I know about the Honda wings that are taped on but I was wondering if anyone has used something like barkbusters with plastic covering the hands. I checked Givi site and nothing. Somebody has to have an aftermarket handguards which would attach easily. Thanks
Handguards?
- Thread starter timc490310
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I have the Honda Wind Guards and they are absolutely fantastic.
Why do you need the bark-busters: Wind protection in Winter, Wind Protection all year round OR Wind and fall protection?
if you need for winter months only, check hippo hands OR clones..
I have bark busters on my R1150GS and the Honda winglet system is much better.
Why do you need the bark-busters: Wind protection in Winter, Wind Protection all year round OR Wind and fall protection?
if you need for winter months only, check hippo hands OR clones..
I have bark busters on my R1150GS and the Honda winglet system is much better.
Just for wind and weather. I have handguards on my Vstrom 1000, plastic and work great. I had a vstrom 650 with heated grips and barkbusters. They worked really well. I am looking into the Honda guards. How long did they take to install? I think I saw a video but I haven't had time to check it out. Thanks
Warren
2
I had plastic hand guards on my NT for additional protection during winter riding. I got them from cyclegear.com. They were not very expensive. Not sure if the still have them.
I've never had them, but a friend of mine swears by Hippo Hands. He also wears heated jacket, pants, gloves, and socks. He does not ride an NT700V.
Not sure, as my bike came installed with them. The gentleman who I bought the bike , had installed them.
Hippo Hands are the best in the cold and rain. I bought a pair of no name ones from amazon for less than $50 a few years back. Easy to install and remove and they make all the difference.
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My NT has bar risers installed, so I'm not sure how effective the Honda stick on wings would be. After looking at Barkbuster options and commercially available guards, I decided to fabricate my own. I got all the materials from local hardware stores. Brackets are 1/8" thick aluminum bar stock I hand bent to shape. The guards are Lexan that I cut to shape and then bent using the heat gun method.
Just a few hours on a rainy weekend, and you could make some too
Just a few hours on a rainy weekend, and you could make some too
i have 1 inch bar risers and the Honda wings work as well...
but do post the DIY handguards...
I was looking at the bars and thinking without risers and something like barkbusters the bar would hit the body. Did you have to move any of the lines around when you installed the risers? Thanks
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I couldn't say, they were already installed when I got the bike.
Even with risers the gap is still pretty tight with the bodywork. I bent up the brackets first by mocking them up on each side at full lock (grip up towards mirror) with the windshield fully down. I also made sure the mirrors were in a normal riding configuration. As soon as I saw enough of a gap to fit the Lexan, I drilled and bolted up the brackets. I then worked on the shields. I used a piece of cardboard as a template I cut as needed. I checked each bar end at full lock up and down, and made the two bends accordingly.
Nicely done. I am trying to get out today, will be around 45 degrees and see how much wind hits the hands. Maybe without gloves for a bit.
I didn't see this thread but just commented on a much older and more dormant one. Here it is.
The reason I didn't go with the OEM wind deflectors is because I put bar risers on and saw somewhere that they [EDIT: the OEM wings] aren't as helpful when the handlebars are higher than stock. Also I am on a budet, haha.
The reason I didn't go with the OEM wind deflectors is because I put bar risers on and saw somewhere that they [EDIT: the OEM wings] aren't as helpful when the handlebars are higher than stock. Also I am on a budet, haha.
I've got risers and can't tell that they changed the effectiveness of the OEM wind deflectors.
That’s good to know! Maybe if I get a few extra dollhairs I’ll go that route; I definitely like the cleaner look. Do they seem to be as effective as actual hand guards? Not for rain and bugs of course but for the chilly wind.
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Is there a complete lack of wind flow past the bars with the wings in place, like there is with close mounted guards? Or there still a bit of a breeze. I did add just a slight update on the homemade deflectors. I put some transparent car door edging around the Lexan, mainly to keep the guards from tearing into my bike cover. A bit of rain on the commute today, and the guards kept the front knuckle area of the gloves relatively dry.
do they hit when you turn the bars end to end? looking at your set up I would think you could put handguards as long as they mounted like yours.
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They can gently kiss the bodywork if I do a full hard lock, but not "hit". Nothing is at risk in the movement, everything is tight though. The ends clear where I have the mirrors by 1/4" or less. The gap between the brackets and bodywork at lock was more like 1/8", but that's enough to fit in the Lexan the way I bent it.
