Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128318
Dirt Tricks Carbon Slider Guards Anyone who 's ridden off-road or has raced on a rocky motocross track knows how invaluable hand guards can be, w hich explains why there are so many variations out there, but not too many are like the ones designed by Dirt Tricks - the Carbon Slider Guards . A while back, we installed the new Dirt Tricks hand guards on our YZ2S0 test bikes, and we 've yet to take them off. The extremely st urdy composite guard is made up of a single point aluminum bar mount com bined with a deflector constructed of a central carbon composite beam encased in transparent urethane, much like that of the wheels on your skateboard. We found the Carbon Slider Guards to be extremely easy to mount up, since there is just one con necting point for each guard right next to the left grip and the right-side throttle housing. It can, however, get to be a fight for space if you run any kind of a left-side th umb control on your handle bar, as you might with an enduro com pute r or steering stabilizer, like that of the RTT stabilizer, wh ich we ran on o ur bike. Afte r some juggling wit h the hand leve rs, the kill switch and the RTT t hum b control, we managed to make everythi ng fit, but we 're not sure what we're go ing to do about a roll-chart for our next enduro, but I'm sure we 'll figure out something. (They do offer thum b switch adapters for start/kill switches.) Once mounted up and cinched, we found the guards to be rema rkable sturdy, not much different than, say, an aluminum bar. The com pos ite beam is said to be strong enough to survive 400 pounds of force , more than most handle bars can hack. Even thoug h we have yet to cartwheel our YZ, the Dirt Tricks guards have survived a couple of basic crashes wit hout a scratch or the slightest twisting on the handlebars. No one he re wants to be the one o n the bike if we do crash hard enough to damage these things. We found the Carbon Slider Guards to have many advantages . Besides being superstrong and easy to mount, they're also light, and the open e nds mean less risk of dirt getting into the throttle housing. zero increase of the handlebar 's overall width (good for squeezing through a co uple of trees), and per haps a reduced chance of injury. And some riders have ex pressed co nce rn that with more tra ditional aluminum bar-type hand guards that mo unt in two places, there is the possibility of reducing t he effectiveness of flexing with tapered handlebars - no such worries with the Dirt Tricks guards. So far, we have yet to discove r any major drawbacks wit h the Dirt Tricks guards . Visually, thoug h, they take a little getting used to, as the ure thane material looks a little cobby, but who cares when they're about strong enough to mow down a redwood. The Carb on Slider Guards retai l for $ 129 per set and come in six color schemes: green, blue, red, orange, clear and smoke . For more information , con tact Dirt Tricks, at 77S-7B3-17S0, www.dirttricks.com To cast your vote , log on to wwvv.cyclenews.com . WEb INSiYE Cyclenews.com re ader poll question of the w eek (Left) Alex Barros (left) and Nicky Hayden are presented to the press at Repsal Honda's official team introduction in Barcelona. Ta ki ng into accou n t various fa c tors, includin g politics, fact o ry participat io n, r ider tale nt [including opportunity paths t o a better serie s] , field depth and racing action, which o f the following road r acing se ries d o yo u perceive t o b e t he least via b le ? A. AMA Superbike Series B. AMA Fo rm ula Ext re me Series C. FIM World Superbike Series D . FIM World Supersport Series E. FIM 12Scc World C'ship Series F. FIM 250c c Wo rld C'ship Series On-line poll results from last week W ith the dominance of the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines HarleyDavidson V-Rods at the NHRA Powerade Pro Stock Bike season opener in Gainesville (se e In The Wind), w hat , if anything, do you th ink NHRA should do to adjust their pe rformance? Nothing at all; the fans want to see the Harleys win. 251 (18.15%) Nothing for now; NHRA should watch the Harleys closely and make adjustments if they start to run away with the show, 661 Add weight to the Harleys; they a lready have a huge displacement advantage. 471 (47.79%) (34.06%) Total Votes: 1383 www.cyclenews.com CY CLE N EWS • APRIL7, 2004 105