Some of the best things in life take some more patience than others. I believe that it was worth the wait for all of you Africa Twin CRF1000L owners or future-owners. Final photos and details on the Outback Motortek crash bars and skid plate can be found below.
Photo credit: Jeff Gast/Traction eRag
Let me first begin with a huge thank you. Cheers to all of you who have responded to our survey, taken their time to email and/or call to contribute with your opinion or just to chat about our plans regarding the CRF1000L outfitting project.
I won’t drag this out, as you must be very excited to see what we’ve come up with. After carefully browsing through the photos, should you think you want to learn about why we’re building these accessories differently from the majority of the ADV bike outfitters, or if you want to know pricing, then keep reading.
Thanks for continuing to reading this. So, about those details:
The crash bars were designed and made with the same idea as the BMW F700/800GS crash bars. Less is often more and making “compact” crash bars that don’t spread out to far off the mounting points make the bars less vulnerable to impact from a 220-240kg/470-530lbs fallen bike. Check this real-life crash bar test, I carried out myself with outstanding results.
The skid plate is “bomber”. Most of you who filled out the survey has asked for it and I personally believe that it makes sense to protect such a large engine. We’ve gone further than just designing a “large” skid plate with all sorts of adventure and expedition names.. The Honda factory front mount for skid plates is not that convincing. Not at least for a tough skid plate that we’ve built. So, we had gone ahead and made this skid plate attachable to the crash bars! Talk about full engine and exhaust header protection with proper mounting.
The only thing that’s missing on this final prototype skid plate is our signature feature: the embossed ridges. See photo below for example. In a nutshell, this feature makes a skid plate “SKID” plate and not just a “rock deflector”. Not only these ridges act as gliders (smaller surface, less resistance when gliding over rocks, logs etc.). but these ribs also reinforce the bottom of the skid plate where it’s exposed to most impact.
Availability:
Crash bars will be available for sale in 2-3 weeks (around the first week of June). Skid plate might become available in the same time or roughly 1-2 weeks later, along the rear luggage racks (mid to end of June).
As soon as these products are ready to ship, we’ll email you, send you a newsletter notice (have you subscribed, yet?!) and you may go ahead with the purchase. We do not accept payments until we’re ready to ship your order.
Thanks for sticking around and hope to hear from you. Otherwise, I wish you happy searching on the accessories that you think will make you feel better about keeping your Africa Twin intact, should you happen to “lay it down” or bash it up on rocks.
Finally, there’s a chance that more accessories follow later in this summer: center stand, light-duty offroad skid plate, side stand enlarger, engine guard.
All the best,
Lorry Gombos
Founder and owner
Outback Motorek