Hi,

I rode today here in Virginia and while not the Frozen Tundra it was low 30's, windy, and damp. Even with gloves the fingers got cold after a 100 miler today. A guy on the ride had Barkbusters on his BMW GS and was wondering if they will fit the Ural easily? Anyone have any comments or suggestions?

thanks in advance,

john

Just what, exactly, are 'bark busters'?

If you mean the bush guards that form a plastic shield in front of the fingers and levers, then I would not bother: certainly not to protect your hands from the cold and wind.

Handlebar Muffs, despite the abysmal name, are very good at protecting from the wind and rain, but heated grips are better at keeping hands warm if not dry.

Use the two together and you're laughing all the way to the burns unit!!

Or Hippo Hands as some call them...

Dub

I just put a set of Barkbuster Storms on my Patrol last month and they work real well keeping the wind and spray off of my hands. Twisted Throttle is the importer for North America and they were real nice to deal with.
http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/5144/669/

Here are a couple of views from the top. I Bought the Storms because they mount on the bar ends with a single mounting point and they don't interfere with the CHT or the GPS mount or the windshield mounts. It hasn't been colder than -18f since I got them on and it hasn't been above freezing yet but they seem to protect real well.

Bark busters are great for hand protection for dirt bikes especially if you ride tight wooded trails where sooner or later your hands on the bar are bound to make contact with a tree. One of the nice features is the variety of plastic shields you can adapt to them. I like the utilitarian flat shields for mine.

While I'm sure they help some I don't see a big difference warmth wise between my Dual sport bike with them and my road only bike with out them. My electric vest and choice of gloves seems to make all the difference for Winter riding so the "Busters"' for me are dirt bike accessories.

I use the MSR guards on the Rokon and the XL 500 for the collision protection. I don't use the shields on the Rokon since it doesn't go fast enough to need brush protection but they do come in handy on the 500 when busting through the Sage and scrub Oak. I have ridden the 1150 GS with and without the guards and they provide a lot of protection in the rain, sleet and hail. They make a big difference to me on the Ural in below zero temps also but to each their own. The Barkbuster Storms are about worthless for collision protection with the single bar end mount but they were designed for wind protection so I'm not worried about that with the Ural, if the handlebars on the Ural are hitting the ground then I figure I have a lot worse things to worry about then the hand guards. I tried Hippo Hands back in the 70s when I was riding my 900 Kaw year around for transportation and couldn't stand them. There again I guess that's why they make more than one flavor.

this is what i use .$7 (seven) pair (in chine)
wrote http://hzguoqing.com/

This is cute...

http://www.china-webs.com/hzguoqing/image/DSCN1075_.jpg

Now that's some serious protection.

Now I understand. I use the Russian ones which are bigger. You can ride without gloves down to about 5C for reasonable distances.

Where can I get the Russian ones?

The Russian ones only fit with pre 03 bikes when they went to disc brake. The Canadians at CURD all put universal offroad hand guards on their's, it has room for the disc brake fluid resivior. I have a fear of the bark buster type guards with the aluminum bar. Stay with the plastic guards if you hit a tree the worse that could happen is you bust your knuckels. If you hit a tree with the guards that have an aluminum bar in them, the bar will bend down trapping your hand and you will be dragged where ever the bike tumbles.

jeep44, you may want to post on owner classified as a want to buy or try Holopaw Gene, he has a lot of old parts. I'm not giving my hand guards up. You'll have to pry them from my warm dead hands.

At Owner Classified department :)

Thanks, just the info I was looking for.

I have heated hand grips on my BMW R1200C and my thumbs still get cold. I don't like bulky gloves when I'm riding. I have electric vests, sleeves, gloves all of that. Just looking for a lo-tech solution and the GS guy said they worked real well for him.

cheers,

john

Which mounting kit did you buy?

thanks,

john

The link I posted takes you right to what you want, it is the BB S5 Black that I got. The kit comes with the inserts for 1 inch or 7/8 inch bars with spacers and all kinds of extra stuff. I used the spacers on the ends because I like a little extra room but you don't really need them. Don't jam the end all the way in if you don't use the spacers or the throttle might bind. I don't know what year yours is but if you have the newer style grips with the chrome ends like mine I just pulled the chrome caps off and trimmed the smaller piece off of the end of the rubber and it worked great. Actually my chrome caps fell of a few years ago but same idea.
I mainly like them because they keep the road spray and crap off of my gloves and they do deflect a quite a bit of the cold.

