Finally got round to fitting some bling on my PR7 – cages for radiators, and Crashbars! And before you asked why both, and wouldn’t it be the same as wearing 2 condoms, read on!

At the moment there are not a lot of choice of crash bars around, and i’ll say it straight away – i wish those bars were steel and not aluminium – bad experience from the past! (read the story about my trip to Stella Alpina Rally and you will know what im talking about)

While working on PR7 i thought while it’s all stripped, why not fit the crash bars at the same time, it’s only a couple of bolts! Boy, I was wrong!

Who knew that whoever designed the crashbars, will play a prank on us – pr7 owners!

By the looks it is mounted on a couple of bolts at the bottom – sharing the same mounting points as the engine, a couple where the headlights bracket meets the frame, and another couple to join them together! 

And guess what, on the right side, the bottom bolt is right behind the exhaust header pipe! It’s not too bad to take the original bolt out, but crashbar + longer bolt = trouble! 

To make matters worse, to undo exhaust – there is a need to undo a couple of bolts, and i’m not talking about the ones that hold the exhaust tight on the frame, but flange bolts! Those are tiny (only 8mm socket), but the problem was to get to them! 

Right side was not too bad and had to undo them completely , but on the left side – what a nightmare! Used everything i had and luckily it was enough just to take a bit of slack of it to allow some movement. 

Funny enough, manufacturers do not mention anything about taking exhaust off to fit their crashbars. Also can’t say that i have a lot of faith in them for 3 reasons

3 things to keep in mind:

1. made out of aluminium, means they will be as soft as cheese. 
2. At the top, there is only one thin bolt that holds it attached to the frame.
3. Ignoring the part where both sides of the construction of the crashbars interlock, it has only 2 mounting points – and that’s never a good design. 

Anyway, I thought I’ll give it a try and see how they perform! After all it’s a light bike and even if i’ll drop it (or, with my luck, when i will drop it) it shouldn’t fall as hard as lets say my old xt660z! Time will tell! 

Update: AJP PR7 Crashbars after Crash

Unfortunately time proved that crash bars with only 2 mounting points on one side are…useless. After a good off at only 15 Mph, the bars got bent and the mounting point at the bottom cracked. Did not damage anything else, so that’s a good thing! Got them sorted at local metalworkers, but shame they don’t make these bars with 3 mounting points! Perhaps I’ll have to go creative ways with this one too!

Explore more!

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• Important things to know about your AJP PR7 – Torque Vales / Bearing / Seal Sizes / Manuals and Stuff.
• How I stored All my Trail Tools and Spares on my AJP PR7.
• AJP PR7 Tool Sizes.
• Cheap ways to make your motorcycles clutch lighter! (Part 2/3).
• How to make a Hydraulic clutch lighter on your motorcycle! (Part 3/3).
• Is it possible to fit the New Athena ECU on the old AJP PR7?

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AJP PR7 Faults, Fails and Fixes

• AJP PR7 Wheel Spacers.
• AJP PR7 Wiring Problem and how to fix it (random stalling problem).
• Not AJP’s Fault – Radiator cap that nearly gave me a heart attack!