Hand guards are one of the add-ons I have installed on pretty much any bike I have owned. They are extremely useful. Not just in offering protection to the brake and clutch levers and the rider’s hands in case of a hit or drop, but also to keep the wind and weather off.
The main downside of heated grips is that they only warm the inside of the palms, the outside of the hand is still exposed. Decent hand guards keep the effects of wind chill down and improve the efficiency of the heated grips.
For the Terras we chose Barkbusters. These have a strong metal rail, allow the bar ends to remain and with the VPS plastics can offer different levels of wind deflection depending on the position of the additional deflectors. Thus providing the flexibility to adapt to any temperature or weather circumstance. Plus, they come in all sorts of shiny colors. An excellent way to personalize our bikes and tell them apart easier.
Sofie chose a set of red guards with the standard black deflectors, I opted for white guards, also with the black deflectors.
There are Barkbusters specifically for the TR650 model, but these seem to have been designed with the non-ABS model in mind. On the ABS model the hand guard rails come very close to the additional banjo-elbow of the front brake. Nothing a few additional spacers can’t fix, but I prefer the mounts that come with the set for the BMW G650GS Sertao. They also require spacers to clear the brake line, which I hope can also double as mounts for additional LED lights.
I don’t need any of the different sizes bar inserts that come with the Barkbusters, as the handle bars come tapped with the correct thread and diameter for the standard bolts.
The GS650GS brackets go near the handle bar mounts.
The bar end weights can be mounted on the inside of the guard rails.
For the additional spacers I dive into my little magic box of everything where I keep odd bits and ends that I have collected over the years. I find the perfect parts that can serve to mount auxiliary light sat a later stage.
All that remains after that is to install the VPS plastics. It is all quite straightforward, really.
To finish up I stick some 3M reflective tape on the deflectors. It looks pretty good.
