After I purchased the WR250F last year, I quickly found that the stock handguards tend to produce very curly brake and clutch levers if you dropped the bike. This prompted me to fit some UFO MX style handguards.
I've been very happy with these guards, they've been bent, bashed, squished, mushed, all the while protecting my fingers from all but the hardest hits, which they also reduced significantly.
| [image:1481] | So it was with a lot of disappointment that I noticed that the throttle side guard had broken after a high speed get off a few weeks ago - actually, it fell over while I was washing it, but that doesn't sound nearly as impressive ;-) |
Anyway, It was clear that I needed to replace at least the right side guard. After scrounging around home, and the local bike shop, I came to the conclusion that I'd have to buy a set of guards, as they are not available individually. This means I would then have a spare left guard. Bugger. just like buying batteries isn't it, they never make the packets in the exact number that you need.
After a little shopping around, I thought i'd try the Acerbis guards, which have a nifty two peice system. Obviously, you can break either bit, and only have to replace it, not the whole side.
| You need to purchase a mounting kit for your particular bike, and a set of guards in your favorite color - you'd be a bold bloke to put orange handguards on a WR or vice versa though IMHO. Naturally I got blue guards to match, as you can see both in their wrappers on the right. | [image:1482] [image:1483] |
| After prising the mounting kit from its wrapping, it looks like this. After a couple of minutes of fiddling, I managed to partially assemble the mounts, even with my limited mechanical knowledge ;-) | [image:1484] | [image:1485] | [image:1486] |
Initial impressions were that the Acerbis guards are very stiff! The center bar (white on these guards) is quite strong, and provides a lot of strength to the guards.
| Fitting the mounts to the handlebars was no harder than fitting the original UFO guards, but the new mounts do restrict the access to the on-the-fly adjuster for the clutch on the WR, as you can see in the picture. | [image:1488] | [image:1487] |
The finish of the Acerbis guards is very nice, and they look very flash finished, but I cant help thinking that the white is going to get very bashed and dirty from hitting small branches etc.
| After fitting the guards, I wondered about the actual size difference between them, as the Acerbis ones seem quite a bit bigger. However, as you can see from the picture, most of the size difference is actually in the amount of the guard that covers the brake/clutch assembly. | [image:1490] |
So, after all that effort, how do they perform? Well, they perform pretty well, they certainly stop rocks etc from hitting your hands, which is exactly what they are supposed to do.
However, I cant help feeling that the are not as good as the old UFO ones, which were a lot simpler, no mounting brackets, or things like that.
When tightening the Acerbis guards on the mounting brackets, I wasn't able to get them tight enough to be happy without feeling like I was going to snap the smallish bolts which hold them on, or squish the plastic just a little too much.
On the trail this is also apparent, as after a small get off - all in the interests of testing of course ;-) the guard twisted around and needed to be swivelled back in place.
The rest of the days riding confirmed what I'd already figured out. The Acerbis guards seem to be good motocross guards, but not so good for the trail.
What initially seems like a smart idea, seperating the two components, doesn't actually add up unless you want to remove the guards quickly or often.
What will I buy next?
After I break a mount or a guard on the Acerbis guards, I'll be going back to the plane jane style of guards, as from my experience, I think they'll last longer, be less trouble, and generally more durable.
But we'll see, I'm prepared to be converted, and I'll put in the hard yards trail testing these guards over the next 12 months.