Utility of Lever Guards

[SFSV650]

My R1200R came from the PO with Acerbis lever guards / wind guards.
Supposedly they prevent accidental activation of the brake, particularly during lane sharing. These things look terrible and I'd just as soon take them off, unless they're actually a benefit.

Has anyone actually had their bacon saved by a lever guard?

 

[SFSig]

Yes. They will save your levers and allow you to get home in a get off.

If you’re just tooling around locally then no biggie I suppose but if you’re 500 miles from home then function over form.

 

[OldMadBrit]

The help keep you hand warm in winter as well

 

[jwb]

An accessory makes the R1200R look more terrible?

IS SUCH A THING EVEN POSSIBLE???

ok joking. if you are hitting things with levers while lane splitting you have problems that Acerbis can't fix. But +1 to keeping the wind and water off your hands in the winter.

The pics on image search for this bike with that accessory don't look bad, imho.

 

[NoTraffic]

If they are wind guards, they actually help a lot in cold weather. If they are guards, they are there for accidental drops. Its one or the other. Lever guards have no abs shield.

 

[SFSV650]

The acerbis ones have a rigid guard over the lever and a plastic shell which keeps the wind off the hands.
The guard isn't intended as a slider; it's to prevent contact between the brake lever and whatever you've run into, the theory being that locking up the front wheel will make a bad day worse. That's what I'm questioning.

I had them on the SV and took them off after they'd done their off-label job as bar end sliders a couple of times. I don't ride when it's cold out, nor wet, as I am a delicate type. Heated grips alone do me until about 50*f, then I get in something with heated seats.

 

[Gary856]

Brush guards are useful in the woods where small branches may snag the levers and whip your fingers, and they protect the levers when the bikes go down which are common off road. I don't see the same needs on pavement.

 

[FreeRyde]

Windchill at 39 degrees in the morning is somewhere around 10-15 degrees at 80mph.

That's why.

 

[ScottRNelson]

Has anyone actually had their bacon saved by a lever guard?

They're valuable if you dump the bike. My XR650L gets dumped regularly. I still have the same levers that were on it ten years ago because the guards protect them from getting broken off. I would probably have used half a dozen of them by now. I can remember keeping a bag of broken levers from my YZ-250 that I rode almost 20 years ago. I would occasionally break one and sometimes swap for another one that wasn't broken quite as badly so that I could keep riding that day.

All of the bikes that I've owned for the past 8 years or so have had lever guards.

 

[Blankpage]

The stock guards on my bike are just show, plastic only with no metal reinforcement. I'd like to replace them with some that would survive a driveway drop but the blinkers are embedded in the stock guards. Might be difficult to find that setup in aftermarket real guards.

 

[Hooli]

The ones on the Ducati Multistrada look good but are notoriously fragile. The guard itself isn't that expensive; it's the integrated LED turn signal that's going to cost you.

 

[Z3n]

I watched a friend crash when a lane changer caught his front brake with their mirror. Lever guard probably would have saved him. (He was fine, bike did the usual gixxer thing and snapped the frame)

 

[Junkie]

If they are wind guards, they actually help a lot in cold weather. If they are guards, they are there for accidental drops. Its one or the other. Lever guards have no abs shield.

dirtbike handguards often have the option of adding a wind/roost shield

The stock guards on my bike are just show, plastic only with no metal reinforcement. I'd like to replace them with some that would survive a driveway drop but the blinkers are embedded in the stock guards. Might be difficult to find that setup in aftermarket real guards.

it's easy enough to attach LEDs to anything you want

 

[jwb]

it's easy enough to attach LEDs to anything you want

There are a bunch of handguards that come with integrated signals.

 

[mean dad]

The acerbis ones have a rigid guard over the lever and a plastic shell which keeps the wind off the hands.
The guard isn't intended as a slider; it's to prevent contact between the brake lever and whatever you've run into, the theory being that locking up the front wheel will make a bad day worse. That's what I'm questioning.

The theory is to keep your fingers from being crushed if you bonk a tree. If you slam into something hard enough to apply the front brakes from the impact, how much extra braking force do you really think is going to be applied?

Or is applying the clutch an issue as well?

 

[Junkie]

There are a bunch of handguards that come with integrated signals.

I know, but you can also add them yourself for $10ish if you already have handguards, or want something more durable than the integrated ones.

The theory is to keep your fingers from being crushed if you bonk a tree. If you slam into something hard enough to apply the front brakes from the impact, how much extra braking force do you really think is going to be applied?

When I hit the deer, it locked up the front brake (as it's body hit the lever). That's a good way to make sure you go down.

 

[Karbon]

Must have saved myself a few sets of levers when I dumped the sumo trying to learn foot-down-turn-around and pivot turns.on pavement.

 

[dravnx]

They allow me to mount Hippo Hands for the winter months.

 

[NeverSayDie]

Additional hand positions for long rides.

 

[meldog21]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned that in addition to all the other functions listed, hand guards help keep rocks and other random crap from hitting your hands. Maybe I'm the only person who has taken a decent size rock to the finger at 70+ mph? I used to run them on my motocross/offroad bikes. I would still but I don't ride dirt anymore.