I know a lot of you like those tip over bars and I do too, but I can't justify the cost.
So once again I set out to find a less expensive way to get a similar look.
I started out by purchasing some GL1800 crash guards that looked very similar to the tip over bars available out there. NOTE: Not all crash bars from the Gold Wings look like these. If you are going to do this mod, they have to be the same ones.
When they arrived I noticed some key differences:
The steel is fatter, there is a curve them, and the holes do not pair up to the bike. But I had already spent $25 on them from eBay and I was going to make them work. It turned out to be easier than I thought.
I positioned them on the bike to curve around the passenger's ankle. I got a piece of rectangular steel and welded the bars onto them. At that point it was just a matter of putting them into the drill press and re-drilling the holes in the correct spots.
This added some thickness that I wasn't ready for. I went down to the local Carzone shop and had to get some metric bolts that were about ?†longer than the factory ones on the bike.
I taped off the bars and painted the new steel black. I bolted them on with some lock-tight to make sure they weren't coming loose and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out.
They are very strong and sturdy. They come out to the edge of the bags and they don't interfere with my wife's feet. (that was the biggy.)
Enjoy the pictures of the end result. I have misplaced the pictures of the process but I am sure you get the idea.
Check out my albums for this and other mods that I have done on my bike.