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2017 RT Ilium Engine Guards Question


Dave Willdo

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Dave Willdo

Hi, I'm looking at a 17 RT as my next bike. In order for this bike (or any other)to work for me highway pegs are a must. Most of my parts are 67 yrs old but for some reason the knees and hips feel like transplants from some old guy. Anyway from reading this and other forums the Ilium engine guards with highway pegs look to be a good choice. But are they reachable with a 30" inseam? Feedback appreciated.

 

Current bikes

09 FJR1300

16 Road Glide

Edited by Dave Willdo
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Dave...I don't know about the illium bars. I have the Wunderlich engine guards. I have 31inch inseam. I have not installed hiway pegs. On the wunderlich bars I think they would be a little far for my legs. I did install the peg extenders which give a little more than an inch of extra leg room. For the most part I can ride easily an hour before I feel cramped up, then I just dangle my feet and stretch out for 2 minutes or so then back on the regular pegs. I think Moshe Levy on this board has tried the pegs and can probably answer the question on reach.

Edited by Skywagon
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nh_handyman

I have a '16 RT with Ilium bars/pegs. I have my pegs mounted low (36" inseam). I believe there is enough adjustment in the mounting of the pegs to get your feet out there.

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I, like Skywagon, have the Wunderlich bars and a 31" inseam. I do have highway pegs and can reach them easily...should be no problem with a 30" inseam. The pegs in conjunction with the backrest I installed are great on the highway.

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Hi, I'm looking at a 17 RT as my next bike. In order for this bike (or any other)to work for me highway pegs are a must. Most of my parts are 67 yrs old but for some reason the knees and hips feel like transplants from some old guy. Anyway from reading this and other forums the Ilium engine guards with highway pegs look to be a good choice. But are they reachable with a 30" inseam? Feedback appreciated.

 

Current bikes

09 FJR1300

16 Road Glide

I don't use a highway peg myself, but if you are concerned about your reach with your 30" inseam (same as mine), I have read of others who uses the Ztechnik bars, and that gave them the option of moving the peg back or forward!

 

ZBMZ7103R1200RT.jpg

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roadriderg

I just installed the ilium bar with the ilium highway pegs. I have

a 29" inseam. I was a little far for me so i reversed the brackets so that the peg is towards the back of the bike instead of forward and it works much better for me.

 

Note the jugs are not inline so that the bar is tight to the front of the left jug then straight across to the right side. about a 2" difference from the face of the jug.

 

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Dave Willdo

Good info folks. Ztechnik bars look interesting. Wonder how long it would have taken me to realize the jugs are not directly opposed?

 

Thanks to all.

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narcosis...which pegs do you have?

 

I'm pretty sure I bought them from Twisted Throttle and they looked exactly like the ones Wunderlich was selling at the time but for quite a bit less. I looked on both sites this morning and neither lists the ones I bought but they're pretty basic. Unfortunately, mine haven't held up too well. Maybe that's why they aren't on the market any more.

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Dave Willdo
I took mine off...after grounding them once. Almost killed me and the bike!

GT

Thanks for the heads up. Was this with the bars alone or did you have the pegs as well?
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LittleBriar

I saw this after a track day recently. These are Wunderlich bars. Fortunately, I removed the highway pegs before the event. My instructor was following me during my 3rd session and commented that I was getting dangerously close to the pegs and crashbars and he helped me learn to shift my body weight inside to help keep the bike more upright. His instruction helped out a lot and I have gained much more clearance with the technique.

crasbar%20%28Small%29.jpg

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I saw this after a track day recently. These are Wunderlich bars. Fortunately, I removed the highway pegs before the event. My instructor was following me during my 3rd session and commented that I was getting dangerously close to the pegs and crashbars and he helped me learn to shift my body weight inside to help keep the bike more upright. His instruction helped out a lot and I have gained much more clearance with the technique.

crasbar%20%28Small%29.jpg

You know, in the other forum, I had said that I had never touched down with my Wunderlich bars, but after that discussion, I went out to my bike and actually looked......yep, I have the same heavy scrape marks, on both sides, and I had never felt the contacts!

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Oh yeah, that'll happen. Look at some old racing pics of Reg Pridmore on his Butler & Smith R90S, dropped knee butt off the seat to the inside. That was not such a common technique back then. As a teenager that had a big influence on how I rode my R75/5. As a young'n of course I figured if some was good more was better and jumped around that saddle like monkey...way more than was really needed or good for smooth fast riding. Those slash series bikes could get the valve cover down under an experienced hand, even with the crappy tire technology of the day. I may be wrong, but it may have had an influence on the valve cover design changing from the dual round lobe to the angular flat sided cover design.

 

My oilhead and the waterhead carry the cylinders higher and farther forward than my /5 and isn't nearly the problem it was, but the full crash bars get you right back to dragging stuff...just be careful to not unload your tires as that could be a bad ending of your ride that day..

