Hand guards or bark busters?

[tommorth]

have had all pavlova is great had open ended gaurds on my kdx and mostly worked well but somtimes branches would flick around inside and push the lever not so bad when its the clutch but not great when its the front break , made some solid ones for my xr they worked great hit a bambo marker next day didnt feel a thing. alloy ones with plastic on my 200 rekon it gives a bit more confidence in the close trees you know if you get a little close your fingers will still be there

t3mp0r4ry nzr how bad was your finger? I got mine tanged in my handgaurds last oct dislocated it was pointing 90deg got told min 8 weeks for the ligaments to recover I 've got probably 90% movment ,but its still weak and a bit swollen close to four months later. Found it amazing how much the little finger is used

[oldskool]

Barkbusters. Would feel naked without them.

ooh yuck shrivel that thought!

[B0000M]

another shit part about bark busters is geting tie downs thru your bars, more congestion.

i also find with bark busters you feel less confident with the bike in small spaces as it makes it feel more like you're trying to manouvere a bus thru the trees than a bike.


want to borrow some to try cheese?

[Ktmboy]

having a bike with bark busters, and a bike without bark busters, and having had hand guards on previous bikes, i rate the hand guards.

bark busters cause injuries when you crash.

in 15 years of riding, ive crashed a shitload of a shitload of times, ive never broken a lever, but ive broken 2 clutch perches and bent a brake lever.

barkbusters add weight
barkbusters add steering weight
barkbuster are wristbusters
barkbusters can clash with levers
bark busters mean you need to cut the ends off your grips, which mean your grips are more likely to come unstuck
barkbusters with a broken bolt 1/2 way thru a trail are a nightmare
handguars provide adequate protection from branches etc and roost, they will not stop tree trunks. however, if you hit tree trunks with the ends of your bars, you're fucked bark busters or not.

Sorry beg to differ big time!

ACERBIS bark busters. They are ergonomically formed with recesses at the end to facilitate hand ejaculation(cool word)

A common problem is folks always set them up too high and this could cause problems. I have mine set low so that they form a line with my arms, through to lever and busters, whilst in the standing position.
Never broken a lever.
Yes it adds weight.
But in X/country etc this is not a major. Finishing the event however is most important.
I have never broken a wrist. Tell a lie I did about 6 years ago riding a Honda XR400 on a farm recce.It had no guards what so ever.
Don't clash with levers if they are set up right.
Good glue and lock wire. no problems. grips will never come off.
Any broken bolt will be a bitch. Most commonly tho the bolt comes out of the end thread. Simple. Lock tight the bugger in.
Argh...Yes they do protect from trees, and at speed. Most of my Hospital visits have been fully hugging trees. Bikes been phucked, rider is phucked, but the ACERBIS are all good.

Yes, and I do the odd MX to prove I can beat the lad. Although if I was fully into MX they would come off.

[4stroke]

Sorry beg to differ big time!

ACERBIS bark busters. They are ergonomically formed with recesses at the end to facilitate hand ejaculation(cool word)

A common problem is folks always set them up too high and this could cause problems. I have mine set low so that they form a line with my arms, through to lever and busters, whilst in the standing position.
Never broken a lever.
Yes it adds weight.
But in X/country etc this is not a major. Finishing the event however is most important.
I have never broken a wrist. Tell a lie I did about 6 years ago riding a Honda XR400 on a farm recce.It had no guards what so ever.
Don't clash with levers if they are set up right.
Good glue and lock wire. no problems. grips will never come off.
Any broken bolt will be a bitch. Most commonly tho the bolt comes out of the end thread. Simple. Lock tight the bugger in.
Argh...Yes they do protect from trees, and at speed. Most of my Hospital visits have been fully hugging trees. Bikes been phucked, rider is phucked, but the ACERBIS are all good.

Yes, and I do the odd MX to prove I can beat the lad. Although if I was fully into MX they would come off.

i have ACERBIS on the husky, no broken levers when i broke my bars, and broke myself.

[FROSTY:Me]

I hear all the arguments for barkbusters and even so just dont like the darn things myself. I just dont feel comfortable riding with them.
The MX type roost protectors seem to do pretty well for my riding.

