1st Gen V-Strom Hand Guards

[luvtoride]

Hey there Feejer crowd! I've done some internet searching on this subject & found LOTS of conflicting info about hardware for mounting these babies. I also readily found info on the new & improved 05 guards. I realize that these are probably much better but I'd prefer to take the cheaper route this time.

When I purchased my bike over a year ago the sale included some Gen 1 hand guards.

It appears that the guards have never been on the bike although the left side appears to be drilled & ready to be mounted (once I have ther proper hardware). From reading forum info it looks as though the right side will fit without drilling. Is this correct?

Can anyone point me to the easiest and/or cheapest way to find the proper hardware & tell me which parts are the right ones? Is there any step by step instructions somewhere?

If it's possible I'd like to find the hardware locally as opposed to mail order. I saw some talk of buying the mounting hardware at NAPA. I just happen to have a NAPA about 2 miles from my house & can access it easily... if I know exactly what I'm looking for.

Sorry for asking but I'm not as mechanically inclined as some of the folks on this site that can probably pick all the available info apart & make a judgement of exactly the right parts to buy.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Heidi

 

[SkooterG]

Heidi - the following link is to Warchild's most excellent FJRTech.com where he has a handguard how-to write up. It has been updated for the newer guards, but you still may find it helpful.

FJRTech.com V-Strom handguards

 

[luvtoride]

Thanks much Mr. G... already looked at this site. Unless the hardware is identical I found nothing on the site applying to mounting the generation 1 guards.

There was some archived material at FJRowner.com but that is where my head got swimming. All of these guys were talking about one part in millimeters & the next part was english. One guy bought his hardware at NAPA & the other guy did his mail order, etc.

I was wondering if someone could give me the straight dish without all of the confusion.

Maybe if Mr. Warchild sees this he can point me to the correct... & hopefully the easiest stuff.

Mucho thanks though,

Heidi

 

[Warchild]

The hardware listed in the FJRTech article is the same for both generation Hand Guards.

 

[luvtoride]

Thanks for the FYI Warchild.

One other thing... is there anything special that I need to know about mounting these? It looks like it'll be fairly easy to do but I was wondering... when I take the bolts off for the clutch and brake lever is anything, like a spring or the like going to pop out and fly into the grass never to be found?

I really HATE it when that happens!

 

[SkooterG]

No springs or anything. Just be careful and take your time. On the clutch side, there is a little brass rod with rubber boot that can come out, but it won't come shooting out. And it's not so small to lose. Also, the clutch lever has a small brass thingy in it. It should be greased enough that it won't come out of its own accord. Just excercise some basic caution and you will be fine. And don't forget this will be an excellent opportunity to clean and then re-lube all the important parts.

Finally got my new version handguards installed last week and did some cold weather riding this past weekend during the SPANK 24 hour rally. They worked great! Mui bueno!!!

 

[luvtoride]

Gotcha' Scooter, thanks very much... You too Warchild... thanks

Mr. G, I will take your advice about lubing schtuff.

Gonna' go order the hardware from my local dealer tonight.

Planning on doing a mountain run the weekend of Thanksgiving. I am expecting cold weather... but hey, you never know in Virginia!

 

[torch]

I was rather shocked at the asking price for the Suzuki bolts. If you are a bit handy you could try this alternative.

 

[luvtoride]

Hahaha!!! Too late for me. I ordered the nuts, bolts and washers last night at the "paint me very surprised" price of $42 bucks and some change. I figured that it'd be a one time purchase for a great creature comfort, so what the hell.

I'm a little confused here. I went outside to my bike & compared the guards to where they'll bolt & it appears that possibly no holes had to be drilled in the left side. I'm starting to wonder about what I'm missing here.

Is there a web page of "how to use the hardware"? Or an exact "how to"? I was a little confused why 4 screws are ordered when only 2 holes are being filled.... and please hold your smart aleck comments fellow pilots.

 

[torch]

The 4 screws question is easy: two are special long screws that replace the ones that hold your levers in place. These are the ones I made in the link, above. The other two are standard screws that hold the handguards to the first set of screws (on top -- the bottom is held on with the nuts).

I did not drill holes in the handguards for the mounting bolts themselves. Left or right. I found they fit nicely as is. I did drill a small hole in each to use a tie-wrap around the handlebar to prevent any possibility of pivoting. In the end I'm not really sure that was necessary either.

 

[luvtoride]

Thanks Torch. I'm hoping that it's going to be fairly straight forward once I get my levers apart. Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how my project goes.

Heidi

 

[Ignacio]

Yeah, those special bolts and hardware go together in a special way that takes some tinkering and thought. I ended up looking at Warchild's to finally figure out where what I thought were extra bolts or nuts should go.

I would say Handguard Farkles web page would help, but there aren't the close-ups of the bolts with the update.

My observation on pivoting with the 1st gen guards. The left side is more prone to pivot, the right side doesn't at all because of the master cylinder. One can tighten the left bolt and perhaps make it so that it doesn't pivot all the time. Even if it does pivot--it's more annoyance than anything.

Either a zip tie or perhaps some creative dremeling would cure it.

 

[tcfjr]

I know this thread is ancient, but I came across a photo that helps explain how the bolts fit on the hand guard, and I thought it would be good to post it for posterity:

 

[phil]

Can someone tell me if the right-side clip-on will interfere with operation of the Throttlemeister? Thanks. Phil

 

[BIODSL]

Can someone tell me if the right-side clip-on will interfere with operation of the Throttlemeister? Thanks. Phil

It did for me. Cut the portion of the handguard off that locates on the bar end/Throttlemeister. Of course, you could always install a Audiovox CC instead.

Paul Peloquin

IBA #333

Monmouth OR

 

[Fred W]

There are many threads with information about installing these hand guards on an FJR.

I know because I just went through the install this past weekend.

I wanted to add one tid-bit that I found doing mine, so I just picked the first one that came up on a Google search.

Rather than using a dremel to grind out the area at the end that clips over the bar ends, I measured the diameter of my bar ends and found that the are 20mm. This corresponds pretty closely to 3/4". If you happen to already own a 3/4" hole saw you can use that to cut the end hole in a nice neat circle. It helps if you have a drill press (I do) but could be done by hand if you clamp things down and are very careful.

Also, this picture :

...was very helpful in figuring out the intentended assembly sequence of all the hardware.