I didn't really do any crazy planning, most of it was by eye and measure tape here and there. The aluminum bar stock I grabbed was 48" in length, enough to make both brackets. Talking a few bucks at Home Depot. Just go grab one, cut it half and go to town. The thing that took the most brain work was the bar end mount, as Ace didn't have M6 1.0 hardware long enough. My solution was to use a coupling nut with the longest M6 bolt they had with the head cut off. I threaded it into the coupling nut about 1/8" with Red loctite and allowed to cure. That is in the bar end weight. The bracket end is simply a short M6 cap screw threading into the coupling nut from the other side
I didn't really do any crazy planning, most of it was by eye and measure tape here and there. The aluminum bar stock I grabbed was 48" in length, enough to make both brackets. Talking a few bucks at Home Depot. Just go grab one, cut it half and go to town. The thing that took the most brain work was the bar end mount, as Ace didn't have M6 1.0 hardware long enough. My solution was to use a coupling nut with the longest M6 bolt they had with the head cut off. I threaded it into the coupling nut about 1/8" with Red loctite and allowed to cure. That is in the bar end weight. The bracket end is simply a short M6 cap screw threading into the coupling nut from the other side
Kentucky Honda 11 asked: "Do they seem to be as effective as actual hand guards?"
Since I've never had "actual" hand guards, it's hard for me to say. Before I bought my NT, I'd had a GL650i Silverwing with the same fairing as the '83 Goldwing. That was followed by a couple of Kawasaki C10 Concours. The Connies had their mirrors located so that they deflected wind and a lot of rain.
My observation about the OEM wind deflectors has been that Honda must have spent some time in wind tunnels perfecting them. They work something like slats on the leading edge of aircraft wings. They manage to keep most air off your hands and they keep my hands drier than the mirrors of the Connies. I think they do a better job than the big Goldwing on my '83 Silverwing did.
I remember one day when I rode from Ft Morgan to I-25 just east of Loveland to meet some friends. We were going to ride north to Wheatland and meet another friend who was going to ride south from Casper, and then ride to Laramie for lunch. There was a fairly heavy mist and the temperature was about freezing. When I got to the first meeting place, I realized that my boots were covered with ice. Then I realized that the whole front of the fairing was also covered with ice, with the exception of the area over the low beam headlight. What I had thought was just moisture on the windshield was frozen. As we rode north, ice continued to accumulate. It gradually filled in the slot between the wind deflector and the fairing edge and that's when I started getting a little moisture on my hands. But then, we rode through a temperature change and in a matter of seconds, the ice on the wind deflectors was gone.
I guess that Honda was recovering their wind tunnel investment with the $149.99 price that the deflectors originally brought them. They might have recovered more of that investment if they had charged less.
Since I've never had "actual" hand guards, it's hard for me to say. Before I bought my NT, I'd had a GL650i Silverwing with the same fairing as the '83 Goldwing. That was followed by a couple of Kawasaki C10 Concours. The Connies had their mirrors located so that they deflected wind and a lot of rain.
My observation about the OEM wind deflectors has been that Honda must have spent some time in wind tunnels perfecting them. They work something like slats on the leading edge of aircraft wings. They manage to keep most air off your hands and they keep my hands drier than the mirrors of the Connies. I think they do a better job than the big Goldwing on my '83 Silverwing did.
I remember one day when I rode from Ft Morgan to I-25 just east of Loveland to meet some friends. We were going to ride north to Wheatland and meet another friend who was going to ride south from Casper, and then ride to Laramie for lunch. There was a fairly heavy mist and the temperature was about freezing. When I got to the first meeting place, I realized that my boots were covered with ice. Then I realized that the whole front of the fairing was also covered with ice, with the exception of the area over the low beam headlight. What I had thought was just moisture on the windshield was frozen. As we rode north, ice continued to accumulate. It gradually filled in the slot between the wind deflector and the fairing edge and that's when I started getting a little moisture on my hands. But then, we rode through a temperature change and in a matter of seconds, the ice on the wind deflectors was gone.
I guess that Honda was recovering their wind tunnel investment with the $149.99 price that the deflectors originally brought them. They might have recovered more of that investment if they had charged less.
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