Hey gang, I received my HDB hand guards about a week ago and am just getting around to the install. Before opening any of the sealed packages, I was able to just hold up the LH guard to get a gander of how it will fit.

Unless something is eluding me, I don't see how this is going to clear the little bikini fairing over the headlight. Thoughts or advice?

 

Hard to see in the pic, but mine are pretty tight to the plastic but I’m able to tuck them just underneath. I wanted to roll my handlebars up, but the plastic is restricting the handguards from being able to roll up.

Just by taking a look at your picture, I would guess that yours are a little bit bigger than mine but hard to say.

 

The end of the handguard towards the center of the bike will need to be 1" or so from the handlebar, not 5".
Usually I have to bend the sh*t out of them to get them on.

 

OK - thanks for the replies. I will go ahead an open all the packages and give it a whirl. I do have access to a 100-ton brake press at work, if a little "persuasion" is needed.

 

The world of "universal fit" sometimes requires a little persuasion to get everything lined up. It took me quite a bit of tweaking and adjusting to get the Tusk hand guards to fit just right on my KLX.

 

I've always had to bend handguards to fit bikes -- it's annoying but very common. Another option is to mount them to the triple clamps using specific kit for this purpose -- but obviously this comes at additional expense

 

Yeah, I did some tweaking on my HWDB set to fit for sure

 

Well, after quite a bit of experimenting and frustration, this is where I'm at with the install:



I'm unsure of quite a bit. First, there is interference with the speedo fairing at the front. The inner bracket is positioned about the only angle that I can figure and still intersect/join with the HDB main bar.


View from the front of bike:


Here's a detail view of the inner bracket:


Is it OK for the inner bracket to clamp @ the taper part of the bar?


Also, going to have to use shorter levers. I don't have any more room to move the controls inwards, the bar starts to taper.


This has been the most challenging install of any project I've had on any bike. I've also sent an email to HDB about it, I'm mostly concerned with where the inner clamps are in regards to the taper/bar radius.

 

To me it looks like the forward part of the guard unnecessarily protrudes to far out. The angle of the mounting bracket seems a little puzzling too. Must just be a characteristic of the HDB design. I can see why your frustration level is up. Those guards will require more bending that I would want to do to be able to use oem levers.

My go to hand guards have always been the Maier Woods Pro and/or the Tusk from RMATV. Also once bought a used 07 KLX 250 that came with Acerbis guards that fit well. Neither ever required a lot of bending to get a decent fit. Positioning can sometimes require multiple tightening and loosening to find the sweet spot though.

It may be an expensive lesson but you may want to look at other brands as an option. Good luck and post if you come up with a solution.

 

Tusk on KLX

Maier on KLR