Hitchcocks Forum

do they help ?

Depends.

If you think of them as "tip over bars", the answer is "yes"; makes the bike a lot easier to pick up. And they provide a convenient location to clamp my coffee cup holder.

In a crash, the answer is "no". The upper attachment to the down tube is essentially a friction fit; in a crash, the bar will probably warp around, possibly trapping your leg in the process.

They definitly do help if the bike falls over, they may help in a spill - it all depends on the spill.
I have fitted daytime running lights lights on mine. Definitely increases visability.
In my youth I fell off quite a number of times, with and without crashbars. Tbe bike always came out better with crashbars. I was never worse off because of the bars.
So in answer to your question, fairly good, not crap.

Well, I'll amend my earlier post. I just had a low-speed lowside spill (elderly driver turned left across my path). I was doing 30 mph, managed to get it down to maybe 5 mph when I lost it. The crash bar took most of the slide. It did pivot back around the front tube, but did not bend or deform. Only damage to the bike was a bent footpeg (basically the bike was laying on the crash bar and the footpeg). Only damage to me was skinned nuckles and knees and an ugly hematoma on my upper thigh. The bar certainly paid for itself!

what I was wondering is do they bend the frame ? -

Very unlikely (at least on the one I have). The attachment at the top is essentially a "U" clamp, so it's really held by friction between the clamp and the frame tube. On an impact, that will twist waaaay before anything happens to the frame.

Hell with the frameI put some large used Kawazuki crash bars on my "57 Sportster and bent them back to the engine twice in ten years. Rpelaced with same still have 2 legs that work.....

I fitted some "highway pegs" to my 350 bullet, effectively attached a set of standard footpegs where the large front engine mounting bolt goes with some appropriate spacers (you need to make up a good quality stud with high tensile steel to do this or risk it snapping, I used a piece of EN16 bar in the end).

If I lay the bike down, they have the same effect as a crashbar, effectively keeping the rest of the bike off the road and making it very easy to pick it up again. It can only really touch footpegs, highway pegs, bar ends and the back piece of the rear mudguard mounts on the ground. Less visually intrusive and more practically useful to my mind.