Stop Putting These on Your Street Bike!!
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2024
- Back in 2011 the head honchos in the motorcycle racing world introduced a new part that would change motorcycling forever! This part while small and seemingly unimportant offers quite a bit of safety with zero negative impact on the rider or motorcycle!! Insert-The Brake Lever Guard. Many believe this guard is to protect your brake lever from snapping off when you hit something or lay the bike down out on the street. However, contrary to this common misconception, the brake lever guard is simply installed to prevent the brake lever from being actuated with out input from the rider of the motorcycle. When you're in traffic out on the racetrack it is common to bump into other racers out there with you, if one of those racers accidentally hit your lever and stopped your bike, both you and the riders behind you would be wildly surprised as you all tumble out of the race! So for this reason the lever guard was introduced, not for lever protection but to prevent accidental brake use!!
I gotta disagree, they are useful on street bikes on both sides. they offer some level of crash protection. and yes, you are correct that they are more expensive than the actual lever itself, but sometimes an easy street crash or fall can result in a broken lever and you will not be able to ride home even though the bike is fully functioning. with a lever guard, that easy fall / crash will not impact you getting home.
That is a good point I hadn't quite thought of, I think in my head I often forget about the low speed lay downs that still have a lot of impact force. Most of the wrecks I've seen have still left somewhat functional just ground off levers, so that didn't quite cross my mind. Good feedback thank you!
@@workingclasscustoms Agree with @smithshotracing ... Peace of mind knowing the guard will break, but not force me to wait for a new Galespeed lever (because of course I chose hard to replace levers...) is worth the cost. I have fancy Bonamici guards on my Aprilia, but I installed a set of Chinesium AliExpress guards on my buddy's ZX-4RR recently that only cost $36 for the pair. At that price, they're totally worth it. But also... They look sweet.
Is that with or without frame sliders? I ask because I cant recall levers being broken on a slow speed fall or a tip over when there are frame sliders. My R1 went end over end at Barbers. The bike was destroyed but the levers were still good without any lever guards. I know this is just my experience but was curious so I was asking.
@@workingclasscustomsthis might be off topic but I just dropped my bike trying to get it off the stand, mirror broke off but my amazon lever gaurd saved my bike (in my opinion) from further damage, fairings stayed safe too due to how it fell!
The goal of the video was to put out some info on what the origin of the part is and why they're required for racing. I do agree that they can absolutely provide other protection in other areas, but I'll also stand behind the fact that I think things like frame sliders and axle sliders should come first. They do definitely look cool, and can for sure provide protection for normal falls and street use! (Aprilia just has stupid prices imagine that)
2006 is when Loris Capirossi crashed involving several riders going down is was set then in motion the brake guard was brought in to prevent a crash of that nature since then it has evolved in protecting the hands from hard parts getting smashed so In turn it helps on either street or race.
@@bradjean4486 good to know! Thanks for the info!!
I hate to disagree with you, based on personal experience, and being a street rider for many years they do protect your levers.
If I said that they don't protect the levers that was not my intention. I understand that they definitely can do that, it is in the name afterall. That being said I think the true original intended purpose is different from what most people think so I wanted to shed some light on that. Also I think there are other forms of bike protection that should come first on a bike.
Even for a track day rider maybe protecting front brake lever from contact on track isn’t a bad idea.
Street rider in Utah lane filtering is 100% legal. Maybe rider doesn’t want front brake lever to contact car side mirror??
Not a bad thing, to have front break lever “insurance”. Even to prevent a low speed tip over lane filtering.
Thanks for providing options are just voices in our heads. They have no real world value. Even from a hard core racer as yourself 👍
Those are some good points, there are definitely some good reasons to throw one on a non race bike! Intention of the video was simply to spread some awareness of their original intended purpose and when they are actually required on a motorcycle.
And you don't need spoilers on slow cars but ppl do it because they like the way it looks, who gives af if they are useless or not, do what you like
@@Brimitch-ce9wm definitely a fair point!
@workingclasscustoms meant no disrespect at all. Your right as well.....
@@Brimitch-ce9wm I didn't pull any out of it, I've definitely always preached that one doesn't have to appreciate someone else's style, we're all different and like different things. Respect the build! The goal of the video was to shed a little light on the original purpose of the part that people are installing incase they didn't know.
A long needed video. Well done sir!
Thank you!
Bikes have bar end weights for a reason.. So if you have an older bike and have to fit a lever guard on the brake then unless you have a weight which is the same as the lever guards bar end then you need to fit it to help stop the vibration through the bars. As for prices, there are a lot at MUCH lower prices than you paid. On my Honda NSR250RK (RK stands for Race Kit and was built by HRC as a pure production looking race bike.) In the UK you have to run brake lever guards and this means I have to remove the HRC bar end weight so to make sure when I set up the bars and levers I want them to match to be sure it is set how I want on track. On my race pit bike we have to run hand guards on BOTH sides anyway.
