Over riders, yes?, or no?

Favguy · Oct 7, 2024

Hello my early bay cousins, my bus is a late Brazilian T2C, (OK, keep the pitchforks at bay now! (bay, get it

)) I'd like everyone's opinions about bumper over riders. I'm finding myself with an odd desire to add them to my bus, and as my bumpers have the same profile as an early bay, they're the type that would fit with minimal work to my bumpers. I can't entirely decide though if they're great or a bit naff, what do we all think about them, yes or no?

Picture of an early with over riders fitted:

And my bus for reference:

I was also thinking they might look better without the rubber bump strip, what do we all think?

Look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.

Clem · Oct 7, 2024

I think you may have to be careful at the back to ensure you don't obscure the rear light units - they came in different sizes so you'll need the smallest ones. You may also need to shape the profiles a bit to fit? Possibly ....
Other than that I think they look good.

Favguy · Oct 7, 2024

Clem said:
I think you may have to be careful at the back to ensure you don't obscure the rear light units - they came in different sizes so you'll need the smallest ones. You may also need to shape the profiles a bit to fit? Possibly ....
Other than that I think they look good.

Thanks for your thoughts. Yeah, the late bay ones are actually similar in size, maybe slightly shorter, (but with a very different bumper profile, of course) they fit between the larger T2B/C light clusters (which sit much further out) and the engine lid just fine. I was wondering if the profile is exactly the same between early and Brazilian bumpers though, I'm thinking it is the same, but it might not be quite. It's close enough though, that a session with a file set would easily have it matching up.

andrewblackwell · Oct 7, 2024

I really like overriders on a bay, so i say fit them. I don't think i've seen any T2c with them on so that will make yours stand out even more. I'd have the rubbers on though for the full effect. Black rubber would carry through with your black mirrors/handles & black radiator cover if yours is the watercooled version having that.

Ours should have them on but a PO deleted all its US features preferring it to look like a Euro base model which works, but i miss the overriders feature most of all.

creationblue · Oct 7, 2024

Mine came with over riders but I’ve taken them off for delux trim but I’d happily swap back as I think they look cool

W1K1 · Oct 7, 2024

I think they add a little protection from those folks that park too close too

ozziedog · Oct 7, 2024

Trust me to be different and always the odd one out. I’m not a fan at all but I’d say that’s possibly my poor taste. But,,, if you did have them, you’d definitely need the black rubber inserts on or they would look a bit too slabby if there is such a word. Your bus has just reminded me that I was going to fit a raised brake light like you have. Possibly not legal on a bus as old as mine but I’m sure Nigel will come and tell me if it’s naughty.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,I’ll just buy one anyway

Mikek · Oct 7, 2024

I think they look okay, but I have them on another vehicle and I constantly bang my knees or shins on them

, so I’d give it a miss

creationblue · Oct 7, 2024

W1K1 said:
I think they add a little protection from those folks that park too close too

My front end still wears the scar where said over rider made contact with it after a collision in the distant past

sparkywig · Oct 7, 2024

W1K1 said:
I think they add a little protection from those folks that park too close too

Not really, it just adds a little patina to the front panel.....

andrewblackwell · Oct 7, 2024

Thats a fair point, i've seen an overrider that had been nudged & it had left a dent in the lower front panel, where perhaps nothing would have happened if none were fitted.

Worth checking how close the T2a overrider will be to the raised lip at base of T2b & c front panel.

Favguy · Oct 7, 2024

andrewblackwell said:
Thats a fair point, i've seen an overrider that had been nudged & it had left a dent in the lower front panel, where perhaps nothing would have happened if none were fitted.

Worth checking how close the T2a overrider will be to the raised lip at base of T2b & c front panel.

The Brazilian bay, despite continuing with an early bay bumper profile, uses the late bay crash structure behind the bumpers, so they'll sit a couple of inches further out at the front, like on a late bay, so the over riders won't be close to the front panel.

gas1man · Oct 7, 2024

Pardon the bugs, was just after a long trip back from Wales.
I think they look good, so they are staying for now.

J & P

redgaz54 · Oct 8, 2024

ozziedog said:
Trust me to be different and always the odd one out. I’m not a fan at all but I’d say that’s possibly my poor taste. But,,, if you did have them, you’d definitely need the black rubber inserts on or they would look a bit too slabby if there is such a word. Your bus has just reminded me that I was going to fit a raised brake light like you have. Possibly not legal on a bus as old as mine but I’m sure Nigel will come and tell me if it’s naughty.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,I’ll just buy one anyway

I'm not a fan either, i prefer the clean lines, uncluttered look.

