ZETA Engine Protection Under Frame Kit

[dmonkey]

After being backordered for 2+ months, my "ZETA Engine Protection Under Frame Kit" arrived and I got it installed. It replaces the original equipment engine guard stays and might provide some use as light duty "crash bars" or tip-over protection, but my main interests were that they're black and they provide horizontal bar sections that I can mount aux lights on down the road. A nice bonus is that the positioning works out for them to double as tall highway pegs for changing up leg positioning on longer paved rides when this bike is absolutely zooming down the highway . I purchased the kit from Webike here: https://japan.webike.net/products/24625540.html , the part number is: ZE55-8030
Best of all they're compatible with the ZETA Engine Protection Skid Plate which saw more use protecting my bike from gravel nicks before I installed a larger mud guard.
The instructions came in both English and Japanese so installation was fairly simple, the hard parts were removing the top attachment point and getting everything aligned. For an idea of how the top attachment point comes apart you can watch this video of installing Moto Skill Crash bars:

Looking at the thin metal plates and small hardware holding that attachment point together it's very clear that any crash bars used in a real crash are likely to bend or break something there, though it might end up being less expensive to replace those parts compared to whatever the alternative damage might be. The quality of the bars seems great so far, I was very pleased that they have weld nuts welded on them so everything is threaded up and ready to accept the original equipment hardware rather than having to deal with a bunch of nuts, bolts, and washers. For off road riding they don't seem very limiting for the areas I frequent, the handlebar width is still the most limiting factor and because the crash bars don't widen until part way up they're not catching on stumps or brush. They stick out slightly more than my legs in a sitting position, a noticeable amount more than my legs in a standing position - I tend to put my knees in the breeze when sittting on this bike since it's an upright seating position with no forward fuel tank to hug between the knees.

 

[Allhatnocattle]

Badass! Looks just like the skids under my 4Runner.

 

[MisterB]

Thanks for posting this! I'm still on the fence but if I get some these are the ones that I keep coming back to.
That PLATE tho! Holy moly! Hope you never NEED that much protection but if you do it pays for itself instantly. Perhaps many times over!

 

[Allhatnocattle]

After being backordered for 2+ months, my "ZETA Engine Protection Under Frame Kit" arrived and I got it installed. It replaces the original equipment engine guard stays and might provide some use as light duty "crash bars" or tip-over protection, but my main interests were that they're black and they provide horizontal bar sections that I can mount aux lights on down the road. A nice bonus is that the positioning works out for them to double as tall highway pegs for changing up leg positioning on longer paved rides when this bike is absolutely zooming down the highway . I purchased the kit from Webike here: https://japan.webike.net/products/24625540.html , the part number is: ZE55-8030
Best of all they're compatible with the ZETA Engine Protection Skid Plate which saw more use protecting my bike from gravel nicks before I installed a larger mud guard.
The instructions came in both English and Japanese so installation was fairly simple, the hard parts were removing the top attachment point and getting everything aligned. For an idea of how the top attachment point comes apart you can watch this video of installing Moto Skill Crash bars:

Looking at the thin metal plates and small hardware holding that attachment point together it's very clear that any crash bars used in a real crash are likely to bend or break something there, though it might end up being less expensive to replace those parts compared to whatever the alternative damage might be. The quality of the bars seems great so far, I was very pleased that they have weld nuts welded on them so everything is threaded up and ready to accept the original equipment hardware rather than having to deal with a bunch of nuts, bolts, and washers. For off road riding they don't seem very limiting for the areas I frequent, the handlebar width is still the most limiting factor and because the crash bars don't widen until part way up they're not catching on stumps or brush. They stick out slightly more than my legs in a sitting position, a noticeable amount more than my legs in a standing position - I tend to put my knees in the breeze when sittting on this bike since it's an upright seating position with no forward fuel tank to hug between the knees.

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What headlight guard is that? Looks awesome

 

[dmonkey]

What headlight guard is that? Looks awesome

Thanks, it is the Kijima Headlight Guard: https://japan.webike.net/products/24294574.html

 

[m in sc]

I do like that skid plate quite a bit.

 

[dmonkey]

I found that this had cracked, but likely due to a fault on my end as one of the bolts had also come out. Each side's pipe has a bolt that threads into the top of the pipe from the inside to hold it in place. I neglected to put threadlocker on those bolts and one was loose rattling around inside the metal box-ish thing that they pass through. That bolt coming out of place would have put more stress on the lower mount tab, though I don't know for certain what the order of events was. The break was rusty, so I suspect it broke a while ago and before my recent road trip, so it may have also just broken from the skid plate hitting things riding off-road in Colorado. No dents in the skid plate or anything serious, just scrapes. Other than the break, the bars were in great shape. Had some help from my brother with fixing the broken mount tab and learned that heating powder coat with a torch makes it easy to wire brush off. The powder coating on these bars has held up great.