Heed Luggage Protection Bars (i.e. Rear crash bars)

[Scott9999]

I installed the Heed side case/luggage protector bars several weeks back, after removing the Wunderlich clone's (WC) I had on it before.   Hope this helps some in their purchase decision.   

 

Conclusion:   The Heed design is a much stronger, more stable design than the Wunderlich Clones (WC) I had mounted previously, particularly when Heed’s robust mounting bracket and larger bolts are also considered.
(I would definitely like feedback from anyone who has the genuine Wunderlich bars, to see if what I describe here or in my original review matches what they have.)

 

Tips:

1. Blue thread locker on all frame attached bolts.  (Not required for the provided lock nuts, which attach the bars to the black bracket.)
2. Put (at least!) two thick layers of electrical tape on the “Tupperware” just above the rear footrest mount to frame bolt (M8x25 TORX+ OEM, M8x30 Allen replacement provided).    If you don’t, you’ll grind the paint off the plastic pretty quickly (and we know that how?🙄😖 ).
   
    
3.  You may actually need to loosen the bolts for that plastic piece and the handgrip, to allow some additional free play, to reach the footrest bolt.
   

 

 

     

Quality/Engineering:

1. Paint:  Better enamel finish.  The WC bracket has thin paint.  The bars may be powder coated, i.e. they stood up to contact with the pavement pretty well.  However, the quality and thickness of the Heed finish was obvious.
   
   
   
2. Bracket:  5.5 MM thick for Heed, versus 5 MM thick for the WC bars. The Heed bracket is also slightly wider, and triangular compared to the WC bracket, making it much stronger than just the 10% metal thickness difference.
3. Hardware: Heed's stainless steel bolts were heavier in all regards, even when comparing the same MM sized bolt.  The M10 bolts for connecting the bars to the metal bracket were M10 in both cases, but the WC bolts used 13MM nuts, while the Heed were 17MM.  The same difference applied for every bolt.  The Heed nuts and bolts appeared more robust and of a higher grade steel.
4. Heed (left) bracket and bolts, versus WC (right bracket).   Notice the larger, stronger, triangular design of the Heed bracket, and thickness of the bolts (i.e. both M8, but different grades).  

 

 

 

 

Design: 

1. The bracket for both WC and Heed installations is the main supporting hardware for mounting the bars, and protecting the luggage (and bike) from side impact.  In my tip-over, the WC bracket bent, which also allowed the bar to tweak about a half inch to an inch, to the rear.  The damage was easily repaired, but had my side cases been installed at the time the bike was down, that protective bar would have impacted the case, potentially causing damage, even if it kept the cases from contacting the street.  The design of both systems lives or dies on the quality of that bracket and how well it connects to the bike (see the bracket quality comparison above).
2. The WC bars has two basic mount points, i.e. on top, two bolts to the frame above, and below, a bolt to the peg on the pillion's footrest (a longer bolt replaces the OEM pin).  This is inadequate to prevent the bar from bending backwards in an accident where the bike is moving forward (as mine was).   Moreover, both mount points are on the footrest bracket, so 100% of any side impact force stresses this cast aluminum piece, which in turn is connected to the frame by only two M8 screws.  Cast aluminum will fracture given sufficient force.   (The yellow arrows highlight all bar mount points for the WC/Wunderlich bars.  The black vendor bracket mounts just behind the footrest bracket, sandwiched between frame and footrest bracket, with two bolts.  The upper bar is mounted to the vendor's bracket.  The lower bar mount point is also on the footrest bracket, off the pillion's peg.)
   
   
    
3. While the Heed bars use the same two M8 bolts on the foot rest bracket to attach the main mounting bracket (same as WC), it also has an additional, stabilizing support bar traveling forward (see blue line), and secured to the frame by an M10x40MM bolt (circled in yellow, mounted just to the rear of the rider’s peg).  That provides several benefits: 
   • It distributes side impact directly to the frame, as well as the frame mounted bracket, insulating the foot rest bracket from most of any side impact stress to the crash bar.
   • It provides forward-to-rear stabilization to the crash bar, to prevent it from bending backwards (as my WC did) or forwards.
     
     
      
4. Pillion rider impact, comparison:
   • I had decided to replace the WC bars, eventually with the Heed prior to my tipover.  The WC rear bar design put my (short, 5' tall) wife's legs up against the bar, which I knew would be fairly constricting on any lengthy ride.  This would likely not be a problem for a pillion rider with longer legs.  The tipover occurred just after I installed the WC crash bars (front and back), and since I was removing the rear bar again to repair it, I decided to bite the bullet and replace the bars with Heed's now.
   • WC pillion rider's calf impingement (pictured, yellow arrow is the peg). I was quite concerned that the bar would actually push my wife's leg off the foot peg during a sudden stop.
     
     
     
     
      
   • The Heed bars offer both comfort and increased safety for the pillion rider, particularly those with small legs.  Notice the niche highlighted in yellow.  The pillion rider has no contact at all, with the bar, but it provides the same side impact protection for the luggage, and in a crash at speed (God forbid), perhaps some for the pillion rider as well.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     This is Heed's website. Heed is based in Poland, and ships quickly. It took four days shipment release to delivery, from Poland to Northern Idaho!.
     
