Winterizing my V-Strom hand guards...

I know a lot of folks replace their OEM V-Strom handguards with something that can take a harder hit, but the OEM ones are actually quite good for weather protection. Their biggest weakness seems to be that the bottom is COMPLETELY open and cold air swirls up from beneath to chill your fingers. So, I set out to fix that issue and add a little more weather protection up top as well. Here's how the process went and what I came up with:

(This is all reposted from another thread, so if it seems like I'm answering questions that no one asked, that's why.)

Initial mock up:




Closing in the side:


Working out the size for the bottom:

This is pretty close to the final design. I just need to extend the inside edges to give a good are to bolt it on. I drew the lines with a black Sharpie to show where the original guard ends.
Side:


Top:


Bottom (looking up):

Inside:



The bars can turn full lock without the guard hitting the tank. The throttle rocker does not interfere at all. I'll need to bend a small relief at the inside to give the heated grip wire enough room, but that's easy to do. The left side will be pretty much identical, with minor changes to fit the OEM guard contours, side it's shaped slightly different on the top on that side.

I received the Kydex, but I had a few other projects that kept me away from this project for a few days. I finally got a chance to do some work last night. Here's where things stand:
Cardboard mock-ups cut off of the bike.


Tracing the mock-ups onto hardboard.


Hardboard templates for the top and bottom. The smaller one that sort of looks like a penguin is the top.


Two layers of Kydex attached to the template and roughed out.


The Kydex after being routed to the shape of the template.


Three little penguins... Two top right wind guards, ready to be finish sanded and heat formed.


I had intended to invert one of the pieces of Kydex to make a top left and a top right at the same time, but I forgot to do that. So, I have two top rights. Oh well, no biggie. I'll cut out the other three pieces sometime today or this evening. The hardest thing so far was dialing in the right router speed for trimming the Kydex. Too slow and you get lots of chatter and kickback. Too fast, and the stuff just melts instead of cutting. I had to use a speed controller on my scroll saw as well. At full speed, the cuts try to melt back together as soon as the blade passes! I'll post more pics as the process continues.

Not much to show today. I got 2 full sets cut out and ready to bend. I'll try to work on them tomorrow, but it's Halloween and there is much to do!

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long, but I finally got back to this project and I'm finishing up the first sets tonight. So far, I just have the left side done, but they turned out so good that I just couldn't wait to post some pics. So, here goes:

Heat forming and fitting the top extension. It's kind of a balancing act with the heat gun because you can overheat it and remove the matte, rough-grained finish, leaving shiny smooth spots.



Heat forming and fitting the bottom. It's important to wear heavy glove to avoid melting your fingerprints off!



Here's the left guard ready for mounting the extensions. I used 3M double-sided mounting tape. This stuff is really strong once it sets. This is the same stuff that holds bug guards on your hood or those plastic rain guards around your car windows.



Finally, here's what everyone came to the show to see. Here's the (now much larger) handguard reinstalled on the Strom. I can still turn full lock without the bottoms of the guards touching the tank.







After I finish up the right side, I'll take her out for a test ride and report my impressions.

OK, got the right side done, too. Here's a weird thing that I didn't expect: the right and left OEM hand guards are not the same length! The outside right guard is .66" shorter from where it attaches to the bar end to the front edge of the guard. Weird, huh? Anyway, this didn't make any difference for the top extension, but it did complicate the bottom piece. The bend to make it fit right were more complicated, both due to the shorter size and some different internal bends.

Here are some pics of the pieces for the right side. You can see that there are some compound bends here. I had to heat the Kydex up enough that it could stretch a little to form to the interior of the OEM guard. The first few shots are bottom pieces.





And these are shots of the top piece. It come out looking like a funky Pringle potato chip, but it fits the hand guard perfectly.





And here is the completed right side hand guard. Looks big enogh to carry water in like a bucket!



You can see how much hand room there is.


Too bad the extensions look so nice, 'cause my hand guards look like crap in comparison!


I just took about a 1 hour ride to test them out. It's chilly out, but not really cold here (about 50 degrees, hey... I live in Texas), but I wore my mesh summer gloves so I could feel the wind. The difference is incredible! As far as I'm concerned, this is a big success. These extensions don't completely block all the air, like Hippo Hands would, but they make a world of difference. With the top extended and the bottom blocked off, your finger tips ride in completely still air. I turned on my Oxford grips for a short time, but they got too warm, even on the lowest setting. I'm sending a set to V-Tom on Monday. Since Tom lives in Ontario, he should be able to give an opinion of how well they work in REAL cold weather.