Off on a tangent --road race guys have armoured knuckles on the gloves --wonder if the same principle could work for MX gloves??

[stig]

I had hand gaurds on my kdx when I was learning, it got droped heaps and never broke a lever, not that it couldn't happen, but still seemed to reduce the odds.

came off an xr250 which had the barkbuster steel wrap only. it was positioned at a highish angle. 6 fractures, 2 ops, steel plate, 7 pins, 6mths physio, still phq'd. not recommended.

current KTM came with bark busters with the plastic gaurds. Same as KTMboy, I've lowered them to inline with my arms (standing). that, combined with the plastic gaurds and i'm comfortable with them and don't think i could squeze my wrist through there easily.

ultimate preferance would be handgaurds with zeta levers

[Buddy L]

If you worried about breaking levers, Then just get the unbreakable type, worth their weight in gold, Im on my third set of handle bars, after bending two sets of renthals and i still havent broken a lever. and i have no guards at all.
My KDX had barkbusters on it and it was a dream powering through the off beaten bush tracks, but they did get bent after a big off and jambed up my clutch lever half way through a trail ride.

[CRF119]

I have ASV leavers but still manage to brake them.

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

t3mp0r4ry nzr how bad was your finger? I got mine tanged in my handgaurds last oct dislocated it was pointing 90deg got told min 8 weeks for the ligaments to recover I 've got probably 90% movment ,but its still weak and a bit swollen close to four months later. Found it amazing how much the little finger is used

Yes, it really is amazing how much the little finger is used. I am now using that hand but my grip is very much weaker from not having a "pinkie" to wrap around the object and grip For example Im back to doing weights and the lack of grip is keeping the weight's low.

I joked about with the e.d staff to just cut the fuka off and I will be on my way! but seriously, the use of the pinkie is much missed.

It broke where the finger bone inserts into the hand, and dislocated it at the 1st knuckle. I had just done a top end rebuild and had alot more power. Was using a gear higher going into a section that transitioned from open to narrow and was sliding into the turn (the lap before I brushed the bank), but never noticed the tree trunk until to late and just clipped it. Didnt crash or slow me down, literally brushed it with the side of the bars and unfortunately, my pinkie.

At 5.5 weeks, I had my first ride yesterday around the neighbourhood yesterday, allgood. Also practising my balance point wheelies on the MTB last night, no probs. Will head out for a quiet ride on the CR later this week the riding withdrawls have been hard

[slimjim]

me i love the bark busters have fitted them on the "xjr" and boy do they stop the rain driving into gloves good to for bumping car mirror's without to much lever damage lol

[Danger]

One reason I'm doing suspension (other than the interest I have in the subject) and not my much better paying previous vocation is because of an injury to my ring finger on the right hand which was broken in six places (the doctor said imagine broken cornflakes) which was due to a pruned branch in the Dead Forest being cut at 6" from the trunk. I have very little grip on the throttle side with the two outside fingers barely able to move which is why this previous stand 90% time rider is now a sit 90% time rider. I was using Bark Busters and would use nothing else, it was bad luck the pruned branch went under the guard and smashed my hand. I've hit trees hard enough to pull the bolt out of the end of the bar, the open guards just will not cut it in the trees for me.

[crazyxr250rider]

IN THE END GUYS ITS JUST PERSONAL PREFERANCE,
I use the barkbuster type on my crf450x and the zeta stingray fag (flag!)type on my KX250.

BTW someone should buy my bike....$5500.....

[Reckless]

Ego Barkbusters for me! Scott411 sells them at Mr Motocycles although all my Ktm's have had them on when I got them! Pic in the Thunder thread here
Like Danger I've hit a tree once hard enough to pop them out of the end of the bars (on the GNCC I attempted) and a concrete post on a Mr moto ride. Both would have definitely caused broken bones! They have saved 100 times there value in broken leavers between my sons bike and mine as well!

I don't find them a hassle trying the bike on when I was tying on via the bars either( I do it over the bottom triple clamp now)

Barkbusters for me anytime!