Heim joint links only ??

[BCNewell]

Will replacing just the heim joint links from stock plastic to billet units provide any benefits, other than a bigger safety margin from breakage on the plastic ones? Any better handling with the stock bar, even marginally? Thx for any informed responses.

[BajaRon]

You will get better handling with links only. It is only a small percentage of what the full bar kit offers. But there are some who are pleased with the link only upgrade. We never intended to sell links only so we have not done any link only testing.

[Peter Aawen]

I have done an afternoon of track work on an F3 with just the link upgrade - one of the OEM placcy links broke juuust on half-way thru a full day Tire testing session, and we found just after that the other one was barely more than a limp noodle too!! So since I already had some experience of how badly any Spyder handles with the OEM placcy links on their way out &/or no functioning sway bar . I really didn't relish spending the rest of the day arguing with & trying to push a Spyder without any sway bar &/or running on cobbled together busted links around the track at speed, so during the (early due to link failure! ) lunch break I swapped BajaRon's earlier 'dog bone' style links (not the latest sexy jobbies ) off my RT across onto the F3 & finished the day's session on the F3 running Ron's original style links!

Once that was done, the handling & sway bar control was noticeably better than it had been before the failure, even if not really even 1/2 as good as it would've been with a full sway bar plus heim link upgrade; altho I must also admit that there may have been juuust a little pre-failure flex occuring shortly before the failure, despite the placcy links, esp the one that broke, showing no sign during the morning's 'pre-flight inspection' of imminent failure/excessive flex... . But then, the F3 did get caned fairly solidly after that inspection for almost 500 miles until the failure occurred And I hafta admit that after the failure occurred & the subsequent link transplant, there was at least some degree of 'Thank the Lord & little Baby Jesus' type extremely emotive/relief response built in as a result of the bum puckering experience of having a placcy sway bar link fail suddenly & completely half-way thru taking an 11/10th's corner at a substantially higher speed than that generally recommended for normal on-road ryding!

However, I hafta say that during the failure, the Nanny really did step in firmly & decisively to bring everything back under control, but then it still took some minutes afterwards to pry my hands off the handlebars & my sphincter off the seat cos everything was all clenched up so tightly from that moment of 'oh ****!' & abject terror that occurred immediately following the placcy link snapping!! . Still, in a little under 12 hours all told that day, I completed a smidge over 1000 miles on the test track, the first half on a completely stock F3 apart from the tires & a proper wheel alignment; with the second half happening after installing BajaRon's links, which made it decidedly waaay less work & to a large degree, quite enjoyable, despite the growing fatigue etc....

That said, I'd still STRONGLY recommend that you do the full sway bar/heim link upgrade if you can! . Sure, you'll get some improvement in handling by only installing the link upgrade; but sticking with that OEM Sway bar is sorta like gagging down spaghetti that's been cooked to within an inch of disolving and then covered with a sauce made from the primal goo scraped off an ancient cow shed floor instead of eating a truly flavoursome full bodied bolognese sauce covering properly cooked al dente spaghetti! You can do it if you absolutely hafta, but why would you if you had any other choice?!? . .

Just Sayin'

[Little Blue]

... Go ahead and do the Right Thing. Install BAJARON's Kit and be Done. .....

[WDAVEY]

I had the Baja Ron sway bar and links on my 19 RTL. My new 21 RTL seemed to handle better stock so I installed just the links and I could not tell the difference from stock. So then I did it right and installed a new BR sway bar on the 21 and it now handles even better. IMO, the links alone are not worth the effort.