I went to the local Kawasaki shop and got the MSR alluminum hand guards and the MSR lime green plastic brush/wind shields for my KLX250.

I almost got new bars while I was there, and it can be argued that I really should have, but I stayed the wallet for the day at $98 total for the 2 MSR packages and also a large bottle of GRIP GLUE needed for the KLR.

So I took a sharp knife and cut the end of the throttle grip off, noting that the throttle tube is also a cap over the end of the bars. At this point you can not see the bars, just black plastic. You have many options in front of you to grind, sand, file, cut the plastic tube end off to expose the end of the bars.... I went the 4" DeWalt bench grinder method because I already had that tool out.
*** GRIND....GRIND....GRIND....*****

Now I have the bar exposed, and what do I see? They welded bar end weights into the inside of the bars. Cool.....NOT! You will see the 3 little welds placed at the most outside edge. This is good, it is easy to remedy.

Notice the welds:
(Reflection on bar forced me to distort photo properties to allow you to see the weld, coloring/contrast is off)


So you see the issue, now you have to fix it. Take your grinder and grind the bar in until you just remove the welds. Then use a good solid punch or other sturdy material and stick in the center hole and use your palm of your hand or a soft hammer and tap up, down, for and aft. You should see the line form between the bars and the weight where it moved a bit. Not just tap with a ahmmer straight in. TAP LIGHTLY. The weight will fly in once it moves, so tap easy and control yourself.


Once you have pushed the weight in a couple inches, you can use a small rat tail file to clean the ID of the bars and allow you to use your punch or whatever and insert into the hole in the weight, put a slight bind on the weight and jerk it out.


There you go, success!

That is the hard part of tha task, installing the guards themselves is something so self explanitory that my 11 yr old daughter helped me and she never needed to use the instructions to figiure out what to do next... I guided her lightly and she wrenched away!

You will need to realize that if you grind the welds and push the weight deep into the bar where the bend begins, you will likely not get the weight out. It will bind in there.

You need to pay attention to the wires/cables and you notice that the MSR mounts have a cantilever design that you can invert one way or another. I utilized this creative design to allow my cables and wires to remain in thier natural position.


And then you tighten a couple bolts up and your done!

Really, even with the grinding and all, I spent 20 minutes doing this not counting getting some tools out and cleaning up after. I had assistance by my daughter, there are times that a third arm and hand makes this easier!





Next, I need to find a way to mount my MSR fuel bottles!

 

Good report! I faced the same thing a couple of weeks ago and put the project on hold until it gets a little warmer in the northeast. (I have no indoor space to work on the bike and have been threatened with death if I bring it in the house.)

This little gem is a good way to mount MSR fuel bottles. The one litre MSR bottle fits perfectly. http://www.agrisupply.com/product.as...7670&sid=&eid=

I haven't put them on the KLX yet, but I do have a couple on my Vstrom.

 

I left the weights in the bars and tapped the hole to match the bolt size. I then used some aluminum spacers that I ground 3 notches in so it would set flat against the weight. Saved time and effort.

 

I was thinking about doing that.

 

By the time you drilled, tapped threads, modified washers... I was at the bar on beer #2!

 

So you mounted that and inserted your MSR bottle inside of that plastic bottle?

 

I tried, but my bar end weight was incredibly hard. I decided to stop before I snapped the tap off.

 

Yes, works great. Twisted Throttle sells the same thing for 3x more money. I'd rather pay the $5 to Agri Supply.

 

I just picked up up those same 2 30oz bottles for CO... Not sure if it want to try to mount them on the bike or just put them on exterior pockets of my bag.

 

My local farm & fleet stores carry these for $6. I haven't bought one because I haven't come up with a clean way to mount it to the bike. I plan to just put a fuel bottle in a tail bag strapped to the rack.