I've been wanting to get some too, but more for wind on those cold morning rides. I'm just hesitant in having to drill out the ends or run into problems with my stock levers clearing.

 

I heard the same thing about the Tusk bars being soft, but also heard from others who liked them. For the price, gave them a try and have been pleasantly surprised. They've been down hard several times. I'm ready to buy pro-tapers as soon as the Tusks bend and just chalk up a loss. RMATV used to have a great PDF sheet listing all the measurement specs for the bars on their site, but I cannot find it now (dang!).

I'm not sure if either the Tusk or Barkbusters provide adequate room for the stock levers. See the pics above. The clutch lever broke on a drop before guards installed. Cut the button off the brake side. Cleaned up the edges and used marine-grade shrink tubing to make new buttons (ala Redpillar). The clutch lever is shorter due to the uncontrolled breaking off, whereas the brake lever was cut off just a bit past the button. The shorter levers work better for me anyway; I wasn't interested in going back to stock length after making them short, even if they would have fit behind the guards.

 

IDRIDR, I did the same thing by trimming the stock levers. I did it to all my levers on my race bikes that had barkbuster-style handguards. I have some decently beefy Acerbis handguards that have taken a ton of abuse, but they didn't offer quite enough wind and brush protection for my taste. Some thinner, longer branches and thorny plants sticking out in the trail would whip around the skinnier profile Acerbis shields that were molded into the guard as you passed by them. I recently attached some large Cycra hand shields to my Acerbis units to provide extra protection, and they seem to be working out great.

I have some model of Renthal handlebar on the bike, and it seems indestructible. The bike has landed on solid rock many times and even banged into trees rather stoutly with any issues. The Acerbis guards have rotated a bit in a really good impact on occasion, but that's better than breaking or bending out of usable shape. A quick adjustment to rotate the guard back into position, and it's as good as new. I hate bending handlebars and deforming handguards during crashes and impacts. This Renthal/Acerbis combo has been surprisingly stout and reliable.

 

Barkbuster VPS or Storm will clear stock levers on stock bars.

 

Bob, my comment about trimming levers wasn't because the stock levers wouldn't fit inside of the various barkbuster-style handguards I've used over the years. It was because I don't like that space being taken up by what is to me the relatively useless piece of aluminum on the end of a stock lever. Guards are great, but when you need to grab and tug on the bar and/or guard to pull the bike out of a hole, back on the trail, or for a myriad of other reasons, having that space taken up with useless material is an issue to me. I don't even know why levers on more modern bikes are still these huge, old school designs and shapes. With disc brakes, better cables, and more efficient clutch pull designs, you don't need a huge lever to operate these controls...unless you're limp-wristed...and then that's a whole other problem.

 

Here's a link to the thread Scott was referring to.
https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...-levers-24964/

 

I also find it's easier with short levers to keep two or three fingers on the grips while operating the levers with one or two fingers. May be more critical for dirt than street riding such as when you're feathering the clutch on a steep climb and over obstacles. The long levers will pinch against the fingers left on the grip.

BTW, the button ends of the stock KLR650 long levers were also clipped off. IIRC, this was required to fit within the Tusk guards. You could also check out Moose brand hand guards as I think they will work with the stock KLR levers, and may also work with the stock KLX levers.

 

DYNOBOB - Was it a pain to mount on the stock bar? I don't know what I would even get for an aftermarket bar, or what I would need I guess, so if I can keep the stock bars then I'd like to. Just not sure what I'm getting myself into I guess.

 

I found it wasn't too bad. I had to drill & tap the bar ends to M8x1.25 thread; pretty easy as I have access to taps + the end is already centre drilled so it is a good guide. I then purchased some countersunk head M8x40mm bolts.

Then it was a matter of neatly cutting away the end of the hand grips - easier for the throttle one as you can remove it from the bike. The last thing was spacing the aluminium piece away from the end of the bar. Luckily I had some small OD anodised spacers left over from a toddler car seat anchor kit. Perfect. Throttle twists & returns freely and a neat job. I couldn't be happier.

 

I installed the Acerbis ones with the built in lights, I would not recommend them. They do not have the full bar going across them, I did however install the Full Acerbis Rally Pro hand guards on the wife's bike. They are strong.