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Side by side comparison of no lights, lights.

As with most motorcycles, my bike has a small single brake light that only garners moderate attention. I want a light that Las Vegas would be proud of to get through the traffic and nail drivers behind me right in the eyes.

After watching a video for Hyper-Lite LED lights that overwhelmed the camera, I decided that these could be the ticket to a flashy hind end. Service was prompt and within a few days of contacting Hyper-Lite my new U32 LED brake lights arrived.

Hype-Lite U32 LED Lights Build Quality = A

A simple plastic housing encases the LEDs and protects them from the elements. Each light protrudes from the case. The lights include long leads, Posi-Tap, Posi-Connect and industrial grade adhesive pads to power and attach the small LED lights to a motorcycle. Everything that you need is right there in the package.

Hyperlites U32 system out of the package.

Hyper-Lite U32, Ease of Install = A

After removing the seat and assessing the rear of the brake light, installation is an absolute cinch. The lights were attached to my license plate holder and I drilled small holes to allow the wires to pass through the fender. The Hyper-Lite wires were then cut to length. The Posi-connects and Posi-taps connected the Hyper-Lite LED wires to the bike’s brake light wiring. The fender and seat were then re-installed. Easy as pie. Turning on the ignition revealed bright running lights. The running lights only use 30 percent of the available light to give you a good triangular pattern (two sets of LEDs down low and one brake light up high). Squeezing the brake lever really brought the Hyper-Lites to life. At most, these lights pull 1/3 of an amp. Technology has come a long way since motorcyclists first rode at night with candlelight.

When the brake light is applied, look out! Especially in the dark of night.

How bright are the Hyper-Lite brake lights?

In the words of George Takei (of Star Trek fame) in the Sharp TV commercials, “Whoa! Ohhhh my!” The Hyper-Lite U32 LEDs are bright enough to send an SOS to passing jets 30,000 feet  in the air. They should do just the trick to get the attention of the next Mercedes SUV driver paying too much attention to a phone call to notice the fine and narrow rear end of my Suzuki V-Strom. Hopefully, this is enough to keep drivers stopped safely behind me in traffic.

Hyper-Lite U32, Bang for Your Buck = A

The U32 system sells for $75.95 with brake light only and $93.95 with brake light and running lights. Hyper-Lites offer several options to help get your butt noticed. They range in price from $55.95 to $98.95. A small price to pay to make your vulnerable side more conspicuous.

There are cheaper LED lights on the market. The extra cost of the Hyper-Lite LED lights is justified in that they operate as advertised, are easy to install and are backed by a responsive company. I have not found another brand that offers this combination of benefits at the same cost.

I skipped on the license plate bracket ($10.50), but would recommend that you buy it. I spent too much time creating my own and it doesn’t look as nice as theirs. I’ll likely end up buying it to make the installation look better. The U32 system has two options, running/blinking brake light or running/blink-then-solid brake light. Mine blinks incessantly in order to heighten visual stimulus.

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Adventure motorcycles, unlike their dirt bike cousins, have fairings and other body parts that are expensive to replace when a dirt nap occurs. Many riders add skid plates and crash bars to protect these rather expensive motorcycle body parts.

This mud nap was one of the lighter falls of this trip. The more rocky landings bent the GIVI crash bars.

After pushing my riding limits on a recent trail ride (read full article here), I had to replace the GIVI crash bars on my Suzuki V-Strom. The GIVI bars held up for three years of the type of punishment that comes from taking a tall bike off road with short legs. Never has my bike been crashed at any real speed. It has, however, taken dirt naps on many occasions at speeds of zero to five miles per hour. The GIVI bars finally became weak and bent into the body panels on the right side of the V-Strom.

It was time to consider new parts to keep the bike protected. There are many brands of crash bar and skid plate protection from AltRider, GIVI, Hepco & Becker, SW-Motech, Touratech and more. The underside of my bike was until now, unprotected. I was in the market for a new skid plate and crash bars.

The new parts needed to be more hefty than my previous crash bars to resist bending when I need them. I wanted them to be easy to install and still allow access to the oil filter and drain plug for maintenance. I also didn’t want rivets, bolts or other fasteners to hang off the bottom of the skid plate that could catch and break on rocky mountain terrain while riding. Most importantly, the new parts needed to protect the body panels, exhaust header, oil cooler and filter.

A new player to the adventure motorcycle scene is AltRider LLC. The Seattle-based company makes precision engineered parts that are as rugged as the bikes they bolt to. In many ways they are more rugged than the bikes they bolt to.

AltRider Crash Bars Build-Quality = A+

AltRider crash bars in silver, they also come in black.

The build quality of the AltRider crash bars is very high. They are made of one-inch stainless steel tubing and TIG welded by hand. The bars appear to be quite burly and strong.  AltRider claims that the bars are designed to transfer impact loads directly to the frame and not just the attaching hardware. This direct transfer of energy and the burly strength of the AltRider crash bars should help prevent them from bending into the plastic body panels. A benefit of stainless steel construction is that the crash bars won’t rust after being scratched in the first minor fall.

