Helibar Question.....

Does anyone have any experience using Helibars as a tie down point for trailering a motorcycle? The Helibar website states pretty clearly NOT to use the bars, however that may be for liability issues. I would use a Canyon Dancer bar harness along with conventional tie down straps and would also strap down the rear using the passenger grab rails. I would put most of the stress on the rear set of tie downs. Any thoughts?

The ones on my Concours would work fine. They attach to the triple with a regular clamp on top. The ones on my SV650 would not have worked. They were clip-on style and could have damaged the forks when used as a lever by tie-downs. I used strap extensions through the forks right above the lower triple clamp and hooked the straps to that.

I did it with the Canyon Dancer on both of my VFR's (98 & 01) and had no problems. However, I also put 1-1/2" sch 40 PVC pipe over the grips before sliding the Canyon Dancer cuff over the grips. Otherwise the grips would get messed up pretty good. The other potential issue is the little pins that hold the switch housings so they can't rotate around the bars. The pins fit in a hole on the bar. The cuffs from the strap pull towards the centerstem of the bike. I have seen them shear off that pin, leaving the controls free to spin around the bars. Some folks solved this by putting an endcap on the PVC and a flange on the opposite end (a raised lip). This made the cuff pull against the lip end of the pipe and then the pipe pushed/pulled against the bar ends. Never tried it myself but it is sound in concept. The pin on my 01 on the left bar got snapped.