 

ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=6705&filename=Lap1-73OMS.jpg

6705.jpg.8b2cc584ac69d8d31373efc575efe4c4.jpg

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I grabbed a pair of Touratech for my water cooled GS a few years ago. I liked they way the covered the motor better than Ilium even though I'd have very good luck with Ilium in the past. I grabbed a pair of highway pegs from Twisted Throttle. Though they were not inexpensive, they highway pegs from Twisted Throttle were half or less compared to Ilium. After many miles with many different mounting points I could never get the highway pegs as secure as I wanted. They would tend to twist with minimal load, just feet resting on them.

 

When I got the RT I went back to Ilium for bars and highway pegs. They are positively attached and secured and I'm very glad I've got them. We recently finished a trip to some of the most twisty roads of Appalachia. We don't push beyond what we feel we should push on a public road and did not find touching down to be a problem.

 

Ilium makes high quality engine guards with well integrated highway pegs. This is the fourth bike I've outfitted this way. I've tried others but have never been as impressed as I am with Ilium.

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I took mine off...after grounding them once. Almost killed me and the bike!

GT

Thanks for the heads up. Was this with the bars alone or did you have the pegs as well?

 

I've only installed BMW's valve cover guards on my RTs. I haven't touched them down but crash bars/engine guards would surely jack up the bike on some of the reverse-banked twisty hills around here -- or at very least they'd make me sweat bullets worrying about it.

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You know, in the other forum, I had said that I had never touched down with my Wunderlich bars, but after that discussion, I went out to my bike and actually looked......yep, I have the same heavy scrape marks, on both sides, and I had never felt the contacts!

 

Yikes, that seems really ironic to me, to install 'crash bars' in order to help prevent damage in the event of a low speed drop (I guess primarily), and in doing so increase risk for a crash when leaning hard? The peer pressure (self-induced of course!) in this club to cover the boxer heads up with full crash guards is at times intense for me but so far I've resisted and after reading this I'm even more ok resisting...so thanks for that!

Edited by NoelCP
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You know, in the other forum, I had said that I had never touched down with my Wunderlich bars, but after that discussion, I went out to my bike and actually looked......yep, I have the same heavy scrape marks, on both sides, and I had never felt the contacts!

 

Yikes, that seems really ironic to me, to install 'crash bars' in order to help prevent damage in the event of a low speed drop (I guess primarily), and in doing so increase risk for a crash when leaning hard? The peer pressure (self-induced of course!) in this club to cover the boxer heads up with full crash guards is at times intense for me but so far I've resisted and after reading this I'm even more ok resisting...so thanks for that!

I had never liked the Wunderlich bars, but it was the only game in town at the time that I had bought them. I am sure that you have seen me saying that I prefer the Ztechnik bars, and I know for sure that I had never scrapped those, even though I had touched down hard enough to break the feeler peg of my right footrest! That was on my prior '07 RT.

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Well, I am fairly timid in the twisties w/ corner entry speeds not more than 25mph over the posted speeds, and a few time 30mph when keeping up w/ a faster rider I went out on a ride with. What with putting body weight inside the turn my strips are around 3/4" so I have a ways to go before touching anything down with or without guards I'm pretty sure. It's not so much fear of leaning more it's the fact that on public roads w/ blind corners anything more starts sounding a bit suicidal, but I know some folks are very ok with that. I think the Ztechnik guards look real nice though!

Edited by NoelCP
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  • 3 weeks later...

I personally have owned and used the wunderlich crash bars on my '05 RT for 8 years. I would never buy them again. They are very difficult to install since you literally have to force them on . But, with a 30" inseam, I have been fairly comfortable with Kuryakyn pegs. But, of course the really cool bars and pegs from Illium were not available when I was buying.

 

Just my experience. I wouldn't recommend the Wunderlich crash bars. Maybe the fitment on a new RT is totally different then the old hex head.

Edited by rglassma
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Illium bars were on my used '14 RT when I got it and I also have a 30" inseam. I could reach the highway pegs easily enough. The foot position did seem a bit high though, so I lowered them a bit and now feels more comfortable. This is with a thicker soled riding boot.

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Illium bars were on my used '14 RT when I got it and I also have a 30" inseam. I could reach the highway pegs easily enough. The foot position did seem a bit high though, so I lowered them a bit and now feels more comfortable. This is with a thicker soled riding boot.

Just remember, if you lower the pegs and get a bit frisky you can ground them. I know...!

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  • 3 weeks later...
Dave Stephens

Ilium is the way to go for bars and foot pegs. I'm 60 with a 30" inseam and have no problems at all. I mounted the pegs high enough so that scraping shouldn't be a problem. If it is then there are other issues I'd be dealing with if you know what I mean

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