Hi everyone, been lurking for a while, and after grabbing myself a 2007 KLX 250s last week I thought I would sign up and join the party. Quick background, the KLX is mostly a dirt only bike for me, my main street bike is a 2004 Ducati ST4s and I track a 2001 R6, so the KLX sort of rounds out the bunch.

So far I love the bike, lots of fun. I am not planning on doing too many mods, I ordered a skid plate and would like to upgrade the handguards to something more robust with aluminum inserts.

I see some of added them, and I noticed there may be an issue with drilling the bar ends, my questions are, which ones seem to fit the best with the least amount of PITA moments using the stock bar and controls?

 

marc11,

Welcome to the party!

I think with any of the handguards you are going to find yourself removing the weights in the end of the bar. I learned the hard way how NOT to do it. I don't recommend drilling them out like I did. I think those that have had the easiest time have used a Dremel to grind off the 3 small welds that hold each weight in. After that, you are pretty much good to go.

Everyone has their own favorite guard. I am no different. I have the Moose handguards with large shields. They are very sturdy.

I know that several folks have used the Acerbis guards with the turn signals built in. That might be a good option for you since you are going to be using your bike mostly for dirt, you probably don't want to have to be worrying about ripping off a turn signal.

Good luck with your decision.

I will be interested to see if you stick by your plan to limit yourself on the mods. The problem with this bike is that it is too easy to mod. If you want to avoid slipping down the mod slope, I recommend that you get the answer to your handguard question and never come back.

Chris

 

Hey marc11 - Welcome to the club!

And speaking of "club", I've heard that some people have smashed out there handlebar plugs, but my club wasn't big enough. I ended up drilling and tapping the plugs to mount a pair of Acerbis Dual-Sport handguards (integrated turn signals, but no aluminum insert).

Drilling and tapping was a PITA, since the welded-in plugs were pretty long - about 1.5 inches or slightly over. You have to drill the first 3/4" to fit the Acerbis bolt shaft diameter, so at least that saves some tapping. There's still about 3/4" or so of threads so the handguards mount pretty solid. I had to modify the Acerbis plugs (2 piece wedge style) by cutting off the inner part (the wedge) so that the outer mounting flange (the part that the handguard itself comes in contact with) sticks outside the handgrip. It ends up sitting on the plug's spot welds, but filing a couple notches helps it sit nicer.

I did the clutch side first, and didn't have to remove the handgrip. The throttle side was a bit trickier. You have to remove the throttle assembly completely, then drill & tap the plug just like the other side. The tricky part is the part where the Acerbis mounting plug goes through the twist grip. VERY IMPORTANT:

THE THROTTLE TWIST GRIP MUST MOVE FREELY WITHOUT BINDING OR TOUCHING THE HANDGUARD MOUNTING HARDWARE!!!

Having said that, make a hole in both the throttle tube and rubber grip that's larger than the Acerbis mounting plug shaft diameter. I had to enlarge the hole even a bit more because the weld-in plug was not perfectly centered, and the Acerbis mounting plug was not concentric with the throttle tube. When you cut the wedge portion off the Acerbis mounting plug, be careful not to cut it too short, otherwise it will squeeze the throttletube/hand grip. Also, because of the spot welds on the plug, care must be taken to file notches in the mounting plug so that it fits nicely on top of the weld-in plug. It's better to cut it too long than too short ... that way the worst thing that can happen is there's a larger gap between the throttle grip and the end of the mounting plug.

The throttle side handguard had to be cut-out a bit for the hydraulic front brake line to poke through. I used a Dremel tool for major material removal, then an Xacto knife for final trimming. The plastic is hard, but can be carved ... just take your time and be careful.

The standard brackets for mounting the gaurds near the steering head work pretty well. They are soft aluminum and need to be stretched open in order to put on the handlbars. I still have the stock handlebars, and there was enough room just inside the cross-bar weld for a clean mounting. The brackets won't squeeze back to their original spacing after having been stretched open, so I used channel lock pliers to hold them closed while I slipped the handguard on and inserted the mounting bolt.

That's pretty much it for the handguards. I can go into some details about the turn signal wiring if you're interested.

It takes a little patience, but it can be done and comes out very clean and solid. I haven't dumped my bike since installing them, so I can't give testamony to how "dirt-worthy" they are. (I'm hoping that its the same thing as washing your car causes it to rain ... now that I have handguards, I won't need handguards! )

Good luck, and let us know how you make out!

Mike

 

It sounds like you don't want to do this, and it is an extra expense so I don't blame you, but after reading a bit about how weak the stock bars are (supposedly, I have no experience with breaking them), I just opted to replace them right off the bat. If you spend most of your time offroad, you may want to get some more opinions on using the stock bars. I didn't want to regret it later, in the middle of some ride, when I'm miles from anything. Anyway, after buying some ProTaper KX style bars, I opted for the Aceribis Sport Ralley 2s, which look good and offer the optional wind spoiler to help with cold air management - a plus for me as I spend a good bit of time on highway.

My opinion...

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I ordered up a set of Acerbis Rally Pro's and a set of the spoilers for use in cold weather...which will be here any day now in the NE and I pretty much ride all year round (except the track bike of course).

Seems like I have a few ways to get these on, none seem that hard, which is good to know.

As for the mods...well, we'll see. Right now I just want to get some protection on the bike and get it more dirty.

 

Once you start the install on the handguards, take your time and you might find that you have to "tweak" the bends just a bit to make them fit correctly. After installing several sets of handguards, about the only time I did not find it necessary to do some bending to make them fit was when I installed a set of Moose handguards on a pair of Moose handlebars. You can buy the Moose handlebars for $16.95 for steel and #34.95 for aluminum. Might make your job just a bit easier.

 

ok wait.. moose bars for under 20$?? im guessing they are good quality? i thaught good bars were expensive.... maybe ill get some bars now too....

 

does anyone have the moose bars? id like to get them, but i dont know how to go about telling which ones i need... any help here? if someone has them let me know... i like the green bars..

 

Check them out right here.

 

thanks alot marty, now it looks like ill be ordering moose bars, new green grips, and the folding mirrors.... does it ever stop?