W1K1 · Oct 8, 2024

sparkywig said:
Not really, it just adds a little patina to the front panel.....

View attachment 9666

In all reality the stock bumper is close to the body and not very thick in the first place. That’s why I built my own rear step bumper out of sch40 pipe, screw those plastic bumper new cars. Still working on ideas for a new front one with roo bar type protection

creationblue · Oct 11, 2024

You bus looks nice and straight! No wonder you want to protect it

Favguy · Oct 13, 2024

Just a final thought on this, and thanks for all the input. I've decided not to pursue over riders for my bus.

A coupe of reasons, first being, I realised they'll get in the way of both front and rear towing points on my bus, so in the event of needing to move it in an emergency, the tow rope would be getting fouled up around them, possibly causing bumper damage.

The second reason, especially as my bus has the late bay crash beam behind the bumper, if I did hit anything with moderate impact with the over rider, it'll concentrate all the force directly at that one point, rather than spreading out across a larger area of bumper, so I'm thinking the actual risk of body damage beyond just the bumper itself will actually be increased with them fitted.

So, I'm keeping my bumpers naked.

ozziedog · Oct 13, 2024

Favguy said:
Just a final thought on this, and thanks for all the input. I've decided not to pursue over riders for my bus.

A coupe of reasons, first being, I realised they'll get in the way of both front and rear towing points on my bus, so in the event of needing to move it in an emergency, the tow rope would be getting fouled up around them, possibly causing bumper damage.

The second reason, especially as my bus has the late bay crash beam behind the bumper, if I did hit anything with moderate impact with the over rider, it'll concentrate all the force directly at that one point, rather than spreading out across a larger area of bumper, so I'm thinking the actual risk of body damage beyond just the bumper itself will actually be increased with them fitted.

So, I'm keeping my bumpers naked.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,hadn’t actually considered that my bumper was naked before

Favguy · Oct 29, 2024

Thought I was done with this... but find I'm still craving a set of over riders! So Here's my current thoughts.

I'm now thinking of using Split bus over riders as I like the style of them better, being less bulky and they have almost no overhang beneath the bumper, so no issue with getting in the way of towing eyes. They're a little too tall as they are and have a hole cut out for the split rails they normally use, so I'm planning on shortening them by cutting out the section with the hole. This loses about 30mm in height and makes them look just right I reckon.

I'm not concerned regarding originality, as no Brazilian bays ever came with any type of over riders anyway, so there is no right or wrong.

So here's a scaled, accurate, mock up of how they would look on my bus. (Obviously in the right colour though!)

So, again, opinions welcome. Do they look good?, or am I off my rocker and they look terrible?

ozziedog · Oct 29, 2024

Favguy said:
Thought I was done with this... but find I'm still craving a set of over riders! So Here's my current thoughts.

I'm now thinking of using Split bus over riders as I like the style of them better, being less bulky and they have almost no overhang beneath the bumper, so no issue with getting in the way of towing eyes. They're a little too tall as they are and have a hole cut out for the split rails they normally use, so I'm planning on shortening them by cutting out the section with the hole. This loses about 30mm in height and makes them look just right I reckon.

View attachment 9840

I'm not concerned regarding originality, as no Brazilian bays ever came with any type of over riders anyway, so there is no right or wrong.

So here's a scaled, accurate, mock up of how they would look on my bus. (Obviously in the right colour though!)

View attachment 9841

So, again, opinions welcome. Do they look good?, or am I off my rocker and they look terrible?

Just a thought. Rather than go to all that trouble and as you said yourself, concentrate any damage to a particular point, how about making a mould and mak8ng some out of fibreglass or even expanding foam, you could make their little bottoms a quarter inch higher that the bumper lower edge. But I still reckon you want a black pad on there of some description. If you made them from foam, you could glue them to the bumper. Any impacts wouldn’t notice a bit of foam. There was a time when you could buy fibreglass bumpers and possibly over riders too.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,still do t like em

Over riders, yes?, or no?

Help Support Early Bay Forum:

Active member

Administrator

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Administrator

Well-known member

Active member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!