging with Mastech. What that means I'm not sure.
In the hand the bars have a good heft to them and they make a good first impression (scratches aside).
I installed the battery side bar first. There's a bundle of wires at the rear of the side panel that the base plate of the bar pushes up against. When I have the bars off for repainting I'll be wrapping those wires just to be safe. The bar "just" clears the very inside of the fairing where it makes a straight shot towards the engine (see pictures below).
The radiator side bar did not go on well at first and I fought to line up the front bolt for about 10 minutes. It turns out the "end caps" on the bars were touching each other at the center of the bike. Note, the two bars do NOT bolt to each other like the AltRiders do. I took one of the end caps off and the bar mounted right up. When I have the bars off for painting I will try re-seating the end caps to see if I can get them to clear each other. If they don't clear then I'll just fill the bar ends with black silicone. The bar does support the radiator and I needed to put a slight bit of upward pressure to "lift" the radiator as I tightened down the bar. The bar clears the inner fairing by a larger margin on this side of the bike (see pictures below).
Where both bars wraps around the front of the fairing there is ample room to mount lights if desired.
As you can see from the pictures I also have the ACD skid plate installed and it works well with the bars. I used a stack of washers I had on hand to match the thickness of the ACD spacer (see pictures below).
I've ridden over 900 miles with the bars and there are no added vibrations or other on road negative like that. The side panels can be removed without interference from the bars (only tested batter side).
For $225 I think these bars make a nice alternative to the similarly priced Givi bars assuming of coarse that Mastech improves their packaging.
The bars come packaging from Mastech in a two compartment heavy gauge clear plastic bag (see pictures blow). PAK-Meister packaged the bars in a box with ex-large bubble/balloon type packaging separating the two compartments of the bag. Unfortunately the bars did NOT arrive unscathed. The pictures below highlight the worst of the scratches and there are a couple areas, not necessarily discernible in the pictures, where the finish is scuffed or dull from apparent rubbing. These are steel bars (NOT stainless) and will rust if the metal is exposed. Impossible to say for sure when the bars incurred the damage but suffice it to say the packaging from Mastech was minimal at best and I'd be shocked if the bars could arrive to customers as nice as they came from the finishing step at the factory. Due to my low confidence in getting clean bars I'm opting to take a slight refund and repaint the bars myself as opposed to exchanging the bars for new ones. PAK-Meister tells me they have addressed the packaging with Mastech. What that means I'm not sure.
In the hand the bars have a good heft to them and they make a good first impression (scratches aside).
I installed the battery side bar first. There's a bundle of wires at the rear of the side panel that the base plate of the bar pushes up against. When I have the bars off for repainting I'll be wrapping those wires just to be safe. The bar "just" clears the very inside of the fairing where it makes a straight shot towards the engine (see pictures below).
The radiator side bar did not go on well at first and I fought to line up the front bolt for about 10 minutes. It turns out the "end caps" on the bars were touching each other at the center of the bike. Note, the two bars do NOT bolt to each other like the AltRiders do. I took one of the end caps off and the bar mounted right up. When I have the bars off for painting I will try re-seating the end caps to see if I can get them to clear each other. If they don't clear then I'll just fill the bar ends with black silicone. The bar does support the radiator and I needed to put a slight bit of upward pressure to "lift" the radiator as I tightened down the bar. The bar clears the inner fairing by a larger margin on this side of the bike (see pictures below).
Where both bars wraps around the front of the fairing there is ample room to mount lights if desired.
As you can see from the pictures I also have the ACD skid plate installed and it works well with the bars. I used a stack of washers I had on hand to match the thickness of the ACD spacer (see pictures below).
I've ridden over 900 miles with the bars and there are no added vibrations or other on road negative like that. The side panels can be removed without interference from the bars (only tested batter side).
For $225 I think these bars make a nice alternative to the similarly priced Givi bars assuming of coarse that Mastech improves their packaging.
Ryan G.
