17 January 2017

The AltRider Eyebrow!

The what?

Oh, you'll see!

After a few years and more than 50,000 miles on motorcycles, I have heard some pretty good stories and seen some mind-boggling pictures of shit breaking on motorcycles. With a summer of off-road riding and coaching coming up, and a nine month trip into foreign countries waiting in the wings, I've been looking to protect that sizeable financial investment I made into my new, beautiful, BMW girl, Camille.

I have loaded up on the crash protection--which is not only protecting her, but making her look badass at the same time--and now I've got one more piece to add.

Lexan: Tough, Virtually Unbreakable. Challenge accepted! I'm pretty sure I'll be putting that to the test.

The AltRider Lexan Headlight Guard. One piece, and two reasons.

Reason one: I've seen some cracked/broken headlight pics in some posts. I DO NOT want to be in the middle of nowhere, Nicaragua, and have something shatter my headlight. First of all, that would suck and be dangerous. Second, do you know how much a new headlight assembly for a BMW F700GS costs??? A. Lot.

Reason two: I finally settled on a new windscreen for the bike in the middle of last summer. Let It Ride ordered it for me, and as soon as it came in, I had it installed and was playing with it within 15 minutes. It's a great windscreen that is adjustable, depending on the type of riding I want to do and the helmet I'm wearing, with the adjustable part able to be completely removed if I want to ride baby-heads and not run the risk of smashing the taller piece to bits. The downside to the new windscreen--my headlight reflects right back up into it, nearly blinding me at night.

I didn't notice this until I went back to work, and was commuting home after the time change. Suddenly I was riding in the dark, something I do pretty infrequently as it turns out. I'd turn the bike on in the parking garage, and the lower part of my windscreen was shooting light back into my eyes. What was worse, was hopping on the freeway and having not only the eye-level, blindingly bright headlights from pick-up trucks coming at me, but my own bike attempting to take out what was left of my vision.

Both of these problems were solved by installing the AltRider guard. I actually talked to Jeremy LeBreton, the owner of AltRider, before I bought this product. What I really wanted was the metal mesh-like headlight guard, but I could only find it listed on their website as being available in silver for the 700GS. It was available in black for other models, and I asked him why it wasn't in black for the 700. Jeremy was very honest in his answer, and in the small laugh he gave before he answered, I could tell this was something he may have been asked before. He told me his company is a small company that aims to be able to provide all they can in quality, American-made, products. But being small means they can't carry everything in every option.

It's funny to hear something like this. In this country, we can walk into a grocery store and have twenty options for ketchup. Hell, I can walk into a pet store and probably have an option for doggy ketchup. But these are mega-stores, with mega warehouses, and hundreds of retail outlets. Loads of room to store things. And honestly, I look at those twenty versions of ketchup, and I still go to a smaller store that has only two or three higher quality versions, and I pick one of those, or go home and make it myself. (True story, I'm weird.)

I did look at other companies for other options, and there is another high quality company that makes a black metal mesh headlight guard. But, as Jeremy explained to me, the AltRider version has something that makes it SO MUCH BETTER. Okay, my words not his. He just said his has an added bonus that makes it better. So I ordered the clear Lexan headlight guard, and waited for it to arrive. After I installed it, and rode around at night, I found out why it was SO MUCH BETTER.

I call it The Eyebrow. It's a simple piece of plastic that sits on top of the headlight guard, bridging the distance to the bike's headlight assembly, and preventing the light from bleeding upward, onto the windscreen. No more blinding night rides!

Installing the Eyebrow!

And, of course, the order came complete with easy-to-follow instructions, and it took me very little time to install it. (In all honesty, it took me very little time to install it because I didn't attempt to install it upside down the first time. I'm getting better...)

The clear guard has a nice looking, brushed stainless partial frame, which attaches to the mount with nifty, quarter-turn quick-release hardware I've never used before. Once the install is done, it is quick and easy to remove the guard to clean it and snap it back in place, without having to worry that it might pop off when I drop the big girl in a baby-head studded ravine. <----hmmmm...I'm starting to see a pattern here.

The only complaint I have, and it's a tiny one both literally and figuratively, is about the screw which holds the eyebrow in place. The instructions list the hardware that comes with it as being a T15 screw that you use to attach the eyebrow. The one that was sent to me was actually a size 1 combo screw. I don't know if it's because I'm girly and delicate (heh) or because I am not as experienced with tools as other people who do their own wrenching, but I found that screw difficult to use. On the plus side, I don't think I'll ever have to remove it in the life of the bike.

So, headlight guard--with eyebrow--in place, I stepped back from my bike and looked at it. I'll admit that initially I had been bummed about what I considered "settling" for the Lexan guard. It wasn't because I had concerns about its function--as it is "Tough, Virtually Unbreakable"--but more because I thought I really wanted the look of the black mesh. NOPE! Now that it's installed and I look at it, I love the clear headlight guard, and wouldn't trade it for anything!


Check it out!

DAAAAANNNNNGGGG!!! This bike is sexy!

 

3 comments:

  1. Are you guys riding the Darien Gap or boating around? I've seen a few blogs talking about riding through ad it seems a non-trivial task...

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    1. I won't say it's impossible to "ride" the Darien Gap, but if the four or so riders who have actually managed to do it, they required teams of people and almost as much carrying of the bike as riding. Most likely, we'll fly the bikes to Colombia. I've gotten some recommendations on boats from friends who have done the trip, but making a boat typically requires advanced reservations, and staying on a schedule to make it on time. But, stay tuned and I'm sure I'll have something to say about what we end up doing!

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  2. Motorbike Wonderful motorcycle with great economy I am very happy to find matters that speak about these wonders of four wheels I am in process with my habilitation and I think it all a marvel

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