I have the Russian hand guards in stock. They fit the older Russian controls but they can be altered for the newer Italian controls.

Terry, I have those plastic Russian ones-got 'em from you. I just put them on day before yesterday, but I was really interested in those chinese ones Harleych has,and I misunderstood Serious Black-I didn't realize he was talking about those same plastic handguards like I have.

I've had good luck using Aerostich's triple digit overgloves.

http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-triple-...ain-covers.html

They work well in the rain in any season, and, as thin windbreakers, add many more degrees of comfort on cold days. Just slip them on over your normal gloves. Aerostich also has a version with fleece lining (scroll down at the link above) for even colder weather. They pack very well.

But then, I'm in Alabama, and it doesn't get that cold, relatively speaking. Certainly not like when I was stationed in Montana.

Ok, so I just received the Barkbuster Storms in the mail and is there just one saddle per side? Because only 2 saddles were sent (to hold down the back bone). Assuming the self tapping screw at the other end is used instead of the other saddle location (has the mounting doobers).

Anyway, tried yanking on the chrome end cap and it isn't coming off too easily. Will I have to cut it off?

cheers,

john

Yank harder. Mine on the right broke off by itself at some point somewhere; the left one was a bit more persistent... I tried to "unscrew" it, but it just broke. The little piece rattled around inside until I dumped it out when I took off the handlebars.

Got the end caps off. Yep, had to really yank on them. My Ural is a 2007 Tourist and the bar is .875 roughly and the inside dimension is .625. The expanding sleeve is .675, so I will need to either ream the bar or make a new expanding sleeve to fit. Bummer.

john

John,
Sorry I didn't post sooner but I am off on Thursday and Friday and I don't have Internet at home. Out of all of the mounting stuff and sleeves and such that come in that kit none of them will fit? Mine is a 2006 and the smaller one fits perfect. Before you start modifying the parts call the guys at Twisted Throttle and talk to them as they have a lot of different mounting options and I am sure they have one that fits. I didn't think the handlebars changed from 2006 to 2007 but you never know. The smaller insert had quite a bit of play when I put it in the handle bars but I can check the dimensions when I get home tonight if you would like. I rode the GS to work this morning so I don't have the Ural with me to check today.

Hi,

My bar is .875 outside diameter (doing inches from the reading on my vernier calipers), inside the bar ~.625, smallest expanding sleeve I had was ~.675. I took to work, made a mandrel and took off ~.050 then dremeled inside of bar and it fit great. The barkbusters are on and will try them out tomorrow here in Virginia. Supposed to be in the teens and 20's Sunday AM. Have a club ride at 8:30AM

So how did they work for you? I love mine but I am curious if they did what you wanted.

I've never noted that the hand guards did much of anything to keep your pinkies any warmer than usual other than keepin the snow and crap off your gloves. The guards are nice to have and keep crap off your cable ends and such, but they won't keep your fingers from freezing..... This is why God invented heated gloves and grips probably....

I was out ridin today up north and used only a single pair of unheated but well insulated gauntlet gloves and all went fine but I missed my heated gloves just a bit. Yesterday the gloves were barely enough to get by with the temps right at or slightly below 0 F but today it was a balmy 15F or so. Much nicer.
I didn't feel any heat comin off them hand guards though....

:-))
kermitski
of the great white north

Keeping the wind and snow and crap off of my hands is all I want them for, if I wanted heated grips I'd ride the Beemer. Of course the last time I rode the Beemer at -14f the speedometer cable was frozen and I busted the speedometer drive on the front wheel, hopefully that should be here tomorrow. I save the Ural for the really cold days.

They did help initially block some windage. It was cold and should have ridden the BMW w/heated hand grips. I don't doubt they will come in handy someday if/when I get caught in some feezing precip, etc.

j