Engine protection options

[Grumpy Goat]

I'm meh about any bars but those CF head covers look slick. They messed with the white balance on the image -- the spark plug cover is way darker than it should be -- meaning the bars are too.

I doubt that it was white balance that caused that darkening. I corrected the WB to the small triangle at the 4 o'clock position of the valve cover and that caused a slight cooling of the tone but the cover was still dark. I adjusted the exposure to brighten the shadows and mid-range in the below photo.

On topic - not bad engine guards ... good access and if it allows the engine spoilers to be retained then that is great. Mine are still off the bike because my SW Motech bars interfere. Also, being small and black it blends into the engine quite nicely. What brightening up the shadows confirms for me is that the lower cross member is a hollow circular section as opposed to some sort of flat bar, so better strength. With 2 points of fixity these cross members need to be strong, even if they are pushing against flat bar tabs bolted to the engine.

As for the CF covers - not a fan personally, especially glossy CF. If CF is to look good to my eyes it has to be (a) real and (b) matte. To each his own. But I wonder what is with the large smudge in way of the R&G decal ...? I would hope it is on the surface and not some sort of clouding of the finish.