Although the sticker on the inside of these tough plastic handguards helpfully explains that they are not a safety feature and will not save your life in the case of accident, they certainly help keep your hands warm..
Handguards are one of those ‘must haves’ on an overland bike; protecting levers incase of a small spill, keeping fingers toasty and deflecting rain as well as branches, if you are more adventurous, but many require convoluted bracketry and the clamps take up space on the handlbars.
These Dual Road ‘guards from Acerbis attach at a single point – the bar end – and are so robust, they just sit there. The attachment acts as a bar-end weight and I can testify that there was no increase in vibration when I fitted them, having removed the factory ballast.
The fitting kit comes with spacers for the throttle side to ensure there is no interference with twistgrip operation and there are 3 different fitting kits depending on the machine and ‘bar size you’ve got.
Colours vary, black and white being the most easily available and they even (for an optional fee) come with little LED strips you can wire in to supplement either your indicators or lights.
Just shy of £80 does seem expensive, but when you actually hold one and realise it’s not a cheap, lightweight plastic product, the price makes more sense. The fitting method also frees up space for SatNavs or other gadgets. I haven’t crashed yet and don’t plan too, but I will let you know how they stand up to the impact should the worst happen.
I bought mine from the Adventure Bike Shop in Suffolk 01787 372901 They do mail order of course, but they also do tea if you’re passing!
Paddy