I wish that the AltRider crash bars covered more of the body plastics. Other manufacturers’ bar designs have more bar over the body. It also seems that some of the other manufacturers place the bars closer to the body. The AltRider bars get a hand up on the competition (at least on my former GIVI bars) by keeping the ground further away from the body. Interestingly enough, the outside of the left bar is 3 1/4 inches and the right side 3 3/4 inches from the body. In theory, this should keep the plastics further away from the ground in the first place.

AltRider Crash Bars Ease of Install = B

AltRider crash bars aligned and ready for final set screw.

Ease of installation is important to me. With AltRider’s crash bar design, they are obviously trying to have strict tolerances while keeping the product easy to attach to the bike. As this is a fairly new product, they are well on their way to making installation a cinch.

Each half of the bars attaches directly to the frame and then bolt together in the front of the bike. The straight-forward design means that the install steps are quite natural (i.e. instructions optional). The reason for the B-grade is that I had to use some “rubber mallet encouragement” to get the threaded aluminum insert to properly align with the holes drilled in the bars. The set screws pass through the stainless steel bars and threads directly into the aluminum insert. The holes need to align in order to avoid cross-threading. The rubber mallet moved the left half of the bars approximately 1/8 inch further and allowed proper alignment.

The included instructions are easy to understand.

AltRider Crash Bars Bang for Your Buck = A

The AltRider crash bars run on the more expensive end of the price spectrum at $279. They are an excellent value for the money in that they are designed well, built with high-quality materials and should last as long as the bike with minor low-speed dirt naps. In comparison, GIVI, SW-Motech and Hepco & Becker crash bars can be found for $155 to $170. The high-end Touratech bars cost $342.  Speaking from experience, the GIVI bars will end up costing you more than their original budget price when they need to be replaced.

AltRider Skid Plate Build Quality = A+

AltRider skid plate, hardware and instructions.

The AltRider skid plate is made of 4.75 mm of anodized aluminum with hand TIG welded seams. It is quite strong while also shedding the heavy weight of steel motorcycle skid plates. The entire bottom part of the engine, including the oil filter and cooler, is protected by the skid plate. The only hole in the bottom of the skid plate allows the oil to be drained from the engine without removing the skid plate.

The skid plate attaches to the rear of the bike via a stainless-steel bracket that attaches to the frame hangers for the side stand and exhaust. Both points are perhaps the most solid points on the bottom side of the bike. The AltRider crash bars are the attachment points at the front of the bike.

AltRider Skid Plate Ease of Install = C

Let me jump straight to a caveat for this grade. The skid plate that I attached to my bike is a prototype. AltRider has made adjustments to the design that I am guessing will make it quite easy to install. My estimate is that the production model would receive a B+ or A for ease of install.

A bottle jack made aligning the bracket a cinch.

The AltRider skid plate installation begins at the back and works its way forward. A stainless steel bracket, that is specifically designed for the bike, attaches to the side stand mount on the left and exhaust mount on the right of the bike. The bracket is very strong. This is excellent once installed, but a tad troublesome while installing.

After attaching the bracket loosely to the left side of the bike, I had troubles getting it to align on the right side. The bracket wanted to hang too low to reach the hole for the exhaust hanger. A bottle jack placed under the bracket and carefully cranked up got everything aligned in a jiffy. This is the production bracket, so you may also find a jack to be a useful tool. The skid plate then attaches to the bracket.

It was a struggle for me to align these holes with the crash bars. I'm told that the new production models include easy-to-use slots that slide onto the set screws.

At the front of the bike, the skid plate attaches to the AltRider crash bars using the bars’ set screws. This is where the prototype showed it’s teeth. It has holes just large enough for the screws to fit through and attach to the bars. This is a very hard to reach area. My fat and somewhat clumsy fingers made this part of the installation a chore. The production skid plate includes slots that allow the screws to be started into the bars, skid plate slides onto screws and then everything is tightened down. This would help a lot. The tight area makes it difficult to rotate the hex wrench to tighten the screws. An access hole is designed into the front of the plate. The four long screws take quite a while to tighten down 1/8 of turn of the wrench at a time. AltRider has a top-notch design team and I am certain that this process will be easier on the production model skid plates that are now available.

AltRider Skid Plate Bang for Your Buck = B+

AltRider skid plate and crash bars mounted to Suzuki V-Strom 650.

The AltRider Skid Plate is again on the expensive end of the spectrum at $296. Again, the high-quality materials and design of the skid plate means that it should last or outlast the bike. The anodized aluminum is the thickest on the market at 4.75 mm. Only the Adventure Motostuff skid plate matches this thickness. It would take a hefty hit to ruin the skid plate, but I could see the bracket getting knocked out of alignment. AltRider sells the rear bracket for $36. So, there is peace of mind knowing that the bracket can be replaced if needed.

There is no noticeable loss in ground clearance with the skid plate attached. An added bonus is that the skid plate is compatible with the SW-Motech center stand.

In comparison, Adventure Motostuff, SW-Motech and Hepco & Becker skid plates sell for $210 to $220. The Touratech skid plate, which is 4 mm thick and requires relocation of the oil cooler,  sell for $319.

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