Handguards are the shields that protect your hands from major or minor crashes during the dirt bike rides. Wondering how to install handguards on a dirt bike?
With our comprehensive guide, you can do it without facing any trouble. However, before starting to know about the installation, you must go through an overview of dirt bike handguards.
There are two types of handguards, both of them are used for different purposes. In the case of motocross racing, MX handguards are suitable options. For enduro or trail racing, we recommend using wrap-around handguards.
What actually handguards do? They protect your hands from various substances and reduce the chances of your hands being slippery; that’s why you must know which type of handguard is needed in which situation. Motocross racing deals with fewer natural obstacles than trail racing. However, in both cases, there can be dirt, rain, stones, etc.
Handguards play a crucial role in dirt bike racing. The racing itself is a risky activity. You never know when you might face accidents. Besides, no matter how expert or professional you are, there is no assurance that you will not crash your bike.
You may or may not prevent those accidents, but you can take pre measures to reduce the damage, both on your body and the bike. For getting such stability, there are a lot of products available for dirt bikes. Among those, handguards work as the protector of your hands.
Accordingly, to know how to install handguards on a dirt bike, first of all, you must know which handguards suit your dirt bike the most.
If you are a trail or motocross racer and value your safety a lot, you must look for a handguard that provides the best protection, which is the wraparound handguards. Nevertheless, if you are a skilled racer and confident about your abilities, then you can pick handguards that enhance your efficiency, which is the MX handguards.
Yet you can use the open handguards for trail racing and wraparound handguards for motocross racing too. What MX handguards do, is that they provide less safety than the wrap-around handguards but lets you move around your hands more freely.
On the other hand, wrap-around handguards protect your hands in more severe crashes, they are more durable than MX handguards but they restrict your hand movements.
On another note, the main difference between the two types of handguards is that MX handguards are lightweight, while the wrap-around handguards are heavier than the MX handguards.
The benefit of using a lightweight handguard is that it gives more space for your hands while giving protection, which helps you move your hands freely. Even though wrap-around handguards restrict that, it can provide more safety than the lightweight handguards.
Another advantage of using wrap-around handguards is that, during a crash, MX handguards can break easily as those are attached to the bike at one point. But being attached at two points, the wrap-around handguards are less likely to break.
Now that you know which handguard you want, you can easily get through the process of how to install handguards on a dirt bike. Besides, the process itself is not that hard. Just by following a few steps, you can install the handguards by yourself.
Consequently, the first thing you should do is to buy the handguards you require. After unboxing those, you can follow the given steps.
How To Install Handguards On A Dirt Bike
1. For the first step, you need a utility knife, with the help of it, you have to cut off the end of the grip, which is attached to the handlebar. You need to be careful while cutting it, because you may cut off your fingers while cutting it.
2. For this step, a drill machine is necessary to drill out the plastic throttle handle of the bike. By doing that, the inner diameter will become the same as the handlebar. You have to do this because this will be one of the mounting points of the handguard.
3. Now that the handlebar is ready, what you need to do is to assemble your handguard and check out the fit is okay or not.
4. Then you have to attach the plastic guard with the metal-bar with the help of a suitable screwdriver.
5. After joining the plastic guard with the metal bar, you can attach all the remaining hardware while leaving it loose. For MX handguards, you need to follow until this step. After tightening the loose ends and you are done. But for the wrap-around handguards, there are some more steps, as it comes with two end mode, where you have to connect two parts to the bike.
6. The package comes with two screws. For the next task, you need to attach the handguard to the handlebar with those screws, while leaving them loose.
7. Then you need to attach the opposite end and attach it to the billet mount. Make sure that it doesn’t interfere with the mechanism of the dirt bike.
8. When all the parts are in proper positions, all you need to do is tighten the loose ends.
See our best choice: 10 Best Dirt Bike Handguards Review
This is the guideline on how to install dirt bike handguards. As you can see, the procedure itself is easy and you can do it by yourself.
There are some other issues which should be mentioned. That is, there are some dirt bikes, that comes with a pre-built billet mount or mechanism for installing handguards. For those bikes, you don’t require drilling out the plastic throttle handle. You can just use the provided screws and install the handguard.
If you ride at extreme locations where you might face cold weather, mud, rain, etc. you should get proper handguards for those specific situations. There are a variety of handguards for a certain situation or weather. The installation process is almost the same.
To get started with the installation process, first of all, you need to know the specifications of your bike. If you order an expensive set of handguards, which don’t even fit your bike, then you can’t blame anyone else for that. So, after figuring out the size of the handlebar and billet mount, you should place an order for a specific set of handguards. And try to get them from a trustworthy source. When the products arrive, you are good to go.
