Wow the stock handguards break easy! - Ducati.ms

smartbomb · Apr 22nd, 2010, 12:45 am

I had a very minor fall

. Fortunatly for my bike it mostly fell on me, bad for my body but it was at a pretty low speed, it was stupid, I was cutting accross my yard, I had my bike in my backyard, and hit the pavement at the edge of the driveway. The city had just redone the concrete work and left a big 4" step and I didnt notice it due to the height of the grass.

My front wheel bounced off the concrete and I fell on the grass but the bike and I slid onto the sidewalk. My spools and Majical swing arm protector took the fall well and no body damage. However the bars, mirror and hand guard got thrashed. A real squid move.

The handguard is held on with two tiny thin plastic tabs that can probably be broken off with light hand pressure, thus they did nothing to protect the upper part of the bike. Fortunaly I fell on the left side of the bike so nothing expensive got thrashed.

So a warning, the stock handguards are pretty useless as guards, they are purely cosmetic.

Probably going to get some Answer EVO bars and Acerbis hand guards so my bike will be more protected.

sick50ford · Apr 22nd, 2010, 12:59 am

Sucks about the drop
have you seen this?
http://www.ducati.ms/forums/showthread.php?t=55056

smartbomb · Apr 22nd, 2010, 1:14 am

Thats a good solution for the turn signals! Thanks for the link.

Rob H · Apr 22nd, 2010, 9:18 am

I have the Zeta set-up on my DR-Z, and they've held up to falls on both sides with only minor scuffing.

smartbomb · Apr 22nd, 2010, 11:05 am

My Motivation frame and axle sliders worked well and really protected the bike. I had gotten a Majical carbon swing arm protector as well and that saved the swing arm. The bike left gouge marks on the sidewalk but nothing other than the bars, sliders and swing arm cover were damaged at all. Got super lucky. If it was not for the sliders, it would have gotten more expensive.

I was wearing my gear so I didn't loose skin but I got bruised up a little but the worse part was twisting my back which is still bugging me, and that several people in passing cars saw the fall, stopped and came running to help which was really embarrassing!

smartbomb · Apr 28th, 2010, 11:28 pm

So I got some Pro Taper EVO bars and the Acerbis Ducati accessory handguards. The RM low bend worked fine. Still gotta figure out what to do for turn signals and mirrors. I hated the stock mirrors anyway, made the bike so wide it was hard to lane split.

Tard · Apr 29th, 2010, 2:27 am

I just did a turn signal and mirror change out - New Mirrors and Turn Signal Relocation
may give you some ideas...
All the best.

I've always hated those pathetic, good for nothing, stock hand guards, mirror, turn signal, monstrosities!

**Motovation** · Apr 29th, 2010, 5:20 pm

Same thing happened to me on the first day out. Cold engine stall just when i was turning to get out of the garage. Let the bike down so gently but when the handle bar just touched the ground, snapped..there went the handguard! Ended up with CRG's and turnsignals on the frame.

Activator · Apr 29th, 2010, 10:32 pm

I was stopping a little late and hard at an unexpected red light the other day, and when the front wheel hit the smooth, painted white stop line, it went out from under me like it was on ice!

My left mirror, hand guard and shift nub broke off, plus a dime sized scuff on the pointy part of the front fairing. Could of been way worse.

My only injury was a bruise/contusion to my right calf muscle and shin bone. Apparently it banged into the right footpeg on my way down... if I hadn't had on my full-height leather boots, I probably would have had a footpeg stuck in my calf! AGATT, baby.

I was able to get the hand guard/mirror back on and pretty much cosmetically OK by using some "Liquid Metal" epoxy on those little tabs behind the hand guard. The other mount point towards the center was intact. For the piece that screws to the bar end, I put a small nut in the cracked-out mounting hole, and screwed the shim/stopper back in. Seems to be sturdy.

Ordered a new shift lever off eBay. I'll keep my eye out for a new left fairing, but I'm not desperate. It's a small reminder.

Rob C · Apr 29th, 2010, 10:57 pm

I trashed my handguard/mirros within days of bringing my Hyper home. I replaced them with Acerbis handguard with LED turn signals incorporated into the handguard. I handled the mirror thing with a nice set of bar end lane-splitter mirrors. I like this set up better than the OEM stuf and I think it looks cool too.f.