Changes within Karl's handlebars compartment :-) Actually, today's topic will be HDB handguards, which I replaced by stock plastics and doubletake mirrors.... But why? Let's go back a few months ago when I was building Karl and choosing components. My attention was drawn to HDB handguards (https://www.highwaydirtbikes.com/index.php?app=ecom...), not available in Europe but highly recommended and used by many world class riders. What is so amazing about them? They stand out by monumental construction - they are very strong and have a unique feature - retractable mirrors. On top of that they looks just great! And this is a product of the USA manufactory. Personally, I love to buy things that have been invented and created with passion by enthusiasts, and this is exactly what HDB products are. As if that wasn't enough, HDB also manufactures complete handlebar top clamps, ignition, indicator nad power outlet holders, and full display mounts. Great!
I ordered a full set, after a short time a package from across the big water landed on my floor. In fact, the handguards are huge, and when mounted to the petite KTM Exc, they seem even bigger in relation to the whole bike. Their assembly is much more solid than in most of the handguards I know, the handlebar ends need to be threaded and a single screw, the so-called Big Bolt, is screwed in, in the middle of the handlebar the whole thing is screwed directly to the bridge. After installing everything, the new cockpit looks magnificent, handguards give plenty of space for hands and levers, they are made of a very thick profile, double in places. New positioning of display and controls looks great and is practical, you can see more and everything seems very solid.
Time for a test ride, just a glance at the bike, again - the handguards are huge and Karl's profile is kind of cramped, probably due to the lack of mirrors on the handlebars. Let's go! Something buzzes, something resonates. It's the mirrors, I adjust them a little and for a moment the sound stops. Ok, so let's see how the mirrors actually works, I didn't mount them for decoration after all. I will put it this way, if the handguards are set perfectly, the mirrors are fine, maybe they do not allow you to read what you are passing, but you can see whether to change lanes or not and whether your colleagues are still following you :-) However, if the handguard is assembled a little too low or too high nothing can be done, the mirror, despite the adjustment, will fall down from vibrations, rest on the metal core of the handguard and you will not see anything. Another small nuance, I have not risked riding off-road with mirrors unfolded, it seems to me that with a proper fall the impact vector could bend them in a direction in which they have no natural freedom of movement and they would simply break.
Weight, those of you who follow my posts know that this is a very important issue for me. There is no denying that HDB are very heavy, but there is a positive side - their installation allows You to remove standard mirrors, so we have some win-win situation here. How does it look like in practice? Original mirrors are 596g, doubletake enduro mirrors are 530g with short composite RAM arms, HDB mirrors are only 192g. HDB handguards with bolts and adapters for the top clamp weight 1565g, the clamp is another 216g, what they replace are the original plastic bars, weights 301g. What is the balance? We add a kilogram, or more precisely 1076g in the handlebar area. A lot and a little at the same time :-) So why did I decide to finally remove them and what did I installed instead? It's not that HDB is a bad product, it's quite the opposite, they are wonderful and unique. You could say that it was a combination of many factors, I didn't really like the look of a bike without mirrors and with big handguards, the extra weight, slightly worse functionality of the mirrors and the fact that due to the way I ride Karl I decided that open handguards would be safer for my hands. In addition, I recently managed to buy some very interesting mirrors from doubletake, the Scramblers (https://www.doubletakemirror.com). I mounted them on long RAM arms, they look great. I also installed Best Dual Sport Bikes (https://www.bestdualsportbikes.com) anti-vibration bits into the handlebars, shortened and filed the handles, and the original KTM handguards are back in place for now. I am looking around and thinking what to mount there as an ultimate solution :-)
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