Front Crash Bars - You won't believe this!

[Bull Durham]

I bought my 2005 last fall. It's been years since I've been around a Nomad, last one I was around was about 10 years ago, the '99 model. Anyway, the guy I bought it from never did anything to the bike, kept it stock except he put a Mustang seat on right away and probably the Kuryakyn Foot pegs, unless they come stock, I don't know.

Something never looked right to me, had a nagging thought in the back of my head that something was wrong when I looked at my bike, when looking at the front crash bars on the bike. Thought they looked kinda weird, was never impressed with them. Could never figure out what was bugging me.

So tonight, I was looking at the lowers sold by Xncrman in the Vendors section of KawaNow, wondering if I should get a pair. I've looked at them before, but wasn't sure if they would fit my bars as mine narrow towards the top of the bike. Reread all the messages on his topic, say's they fit all nomads, 1500 and 1600's.

Went out and looked at my bike, came back in and tried finding some of your signature pics where I could see the crash bars well. Was kinda confusing, as I see some people have a one piece crash bar on their bike that runs all the way across the radiator, others have a two piece like mine, bolts on each side, then some of the 'green / green' 1999's have nice, big, exaggerated bars, which I like and am more used to, like my crash bars from the '70's.

Go back and look at my bike and realize the crash bars are upside down and on the wrong side of the bike! What the hell?!! I take them off and put them on the right side, correctly. Now I'm pissed. I have some pics I got from the previous owner, I'm looking at them and see they have always been on backwards / upside down. You think the Dealership put them on that way? In fact, the one pic in my sig line is from the previous owner, just the bike pic.

I'm used to aggressively riding twisties and cornering, and enjoy scraping my floor boards often. Just the way I like to ride. So now when I put the crash bars on the correct way, the bottoms are now the tops, and I've been scraping my crash bars too, besides my floor boards!

Now it's driving me nuts as I've got all these road rash scrapes showing on the top.

Poop. Guess I'm going to have to be looking for new crash bars in the future, or just bring a big wrench down to Maggie Valley for those midnight specials!!
;) ;) ;) ;)

Anyone ever have the dealerships do something stupid to your bikes?

[cyclecat]

The first 1700 we saw at the local dealership had the engine guards on upside down and on the wrong side. I pointed them out and the owner told me I was wrong. I told him the wide side is always on the top, he went and got his 'head mechanic' who also argued with me. They finally got a picture and saw I was right. Both walked away without saying a word. I love it when idiots argue with me only to realize they really are idiots.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Never thought of them possibly being on upside down and on the wrong sides. Guess some people that put them on just don't know what they are doing.

Don't be looking at mine after midnight. The left one has a scratch on the outside. You would want to get perfect ones. Just letting you know.

[Bull Durham]

That's funny, love it when arrogant folks get taught a lesson or two. What's even crazier is Kaw has to put that little plastic strip over the three metal bag strips that say faintly "Left side" or "right side". You'd think mechanics would know which is is left or right, but I guess not.

[wheelie]

Well, I'll be. I would never thought they could be swapped and flipped like that, dang. Hope you find a set of bars soon and for low $
"You'd think mechanics would know which is is left or right" We had a trash truck down today because the techs serviced it last night and could not get the PTO to work. So they started tracing wires and checking connections. The problem? ??? The emergency PTO kill switch was set to off. It's a big red button right above the on-off switch. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees.

[cyclecat]

The first set of engine guard covers I sold, I also put on a guys Nomad. Ran into him a couple of months later and he told me something had happened to the covers when he washed them and they now fit like crap. I took one look and asked him why he took them off to wash them. He asked me how I knew he had taken them off. I knew because he has the covers on upside down. Wide side always goes on top.

You mentioned that some bars are one piece going across the top of the rad and some are separate pieces? 1500's are one piece and 1600's are two separate pieces.

[cyclecat]

BTW engine guard covers are a lot cheaper than new bars. Put a set of covers on and don't take them off.

[jandreu]

I kind of like the way they look upside down. ???

[cactusjack]

Front crash guards for an '05 are $79.13 each from cheapcycleparts.com.

[Jared]

Now that I look closer to your picture I can totally tell. LOL!!! You're probably pretty lucky that didn't catch on a tight turn and lift the weight off your front wheel. That can kill you in a quick hurry.

[jestephens]

The guards are [relatively] innexpensive.

A few years ago my '05 was knocked over and the front crashbar landed on a square curb, leaving a huge "V" in the bar, and the other side was bent backward from the force that knocked it over.

Even though I don't recall what they cost, I remember I was pleasantly surprised at the cost. Maybe $80 or $90 each. The guy didn't want it on his insurance and paid me cash.

[rewindgy]

Yeah - I was looking at a guy's 1600 a couple of years ago and he was so proud of his new Lightbar & spots and I asked the big question ( why are your signal lights upside down?) and he got all pissed of and told me to take a hike -and then I asked if I was wrong why was there water inside the lenses? The 1600's have a small drain / slot that goes to the bottom. He just walked away mumbling!

[lw]

Not the first time I've heard of the assembler getting it wrong out of the crate. As has been pointed out, there are really two options: Cover them up or replace them.

If you choose the replacement option, cyclepartsnation sells them for $69 and change plus shipping.
Part# 55020 on the left and 55020A on the right
http://www.cyclepartsnation.com/page...2005)/GUARD(S)

[ringadingh]

Perhaps the original owner put them on upside down intentionally so he could lean further in the corners. Ive only scraped my bars once that I know of. Now that I have a car tire and the bike sits an inch higher I doubt I'll ever lean it over that far.

[cnc]

I was curious, so I just looked at the dealer prep manual and it has a pretty clear drawing depicting the correct orientation. Either the guy assembling the bike didn't bother to look at it, or as Ring said the previous owner removed them and put them back upside down for what ever reason. You could cover the scrapes up with something for now. Chrome foil tape, the carbon fiber look tape etc, or if you add chaps and leave them on they should hide the scrapes.