Finally, here are few outside pics now that I have some daylight:

Nice work

I've contemplated fabing up a set of hand guards for the VFR, just never have gotten around to it

Very clever. You are really industrious. I will have to take a look at these the next time you come to breakfast at Christies on Saturday morning. I have an 03 V-strom and it appears that the handguards may be different on later years. Mine do not have an attachment at the end of the bar. They are more like a flap sticking out there.

You are right about the wind around the stock handguards. They are not very effective.

Pat McDonald

coupe930 said:

Very clever. You are really industrious. I will have to take a look at these the next time you come to breakfast at Christies on Saturday morning. I have an 03 V-strom and it appears that the handguards may be different on later years. Mine do not have an attachment at the end of the bar. They are more like a flap sticking out there.

You are right about the wind around the stock handguards. They are not very effective.

Pat McDonald

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Suzuki went to the current handguard style in 2004 (that's what year mine is). I know they can be mounted on any year, even pre-2004 models. Hopefully, I'll make it to breakfast this Saturday.

thats dynamite

We got caught out in sub freezing 80mph air coming home from BB. Heated grips couldn't keep up even on high. It's amazing what some duct tape and a beer carton can do to block the wind off your knuckles.

You solution looks more refined.

Desert Skies said:

We got caught out in sub freezing 80mph air coming home from BB. Heated grips couldn't keep up even on high. It's amazing what some duct tape and a beer carton can do to block the wind off your knuckles.

You solution looks more refined.

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LOL! Thanks... I was going for the "more refined than beer cartons and duct tape" look. Good to know I succeeded! So far, everyone who has seen them thinks they look like an OEM part. I went out for about 3 hours this morning with temps in the 40's (the weather report said the wind chill factor made it feel like 36 degrees). I wore my mesh summer riding gloves. With the new extensions and my Oxford grips on the 2nd of four settings (40% power), I was plenty comfortable. I can feel the wind up top and below hitting right about at my wrists. My fingers ride in completely still air. No problem with my thumb turning into a block of ice. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Love the Flying Tiger graphics and bullet holes. Nice job with the extended handguards also.

Yay! I rode in today morning to work... was 24, feels like 20 as I left the house. I became painfully aware that I need something like this - the fingers were really a problem after about 20 miles. I have Acerbis handguards though hmm... need to think about this a bit more... This is probably a better way to go than to bulk up on the gloves too much...

This looks great!

PS. We really ought to get together for a photo of shark bikes!

Rex, where did you get your kydex? I've just about decided that I need hand guards on the Viffer. Now to figure out how to mount the suckers

1TallTXn said:

Rex, where did you get your kydex? I've just about decided that I need hand guards on the Viffer. Now to figure out how to mount the suckers

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I got it online from www.knifekits.com. I bought the .093" thick Kydex.

Does your VFR have any type of handguards already? I've seen several other bikes use the OEM V-Strom handguards and they look pretty good. It might be easier to adapt some existing guards to fit rather than to make complete new guards from scratch.

Edit: Here's a thread on a VFR forum with some pics of V-Strom guards on a VFR. Look at post #15.

Edit #2: And another here: Linky.

Edit #3: V-Strom handguards on a FJR. With a short how-to.

I don't have anything on mine right now.

I knew I shoulda searched over at VFRd first. Thanks for the link

Glad to help! BTW, you want to go with the 2004 or later V-Strom handguards, as they are the wrap around design. The 2002-2003 handguards offer much less wind protection.

Warhammer said:

Glad to help! BTW, you want to go with the 2004 or later V-Strom handguards, as they are the wrap around design. The 2002-2003 handguards offer much less wind protection.

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I'll keep that in mind. thanks

Well, this has been a really fun project. I went ahead and offered these up for sale a week ago and I've already sent out 6 sets! I have more Kydex on the way and 3 more orders just waiting to be made.
Here's a pic of my little work bench with some finished sets ready to be boxed up:

If riders of any other DS bikes are interested in something similar, just let me know, It wouldn't be too hard to work something like this up for a Tiger, Uly, etc... I'd love to be able to offer these for several different bikes.

Also, I can do these in several colors and even a couple of camo patterns for $15 more:

Do you still sell these kits for the DL 1000 Hand Guards?

I'd be interested....also whats the price now a days?

Thanks!
A

blamecanada said:

Do you still sell these kits for the DL 1000 Hand Guards?

I'd be interested....also whats the price now a days?

Thanks!
A

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Sorry, I've been out of that for a while. New job and recent move just don't allow enough time.

An alternative is this style that we used to call elephant ears.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grip-Mits-H...parel_Merchandise&hash=item3f2b67b4dc&vxp=mtr

Well WarHammer---if you ever make them again let me know....i'd like a set for sure.

THANKS