      

[Steveyacht]

On 5/11/2022 at 12:41 AM, Scott9999 said:

I installed the Heed side case/luggage protector bars several weeks back, after removing the Wunderlich clone's (WC) I had on it before.   Hope this helps some in their purchase decision.   

 

Conclusion:   The Heed design is a much stronger, more stable design than the Wunderlich Clones (WC) I had mounted previously, particularly when Heed’s robust mounting bracket and larger bolts are also considered.
(I would definitely like feedback from anyone who has the genuine Wunderlich bars, to see if what I describe here or in my original review matches what they have.)

 

Tips:

1. Blue thread locker on all frame attached bolts.  (Not required for the provided lock nuts, which attach the bars to the black bracket.)
2. Put (at least!) two thick layers of electrical tape on the “Tupperware” just above the rear footrest mount to frame bolt (M8x25 TORX+ OEM, M8x30 Allen replacement provided).    If you don’t, you’ll grind the paint off the plastic pretty quickly (and we know that how?🙄😖 ).
   
    
3.  You may actually need to loosen the bolts for that plastic piece and the handgrip, to allow some additional free play, to reach the footrest bolt.
   

 

 

     

Quality/Engineering:

1. Paint:  Better enamel finish.  The WC bracket has thin paint.  The bars may be powder coated, i.e. they stood up to contact with the pavement pretty well.  However, the quality and thickness of the Heed finish was obvious.
   
   
   
2. Bracket:  5.5 MM thick for Heed, versus 5 MM thick for the WC bars. The Heed bracket is also slightly wider, and triangular compared to the WC bracket, making it much stronger than just the 10% metal thickness difference.
3. Hardware: Heed's stainless steel bolts were heavier in all regards, even when comparing the same MM sized bolt.  The M10 bolts for connecting the bars to the metal bracket were M10 in both cases, but the WC bolts used 13MM nuts, while the Heed were 17MM.  The same difference applied for every bolt.  The Heed nuts and bolts appeared more robust and of a higher grade steel.
4. Heed (left) bracket and bolts, versus WC (right bracket).   Notice the larger, stronger, triangular design of the Heed bracket, and thickness of the bolts (i.e. both M8, but different grades).  

 

 

 

 

Design: 

1. The bracket for both WC and Heed installations is the main supporting hardware for mounting the bars, and protecting the luggage (and bike) from side impact.  In my tip-over, the WC bracket bent, which also allowed the bar to tweak about a half inch to an inch, to the rear.  The damage was easily repaired, but had my side cases been installed at the time the bike was down, that protective bar would have impacted the case, potentially causing damage, even if it kept the cases from contacting the street.  The design of both systems lives or dies on the quality of that bracket and how well it connects to the bike (see the bracket quality comparison above).
2. The WC bars has two basic mount points, i.e. on top, two bolts to the frame above, and below, a bolt to the peg on the pillion's footrest (a longer bolt replaces the OEM pin).  This is inadequate to prevent the bar from bending backwards in an accident where the bike is moving forward (as mine was).   Moreover, both mount points are on the footrest bracket, so 100% of any side impact force stresses this cast aluminum piece, which in turn is connected to the frame by only two M8 screws.  Cast aluminum will fracture given sufficient force.   (The yellow arrows highlight all bar mount points for the WC/Wunderlich bars.  The black vendor bracket mounts just behind the footrest bracket, sandwiched between frame and footrest bracket, with two bolts.  The upper bar is mounted to the vendor's bracket.  The lower bar mount point is also on the footrest bracket, off the pillion's peg.)
   
   
    
3. While the Heed bars use the same two M8 bolts on the foot rest bracket to attach the main mounting bracket (same as WC), it also has an additional, stabilizing support bar traveling forward (see blue line), and secured to the frame by an M10x40MM bolt (circled in yellow, mounted just to the rear of the rider’s peg).  That provides several benefits: 
   • It distributes side impact directly to the frame, as well as the frame mounted bracket, insulating the foot rest bracket from most of any side impact stress to the crash bar.
   • It provides forward-to-rear stabilization to the crash bar, to prevent it from bending backwards (as my WC did) or forwards.
     
     
      
4. Pillion rider impact, comparison:
   • I had decided to replace the WC bars, eventually with the Heed prior to my tipover.  The WC rear bar design put my (short, 5' tall) wife's legs up against the bar, which I knew would be fairly constricting on any lengthy ride.  This would likely not be a problem for a pillion rider with longer legs.  The tipover occurred just after I installed the WC crash bars (front and back), and since I was removing the rear bar again to repair it, I decided to bite the bullet and replace the bars with Heed's now.
   • WC pillion rider's calf impingement (pictured, yellow arrow is the peg). I was quite concerned that the bar would actually push my wife's leg off the foot peg during a sudden stop.
     
     
     
     
      
   • The Heed bars offer both comfort and increased safety for the pillion rider, particularly those with small legs.  Notice the niche highlighted in yellow.  The pillion rider has no contact at all, with the bar, but it provides the same side impact protection for the luggage, and in a crash at speed (God forbid), perhaps some for the pillion rider as well.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     This is Heed's website. Heed is based in Poland, and ships quickly. It took four days shipment release to delivery, from Poland to Northern Idaho!.
     
      

EXCELLENT report.  The primary reason I ordered a set of front and rear Heed Bars this afternoon!  Thank you!