I ride for pie
I got a set for my 2014. The price is right and they fit. Their solid. No problem taking the side panels off.
EricV
Riding, farkling, riding...
2011 Site Supporter
2012 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Some comments and observations.
It's really difficult to package and ship heavy crash bars to avoid scratches. Rumbux wraps every inch in foam tape to accomplish this. I further wrap them in a configuration to minimize shifting, and pack the hardware in a separate box to avoid that from scratching or damaging the bars, and to prevent the loss of hardware. Then I custom cut down and staple every box to fit the re-packed bars to avoid shifting inside the box. I'm sure Mastech will improve their packaging methods over time.
In regards to the products, they are a tad minimal for my taste. Very little upper protection. Skid plate bolted to sump, classic method, classic down sides if it takes a hard hit. In the end, it comes down to what your needs are and what you like. I offer that the prices are pretty reasonable, and that you're getting what you pay for, no more. It's good looking product, but it's not heavy on the protection, just so you understand what you're buying.
It's really difficult to package and ship heavy crash bars to avoid scratches. Rumbux wraps every inch in foam tape to accomplish this. I further wrap them in a configuration to minimize shifting, and pack the hardware in a separate box to avoid that from scratching or damaging the bars, and to prevent the loss of hardware. Then I custom cut down and staple every box to fit the re-packed bars to avoid shifting inside the box. I'm sure Mastech will improve their packaging methods over time.
In regards to the products, they are a tad minimal for my taste. Very little upper protection. Skid plate bolted to sump, classic method, classic down sides if it takes a hard hit. In the end, it comes down to what your needs are and what you like. I offer that the prices are pretty reasonable, and that you're getting what you pay for, no more. It's good looking product, but it's not heavy on the protection, just so you understand what you're buying.
Ryan G.
I ride for pie
I disagree, the Mastech skid plate I have is not mounted to the sump. Its mounted to the frame. Also, the crash bars are 1" tubing just like everybody else's. They are almost identical to the Altrider's except the front center bars are not connected. I layed the bike over on the ground and the bike rests on the bars as it should. The bars do not flex. I'll leave it to someone else to test the bars on a moving fall but I would predict the same results on most other crash bars.
The other issue is weight and bulk. "a tad minimal" is left up to much interpretation. We all would prefer a 2" roll bar around the complete bike when we fall but not for everday use. The Rumbux stuff looks a tad too beefy and heavy. Of course I'm biased because I just bought the Mastech stuff and I could bearly afford that, but I did give the purchase alot of research.
The other issue is weight and bulk. "a tad minimal" is left up to much interpretation. We all would prefer a 2" roll bar around the complete bike when we fall but not for everday use. The Rumbux stuff looks a tad too beefy and heavy. Of course I'm biased because I just bought the Mastech stuff and I could bearly afford that, but I did give the purchase alot of research.
EricV
Riding, farkling, riding...
2011 Site Supporter
2012 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
I hope it works well for your needs.Ryan G. said:
However, the front of the skid plate mounts to the sump. Those two protrusions are part of the sump, and are hollow. Break one off, you have a major oil leak. Yes, the rear is frame mounted. It is better than the oem gravel guard.
The bike, when it falls over on uneven ground, or off the edge of a roadway, down hill, has a tendency to roll over farther than you may think. Easily engaging crash bars higher up than the Mastech ones go. BTDTGTTS.
The level of protection we perceive we need is, in part, based upon how we have ridden up to that point. It's common for people to buy heavier duty protection, after they have had an event and realized that what they had was not quite up to the task. Hopefully, you will not be one of those. You see this all the time in the dirt bike world. People crash and get hurt, then go out and buy more or better body armor.
I can completely understand the aspect of price. I try very hard to keep the price of the Rumbux in the range that it's still comparable with buying comparable quality items separately and paying the shipping. I'm not banking much at the end of my orders. But it can be false savings to scrimp on protection, then crash and find out that what you had didn't protect the bike. Now you have the costs of fixing the bike, in addition to replacing the protection items.
