Winch bumpers, bull bars, light bars etc, what's the scoop?

The traditional steel bull bar can no longer be sold thro a business. Existing fitted bars are OK.

Any idea which specific legislation is behind it? Presumably it's another European thing.

I believe it comes under the construction and use scope. It is not an EU directive

My brother - who can be a touch pious on occasion - was complaining about my Range Rover being fitted with a bullbar. Came out with the usual rubbish "What happens if you hit a child", etc. He didn't seem amused when I pointed out that the front bumper is also made of pretty hefty steel and happens to be attached to 2 tons of Range Rover. I asked him how much else I should remove to make him happy, maybe the axles, because they're big lumps of steel that don't bend when they hit kids either.

I'm still waiting for the reply, and the Rangie has still got the 'bar on.

The main fact is that the bar being tubular focuses the impact to a point rather than spreading it over a flat area.

If I were to whack you round the shins with the edge of a cricket bat you would be in a worse state than If I did it with the face of the bat. It would bloody hurt either way but the edge is more likely to break something.

Depending on where you hit them, many bull-bars appear to flex more than the vehicle behind them though, so it's swings and roundabouts. The Government did a fair old amount of research into it and concluded that they weren't worth worrying about but partially caved into public pressure, as they did with the NERC bill -- investigate, find no problem to solve, take action anyway :-(

The main reason I don't fit them is because I've seen the damage that they can cause when they hit something, but I'm not talking about damage to the thing they hit, I mean damage to the chassis mounting points due to the added leverage ;-)

Mine has 'almost' a bull bar, but it's a none-sytandard bumper which came that way. Cheap, fitted well and stops me from leaving bits of black plastic all over the place. ;)

So how come there are hundreds for sale here :

at at various other UK based suppiliers???

Oooooh I can feel an export opportunity - please contact me for a range of Australian made Roobars, specifically designed to comply with air bag actuation, crumple zones and kangaroos. I can even supply a nice model for cabover trucks which folds back on impact trapping the driver's legs. Additional accessories - fishing rod holders, aerial brackets, canvas water bags, meat hooks (for the dead kangaroos) are all available.

BTW how many bulls are wandering the streets of the average town or village in the UK nowadays?

That's sort of my thinking as well.

Why do people feel they need them?

I've never felt the need to fit one.

Mind you, catching someone on the kneecaps with a Defender wouldn't be funny...

This is just the sort of argument used by the anti-4x4 brigade! "I don't see the need for 4x4 therefore no-one needs it ......"

I don't use a bull bar (or whatever you wish to call it) but were I to travel regularly through brushwood etc. I probably would.

Don't close your eyes to others' possible legitimate uses ........

It isn't - I've dealt with the results of precisely that happening and it wasn't overly pleasant. The victim can walk now but will never run again.

In my case I kept pulling bits of the standard bumper off whilst off-roading, so wanted a smaller, rounded bumper. Unfortunately it came with a loop on which toi hang BFO lights ... which I'm not interested in ... ;)

I guess it's not a bull-bar as such, but it does look a bit like one.

Shortly we're fitting a couple of wire brush guards from the bumper ends to the roof guttering ... a lot of the lanes around here are getting tight with under/overgrowth which i couldn't do with the stock bumper.

I know.

However I have no problems in justifying my transport, and neither do the people who have helped me push various cars out of wet fields for years.

I probably would as well.

But how many people who have them do that?

The Forrestry Commission and the NT people are about it, outside people who do it for fun, and certainly the NT have never fitted them, don't know about the Forestry Commission.

I'm not.

But I see far too many large chrome covered Japanese 4x4s sporting huge crash bars, and none of them seem to have the sort of paintwork you'd associate with heavy off road use.

I also see loads of Defenders with lots of lights, winches, deep wading equipment and all the other toys the 'hard core' off roaders hang on their vehicles (as I said, I do live in North Yorkshire), but remarkably few with big sets of bars on the front.

The reason I really disliked them was because of having to work round or over them and most not easily removable, a real PITA.

Martin

Thing is, I agree about the doubtful use of bullbars. Mine are integral on the ARB winch bumper, which is a great piece of kit. They have mounting brackets for high lift jack and spots wich is useful for expeditions, but most often I use my disco for driving to work. I am seriously considering getiing a cheap 10 year old diesel runabout and using veg oil, but after 500 extra in tax and insurance, it will take a long time to turn a profit

Possibly less than you think, if my maths is right.

=A3500, 30p/l saving veg oil over derv but at 50:50 so 15p/l in reality.=

50000/15 =3D 3,333l =3D 733 gallons @ 30mpg =3D 21,990 miles...

If you ran SVO, no derv, you'd be down to 11,000 miles that could turn a= profit inside a year. The 30mpg might be optomistic as well, 25mpg is

18325 miles on 50:50, less than 10,000 on SVO.

They might actually make the rather nasty sharp bumper of my landie somewhat more pedestrian friendly, there is just so much hypocrisy in the legislation. If you ask me, the recessed radiator of a series landie is gonna protect that against impact more than any bull bar, bugger the lights they have a grille around them and I don't think anyone worries about that.

To be honest if I owned anything other than a landie, looking at all these macho posing 4x4's I wouldn't want to risk the fragile bumpers up against anything.