I broke the stock plastic handguards on my 06 KDX200, so I bought a set of EMGO handguards off DennisKirk that are an aluminum loop with plastic over it. It says they're for all 7/8 handlebars, but when I took it apart I found there is some sort of insert thing in the way of assembling these. The directions that came with the guards absolutely SUCK. Do I have to cut off the end of the grip and the end of the throttle tube, then tap out the insert in the bar to accept a bolt in order to bolt these up??? HERE is a link to handguards in case anyone cares to know what I'm talking about.
Handguards
- Thread starter supajdogg
- Start date
I just put some alum. brush guards on over the weekend. Yes the directions suck. I had to cut a holes in the end of my grips. You will want to move your throttle in just a little so theres no way it will rub where your hanguard goes into the end of your handle bars. My guards came with two types of tighteners. The one style were these aluminum wedges that expand in the handle bar when you tighten up your bolt.(those are for aluminum bars). The other was a 3/8 piece of hose and a nut. My bars are steel so I had to use the two pieces of hose and nuts. It takes a little tweeking to get them to fit. :laugh:
rmc_olderthandirt
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- Apr 18, 2006
- 1,533
- 8
I am a little confused about where the obstacle is.
The bike originally had hand guards, right? Did these hand guards fasten to the end of the handlebars?
If they did, then it sounds like the obstacles are the inserts left over from the prior hand guards. I would expect that you would have two choices:
1) use the old screws to mount the new hand guards to the old inserts. The screw heads might not fit well in the new guards and not look as appealing as the screws provided with the new guards so that may not be the best choice.
2) Remove the old inserts so you can install the new inserts.
Removing the old inserts may be trivial or it may be a real pain, depending on the type of insert. A very common insert is one that is all metal and wedges itself into the bar. (I have attached a picture of this type)
To remove this type you want to thread the original screw back in a little ways, perhaps three full turns. Now give the head of the screw a sharp hit with a hammer. This should un-wedge the insert and allow you to simply pull it out. You might want to put a large washer under the screw to make sure that it doesn't fall all the way into the handlebars once the wedge is released.
There is a possibility that the wedge doesn't' fully release and the insert just slides farther into the bars. This is okay. Get a longer screw and try again. If it slides in further, leave it. The new insert should fit ahead of it and unless you are concerned about an extra ounce or two it won't hurt anything being deep in the bars.
The other type of insert is the type that is described above as a rubber hose with a nut at the end. The insert is more than that but that is a reasonable description of what it looks like, except the "nut" is bonded to the end of the rubber tube. These don't release so easy. The best way to get these out is to reach in with a pair of needle nose pliers and grab the rubber, twist and pull it out. Spraying anything you can reach with WD40 will help.
Rod
The bike originally had hand guards, right? Did these hand guards fasten to the end of the handlebars?
If they did, then it sounds like the obstacles are the inserts left over from the prior hand guards. I would expect that you would have two choices:
1) use the old screws to mount the new hand guards to the old inserts. The screw heads might not fit well in the new guards and not look as appealing as the screws provided with the new guards so that may not be the best choice.
2) Remove the old inserts so you can install the new inserts.
Removing the old inserts may be trivial or it may be a real pain, depending on the type of insert. A very common insert is one that is all metal and wedges itself into the bar. (I have attached a picture of this type)
To remove this type you want to thread the original screw back in a little ways, perhaps three full turns. Now give the head of the screw a sharp hit with a hammer. This should un-wedge the insert and allow you to simply pull it out. You might want to put a large washer under the screw to make sure that it doesn't fall all the way into the handlebars once the wedge is released.
There is a possibility that the wedge doesn't' fully release and the insert just slides farther into the bars. This is okay. Get a longer screw and try again. If it slides in further, leave it. The new insert should fit ahead of it and unless you are concerned about an extra ounce or two it won't hurt anything being deep in the bars.
The other type of insert is the type that is described above as a rubber hose with a nut at the end. The insert is more than that but that is a reasonable description of what it looks like, except the "nut" is bonded to the end of the rubber tube. These don't release so easy. The best way to get these out is to reach in with a pair of needle nose pliers and grab the rubber, twist and pull it out. Spraying anything you can reach with WD40 will help.
Rod
Attachments
Stock guards mount only to the lever perches, nothing to the ends of the bars. There are no rubber vibration dampers, previous bar mount inserts, etc.
Stock KDX bars have a stupid insert (almost like a washer) welded into the bars about 1/2" from the end. There are 4 options here.
#1 Drill it out
#2 Smash it out with a hammer and socket extension
#3 Tap the insert to fit the bolt for the handguards
#4 Replace the crappy stock steel bars with something half way decent.
I went with #4 myself. Many guys have tapped the insert for a 1/4" bolt. I don't like this idea because the thing is very thin, probably around 1/16", so there isn't much of a thread for the bolt to grab. Either cut/hammer than thing out of there and use the inserts that came with the new guards, or just ditch the bars all together for some stronger ones. I would have to imagine that if you broke your handguards you managed to bend the stock steel bars.
Stock KDX bars have a stupid insert (almost like a washer) welded into the bars about 1/2" from the end. There are 4 options here.
#1 Drill it out
#2 Smash it out with a hammer and socket extension
#3 Tap the insert to fit the bolt for the handguards
#4 Replace the crappy stock steel bars with something half way decent.
I went with #4 myself. Many guys have tapped the insert for a 1/4" bolt. I don't like this idea because the thing is very thin, probably around 1/16", so there isn't much of a thread for the bolt to grab. Either cut/hammer than thing out of there and use the inserts that came with the new guards, or just ditch the bars all together for some stronger ones. I would have to imagine that if you broke your handguards you managed to bend the stock steel bars.
- Thread starter
- #8
Thank you all for your advice. When I crashed it did move the bars in the rubber mounts, but they are still straight. Actually it jammed up the rubber mounts so hard that they stuck crooked and I thought the bars were bent. After a good smack they popped loose and all is well. It wasn't really all that hard of a fall, and I landed in sand, but it snapped the part of the guard that holds against the master cylinder and then smashed down onto my hand. I'm going to try cutting/beating out the inserts, and if that doesn't work I guess it's time for new bars.