As for the road. in the UK filtering (lane splitting for you Americans) is legal and having those guards can help if you live in a large town or city.. But to be honest, most are used on track bikes and if you remove 300grams of bar end weight on one side to then replace it with 100 grams of trackday compliant bar guard then it does effect how the bike feels, so it is best to match the weight on both sides.
Awesome tips and input, there is definitely a lot to be said about the small details like weight balancing on both sides of the bike!! I do recognize that the lever guards can absolutely still be useful out there on the street, I think I just see some major misconceptions in why they exist and why people put them on their bikes. Thanks for the feedback and input though, great to have information like this for the other viewers to be able to see!!!
I have one on my track 636 but I leave it on when I convert it back to my weekend street bike. Honestly ya it does look cool and I’ve seen people do way dumber stuff… why would you tell people not to put them on street bikes? Honestly I’ve gotten closer to getting tangled up with another riders bars on the street than the track lol. Squids don’t respect lines or care about a clean pass.
These are some good points, personally I just think there is other protection you can spend your money on first, and I think there are a lot many people that just use them for crash protection. If you don't have frame sliders and axle sliders or engine case covers the good condition lever isn't going to matter as much when a bike is totaled.
I race with them on both sides. Clutch and brake. Saves my pinky finger from getting caught under the bar in a low side. First low side the pavement ground my pinky down to the knuckle. Now the last 2 low sides my fingers were all good and even my gloves survived. But yes, look kinda silly on street specially when not paired with the other necessary crash protection
That's some good input! I've left the bike pretty quickly on both my low sides so haven't run into that issue, but glad you're still racing!!
@@workingclasscustoms it only takes once. 🤣
@@jeffo_511 yeah a ground down finger sounds hard to grow back! I might just have to add a clutch lever guard...
@@workingclasscustoms 😂🤷♂️ better safe than sorry. Mine never grew back correctly. lol. So lesson learned for me. But I am surprised I don’t see a lot of other racer with both. 🤷♂️. Maybe I just fall weird. 😂😂😂
Gotta keep your hands up lol
I have a lever guard on one side just like men wear earrings on one ear. I guess it's the closest thing to an earring for our bikes. It's a fashion statement. It probably doesn't have any function on the road, but so does earrings on men (or women for that matter). They're not necessarily expensive too. You only have to know where and what brands to look for. I got mine for $17.
I can absolutely always respect doing something because you like the style! Especially when someone is willing to admit it, so thank you! I am curious if you knew their original purpose though?
The brake lever guard stop your hand slipping of the end of you bars and getting ground away because it got trapped your bars, when you have dropped the bike. this is the second funtion that the video maker did not realise or mention.
@@peterkeller9030 thank you for that feedback!!
My clutch lever bent and it had a lever guard on so no it wont always protect it
Good to know, thank you!
The companies do be making alot of money off them
True that!!
mmmmm, no.
@@umbre420 good feedback, thank you
Your next video should be on brake cooling ducts 😄😆 who needs those on the street or even a trackday lol.
Well you got me there! 😂 Luckily they were on the bike when I bought it. I do believe the brochure said something about 30% brake fade reduction, because I definitely brake hard enough to require that! 😉
@@workingclasscustoms Man I didn't know that lol. Hey were already on the bike LOL gotta use them.
@@joyfulpyro2589 that's what I'm saying! Joys of buying a used bike from someone that was very obviously fast enough to warrant all the carbon fiber and bike upgrades! 😂😂
@@workingclasscustoms 😄😅🤣 a win is a win
True that!
"very quickly, very suddenly, very unknowingly," ... very demure. Sorry, I couldn't help it
Lol all good!
and BTW, I think you found the secrete to getting views and comments on UA-cam... make a vid telling people to "stop" doing something, then you getting thousands of views telling you why they should not "stop" doing the think you told them "stop" doing.. Good luck on the growth of the channel, I like your content, im trying to grow mine as well..
I just might make a "stop" video just to test out my theory. 🤣
@@smithshotracing it is definitely fun to watch people respond when you call them out. Especially since it seems like the racers in the comments do agree with me for the most part
The real purpose for lever guards isn't so much crash protection as to prevent this. ua-cam.com/video/j5r4Y3l6-nc/v-deo.htmlsi=Ai7UzC95UHgfXugU
Agree completely!
OMG This video was not useful at all. Like we teaching common sense now 😂
I also thought it was common sense, sadly after some of my experiences and conversations it seems to not quite be as common of knowledge.
Common sense is only common to those who have it lol. Some just need to be taught. Whats common to a plumber is may not be common to an electrician and vice versa. Many who ride never do a trackday, a class or even watch racing. l see what you are saying though. Many of today's motovloggers use them so the uninformed buy them.
Clutch lever protectors and stealth mirrors are the two biggest "I'm a douche" flags you can fly.
Big facts!
You forgot No Mirrors too….
"Oh I can just look behind me"
Just stealth mirrors