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Hepco-Becker Chain Guard


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Hello all,

         So at 12,000 miles I replaced my plastic stocker chain guard with the following:

13EEC4C0-1931-4761-93BF-46189FE08243.jpeg.371a2d92dfcd3ed2612c59c24ffd5f69.jpeg      

 

Service from their US agent was relatively quick at about 4 weeks from Germany. Price was reasonable compared to others and I looked forward to fitting my first bit of Hepworth-Becker kit to my bike. Upon arrival and inspection it turns out to be made of soft aluminum with a machined indentation in to fit the Hepco-Becker label. Skipping that I mount it up and am well chuffed to see that it blends perfectly with the SW Motech heel guards I already have fitted.

Around town and under touring conditions this guard works pretty flawlessly, only shedding the sticky rubber tape applied to the inside of the chain guard.

Upon venturing off road though, things begin to sour. It keeps chain fling off which is a good thing, but it is very noisy to start with and the construction leaves a bit to be desired. After a couple thousand of mixed riding with about 30% light off road I begin to notice cracks at the screw mounts to the swingarm. So being a pro-active sort I replace the factory screws with something a bit beefier and add a couple washers to help spread the shock across a wider area to help prevent cracking.

This was the results at just shy of 28,000 and a year and a half on......

C3229AD9-ACAC-4FED-8461-459E748E2BC6.jpeg.327781b650721c2a2ad875bd1b02eeb6.jpeg

BFEE9EB2-D742-4247-98BE-975FD482F39E.jpeg.453080a139441863f65be85921cb9200.jpeg   

So if a picture’s a thousand words, there’s two thousand words.

My impression is that if you are the sort of Tiger rider I see at the dealership, you will love these. They “look” the part, blend nicely with other more functional aluminum parts and will withstand the vigorous eyeballing of your fellow Klim-klad species that always seem to be there even in last Summer’s choking heat. Seldom to never going off-road and having to encounter real-world stuff like whoops off packed gravel service roads they might last forever.

For those of us solo-types who might actually need it to be lasting on the trail, forget it. Thinking back on when I reinforced it the writing was on the wall and I should have just re-fitted the stocker as the cracks were the death blow for these. I’m currently joining a bunch of other lurkers on the ‘Bay stalking up some Russian steel jobs as they look the part. But since I’m dirt poor right now and we’re damned near at war I’m restraining myself and exercising caution.

Sorry Eric, this is maybe mis-filed as I couldn’t get the drop downs to work from my iPad to post on reviews. Not for lack of effort I’m sure as that traitor Bryan (JK!) has already responded twice. Additionally I refuse to name the agent as they aren’t responsible for HP’s crud quality and trying to get any recompense or some such is kind of silly given our line of endeavor. It’s similar to actually turning in plastic damage on an ADV bike on your insurance, what’s the point?

Edited by Flappy613
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Let me add the item and I will respond with a link and you can copy and paste it there.  

Sorrry you had that experience!  I use their pannier racks, crash bars and headlight guard and have had good experiences with them so far.  Their US distributor is MotoMachines I believe.

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And yes it was MM and the service as I say was excellent so NO throwing under the bus. But that was exactly the spirit Warped, if we all write up a bit from our individual experiences it becomes better collectively. As long of course as we park our personalities, axes to grind and other non-desirable behavior at the door.

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