[slovcan]

Heed crash bars disappeared during shipping. No update for a month, as of today. They have to have been either stolen or lost.

I emailed Heed yesterday to ask whether the crash bars were shipped with insurance. Need to know that to file a missing mail claim with USPS.

I don't want a refund, I want the product. But it's looking like I'll have to settle for the former.

Covid shipping does suck. It's unpredictable. Sometimes it's normal, others it is like this. Quite often shippers are getting locations shut down for two weeks when there is a positive test result. The it takes a while to catch up when they can re-open. Then they have to deal with less staff sometimes, too. If that happens a couple of times it can take months. Wouldn't surprise me if they still show up eventually. I have a battery coming from China (yeah, that was a surprise after I ordered from Amazon and got a Canada Post tracking number). Ordered November 24. Might be here any day now... The tracking number is no real help.

 

[DesertBike]

Submitted to USPS for a missing mail search. CBP says that if you haven't had any updates, most likely USPS is sitting on it (CBP Customer Service). Guess we'll see.

 

[DesertBike]

Suddenly Monday morning the shipment status switched to "Out for delivery" and I did indeed get my Heed crash bars.

No intermediate scans at all, package went from "sitting in ISC NYC as long as we feel like it lol" on December 5 to delivered Monday, January 11.

I got the Givi bars off and the Heed bars on the same evening. Some thoughts so far:

-design of the Heed bars is such that they were easier to install than the Givis.

-front connection on the Heeds is better-designed. Always hated that part on the Givis. Photos eventually to show the difference.

-Heeds scoot slightly out of the way where the long engine support bolt passes through the hangers. Not sure whether it's enough clearance to allow use of an Altrider frame slider bar.

Here's my one major criticism of the Heeds so far: the paint is kind of a joke.

Yes it looks nice, and was pristine due to the whole works being covered in foam for shipping. However, it seems as if Heed used cheap spray can paint, though applied with an airbrush for a uniform finish. The paint is super duper soft. It will scratch at the slightest contact. I thought I was being careful, using blunt-tipped scissors to help get the packaging foam off, but still managed to scratch the bars down to metal in a couple of places, with only casual contact. I'll have to go over those spots with Rust Stop paint.

The Givi bars had (I think) powdercoat, instead of paint. The finish is much tougher. My first set of Givi bars didn't get scratched even on a couple of drops.

So, there you are. Junk paint on the Heeds, but better design vs. Givi and good looking welds. Pretty sure both use the same type tubing, so probably comparable strength. You could do a lot worse.

The Givi bars will be offered up for sale soonish. They are completely undamaged. Unfortunately, there's some rust on the bolts that secured the bars to the bike. They weren't seized, just looked bad due to the rust.

 

[slovcan]

Suddenly Monday morning the shipment status switched to "Out for delivery" and I did indeed get my Heed crash bars.

No intermediate scans at all, package went from "sitting in ISC NYC as long as we feel like it lol" on December 5 to delivered Monday, January 11.

I got the Givi bars off and the Heed bars on the same evening. Some thoughts so far:

-design of the Heed bars is such that they were easier to install than the Givis.

-front connection on the Heeds is better-designed. Always hated that part on the Givis. Photos eventually to show the difference.

-Heeds scoot slightly out of the way where the long engine support bolt passes through the hangers. Not sure whether it's enough clearance to allow use of an Altrider frame slider bar.

Here's my one major criticism of the Heeds so far: the paint is kind of a joke.

Yes it looks nice, and was pristine due to the whole works being covered in foam for shipping. However, it seems as if Heed used cheap spray can paint, though applied with an airbrush for a uniform finish. The paint is super duper soft. It will scratch at the slightest contact. I thought I was being careful, using blunt-tipped scissors to help get the packaging foam off, but still managed to scratch the bars down to metal in a couple of places, with only casual contact. I'll have to go over those spots with Rust Stop paint.

The Givi bars had (I think) powdercoat, instead of paint. The finish is much tougher. My first set of Givi bars didn't get scratched even on a couple of drops.

So, there you are. Junk paint on the Heeds, but better design vs. Givi and good looking welds. Pretty sure both use the same type tubing, so probably comparable strength. You could do a lot worse.

The Givi bars will be offered up for sale soonish. They are completely undamaged. Unfortunately, there's some rust on the bolts that secured the bars to the bike. They weren't seized, just looked bad due to the rust.

Awesome!

 

[DesertBike]

As expected, no problem using the Enduro Guardian skid plate with the Heed crash bars. The horizontal part of the bars is in pretty much the same place as the Givis were.

While the overly soft and easily-scratched paint on the Heeds is an annoyance, I much prefer the way the Heeds join in the front vs. the Givi bars. With Heed bars, you have a clamp that can be rotated to various angles, rather than welded-on tabs that sit maybe 2mm from touching the front cylinder's valve cover. The latter was a feature of the Givi bars that I never liked.