I'm not bashing Mastech to try and get more sales. I'm only pointing out some of what I see as limitations. I became a Rumbux retailer because I wanted some for my own Super Tenere. After the first group buy to get some, I was so impressed with the quality and level of protection that I wanted others in the US to have the option of putting Rumbux on their own bikes w/o the level of difficulty I had to go thru on the group buy.
The Mastech stuff is good looking and appears to be well built. I personally don't like some of the mounting points they chose to use, but that's just my take as a machinist of 25 years and working in the industrial equipment/tool market where tools are used and abused.
Tenerefeller
Member
Ordered my crashbars yesterday! We will see, they have to be better than nothing at all. Some of us have responsibilities that hold us to a beer type budget. I think this helps up, worst case we sell and upgrade later.
Juan Valderrama
Member
I have Mastech crash bars, engine protection guard and side cases on my XT 1200 Z, and previously I had their products on my XT 660 Z. They are a company from Medellin, and the people of that region take great pride on their work and skills. I have also compared them with other companies, Touratech and Alt Rider. So, is not because I am Colombian (I am also a US citizen), but their quality and price are superB. My friends and I personally have already tried the crash bars, they are fine and they allow to remove the side covers.
Mastech bases its models on Touratech parts, for the most.
The export to many countries in latam and the USA.
Worth taking the effort and try them.
Mastech bases its models on Touratech parts, for the most.
The export to many countries in latam and the USA.
Worth taking the effort and try them.
Anyone see the Mastech skid plate in person? I can't quite tell how it mounts at the rear, but I think the front mounts to the very strong bosses at the front of the engine. For $250 it might be the best value out there!
ac
ac
Ryan G.
I ride for pie
I got the skid plate mounted. The front bolts are mounted on the engine block tabs and the rear is bolted to the frame using existing bolt holes. Longer bolts were provided. The skid plate doesn't actually bolt directly to the engine or frame but uses metal tabs or straps to connect it. This is a plus because the tabs will bend and break before most damage will get to the engine case.
I was corrected earlier when I said the plate is not mounted to the sump. I usually think of the sump as the bottom of the engine or the oil pan and is not a good place to mount anything. If you ever manage to break off the front upper mounting points on the engine, you have a lot bigger problem then just an oil leak.
I was corrected earlier when I said the plate is not mounted to the sump. I usually think of the sump as the bottom of the engine or the oil pan and is not a good place to mount anything. If you ever manage to break off the front upper mounting points on the engine, you have a lot bigger problem then just an oil leak.
Can you post some pics?Ryan G. said:
Unless you are log hopping, from what I have seen the skid plate really takes a beating under the bottom near the centerstand mounts. I agree with your assessment of the front mounting.
ac
Juan Valderrama
Member
I have the skid plate installed on my ST, and I had hit it already kind of hard. I had manage to check for the damage and fix the skidplate. It worked fine on the 3 hits I had have already, one was hard enough to deform the plate a bit, specially on the rear brakets.avc8130 said:
The skid plate is basically attached to the engine in the front, to those two bolts on the front of the engine where most of the plates attach. On the rear they are attched to the same point that the exaust system is attached, on the right side (rear break side) and on the left, on a screw holding part of the side stand.
The plates will deform on a hit, that is the idea, as well as some of the points where it attaches. I am not ay home with my bike, otherwise I would send pics. Next week I will be happy to share some as well as the mounting instrucctions.
saludos.
Juan Valderrama
Member
They allow perfect removal of side covers and battery. No need to unscrew anything.
Lutsie
Member
Had anyone bought these recently and from where?
Also important, has anyone tested them as a pillow for the s10 when it takes a nap? They look great but if they don't work well to protect...
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Also important, has anyone tested them as a pillow for the s10 when it takes a nap? They look great but if they don't work well to protect...
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk