Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Hand Guards
I installed my V-strom handguards last weekend. Well, mostly.
I ordered the handguards and the mounting hardware from Gary McCoy. He's now at Mondak Motorsports in northeast Montana, but still has discount pricing and no sales tax. It took only a week or so to arrive.
I also ordered a set of extenders from Garauld. The extenders are aluminum, shaped to fit the natural curves of the handguards and powder coated to match. It took all of my natural dexterity to get the nuts onto the mounting bolts, but I managed.
The mounting went about as expected, with one hitch. Without some extra spacing, the right-side guard binds on the action of the throttle. I wound up going to Berg's Hardware in Pasadena - the young guy at the counter had apparently flunked his customer service training, but I found what I needed. After a quick test fit, I found I needed some smaller washers, and hit OSH on the way home from work.
Justin put a coat of black semi-gloss spray paint onto all the washers. I waited until lunch time the next day to give them plenty of time to dry.
While mounting them (in the lower parking level of my office building), I found that the paint on the washers wasn't going to cut it. Coincidentally, there was a thread on the Forum about Garauld's powder coating service, so on a whim I sent him a PM asking if he'd powder coat some washers. He generously agreed, for only a SASE.
Here are some pictures of the guards on the bike, along with the recently installed Datel voltmeter in panel D.
