Any recommendations on best make and ease of fitting? All comments appreciated!
It’s a bit of a difficult one, you’d have to find reviews of people who have fitted said items. I’ve fitted Givi crash bars to a CBF500A, R&G bugs to a TDM900/A, Kawasaki Z1000SX, KTM crash bars to SMT & Adventure 1190. All can be a little tricky or annoying until you figure out the way they should be installed compared to the instructions.
A quick search shows Givi, Honda, and SW-Motech all do crash bars, and obviously R&G are famous for their plastic crash/slider protection. I’ve listed some links below, although the Honda brochure lists the frame under electrical and could be for only mounting the auxiliary lights.
Really depends on your comfort level for tinkering, for easy option I’d go with R&G bar ends, and crash bungs. Quality of the Givi stuff and SW-Motech is generally very good.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
I put SW-Motech bars on my 2016 CB500F and found the very simple to install, and the ones for the CB500X are an identical design.
The official Honda ‘radiator shroud’ looks like it offers the same protection so may be a better choice if you also want a bar for mounting lights, albeit at a premium.
Unfortunately the design of the F does not allow any mounting points for light, bu I have fastened mounts onto the ends of the Motech bars… Not that I have installed the lights yet because Covid shielding started shortly after, but at least on the F the headlamp is awful and extra lighting is needed to ride at night. I would think the 2017 X has the same headlamp.
Kevsta mentioned R&G bungs, I used to have those until I got home one day and the left side one was missing. That is except for the end of the bolt buried inside the engine case. I needed to go to an engineering firm to have it drilled out, but after that experience I was not comfortable replacing it so went for bars instead.
Many thanks for the tips.
Much appreciated
Mike
For something like this, it’s best to ask on the CB forum or facebook group. Or there’s Youtube of course.
I always go with givi bars for protection personally. I’ve tested them in crashes and they’ve been worth every penny
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What other ones have you tested?
I’ve got Givi crash bars fitted to mine. A bit of a faff to fit and took about an hour all told.
Luckily I haven’t dropped it so I can’t say if they’re any good or not.
R&G bungs and I think Renntec bars.
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That’s a lot of testing 
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I have my uses
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Also tested R&G bungs and engine sliders… they worked great!
I cannot remember all the details, but did research before picking SW-Motech over Givi. What I do recall was that the tubs are slightly thicker (27mm vs 25mm) and have less of a bend making them less likely to break. Or something like that?
But the Givi bars essentially start perpendicular to the bike then making a 90° bend to go forward parallel to it, whilst the SW-Motech ones come away and forward more diagonally so the tubes bend at a smaller angle.
Mind, the main selling point may have just been them having a better shape to fit lighting.
If the tubes are thicker so they don’t deform as easily, then that means more force is being transferred into your engine and frame when they hit the deck. ie; a crumple zone doesn’t work very well if it doesn’t crumple.
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A fair point, though I suppose it depends where and how fast you crash. Fortunately I only ever fall over quite slowly!
Many thanks for all the tips.
Mike