Suzuki GSX650F Forum - www.GSX650F.biz

Interesting, because I've had the DL knuckle guards on the bike almost a week now, and they are great! I'll take some pics and do a little write up soon.

Bikehigh -

Did you have to do a lot of modifications? Do they rub the fairing at all?

If I turn the bars full lock, the guards do touch, but the steering can be locked without the right guard touching. As you can see in this pic, there is a gap with the steeing locked.



The bike from head on,



and the cockpit.



The mods I had to do involved taking a Dremel tool to the right side guard to route the throttle and grip cables, and to keep the cables from interfering with the brake lever.




I failed to realize that spacers were needed between the bar end weight and the bar when I ordered up the parts, so I got some nylon spacers at the hardware store, and they work perfectly though I did have to enlarge the openings where the guards latch onto the spacers. Easy enough. The bar end weights required no mods to accomodate the spacers.



The pivot bolts on each lever had to be replaced with studs, which you can see in some of the pictures, and there are some bolts, nuts and washers needed to attach the guards. The levers on each side ended up being moved inboard about a quarter inch, but no other mods to the bike.



I think it looks pretty good, and doesn't detract from the bike in my eyes, but best of all they work well to keep the wind and road crap off my hands.

hello from england bandit sa here, I have hand guards on my 1200 and they fit via the lever bolts and come from ron sayers.com site and are oem suzuki and are from the v-strom 2003 model d and is called a knuckle cover , hope this is of help ,robin norton

Finally could be arsed to give bike a quick wash, and got some piccys done

Pics: Lights Off, Lights On, And Lastly Top Down View (also showing off black yoke)

(SORRY BOUT IMAGE SIZES)

Love all the black hardware!
Does it help your slow blue one to go faster?

Why even consider hand guards?
They look like crap on this type of bike.
If you're fingers are cold, go for heated grips.

Heated grips dont help warm the outside of your hands. So its either a combination of Hand guards+grips or heated gloves like the Gebring

Already have heated grips. They do nothing for the back of the fingers and hands which are right out there in the wind. In subfreezing temperatures, my finger tips get painfully cold even with heated grips. The hand guards solve that. And yes, there are heated gloves, but suiting up to go for a ride is already enough of a chore sometimes without having to put on all the heated gear. To me, hand guards just add to the long distance versatility of the bike, making it more worthy of the touring half of sport-touring.

How about using gloves designed for snowmobiles. They should probably be warm enough, although the safety might be a bit compromised.

I dom't have a snowmobile, and don't have access to gloves to try, but I suspect they'd be bulky. Anyway, I'm fine with the DL1000 handguards I installed, and don't think they detract from the looks of the bike at all. The hand guards have an additional benefit for use with bar muffs such as Hippo Hands. The hand guards keep the muffs from being pushing against the brake and clutch levers at speed.