Some Truths: Full Wrap vs Flag Style Hand Guards for your dirt bike
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
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Bark Buster's were the original hand protectors from back in the day circa 1984.
Yep, the original and the best.. and from Australia ! My first set was purchased in the 80's.
I ride thick woods on the east coast, full wraps all day. Cycra Pro Bend FTW, i feel naked without them!
Same brother...same
cant blame you just broke a finger to a bush cause i had flags on switching back to full wrap now.
Out east I rode in smaller trees and loved the way a sapling would bend out of the way with full wraps . Living out west riding in large trees farther apart and riding high desert I use enduro engineering flags . Flags let handle bars flex and you don’t bounce off the trail as bad if you clip a large tree.
Something to think about too is flag style hand guards will give a little, so if you graze the side of a tree your bars won’t get thrown out of your hands or a wonky way.
Got my pinky pinched between the flag guard and handlebars once like that. Only a small cut and bruising, didn't break any bones. Been using full wrap since then.
This is exactly why I run flags. They also disperse hard impact well
East WA, North Idaho - I’d have broken my fingers/hands multiple times over the the years without full wrap hand guards
Central Idaho to Southern Idaho - not one injury to my hand with flag style handguards.
Why? Because I look in front of me not down...😅
@@MuhNameHey Mr perfect.
It's an accident.
It called an accident because it's an ACCIDENT.
I always ran bark busters. They’ve saved my hands many times and I’ve never broken a single lever when I had bark busters installed.
One day they’ll snap your wrists when yo go over the bars….
@@Ozfreerider_adventures possible but unlikely. I haven’t ridden a dirt bike in 5 years, so I’m not too worried about it haha
If your levers are positions in towards carer of the bar as far as you can they shouldn’t break anyway . If you hit something on a trail or have a big G out that blows your hand off bars your are will go down through it and it can end up a BAD scenario . And the filled wrap ones mean you get shit all in your throttle tube ever the grip is cut off . With firm flag guards you can hit a tree pretty hard and not even touch your fingers .
I love how this guy just tells everything how it is 😂
Full wraps - possible broken wrist
Flags - possible finger amputation
I like Enduro Engineering full wrap guards. They must do a good job because the logos are almost completely worn away 😅
I’ve had both I prefer the full wrap though I ride bush 90% of the time I know it’s got its risks but I’m good with it I’ve gotten my fingers pinched and that hurts . I’ve never knock on wood even come close to my hands going in the holes when I fall or crash yet anyways . Lol
You don’t have to have your hand come off the bar to break your wrist. I got ejected to the right and bike went left. My body turned 180 degrees but fingers hooked under the bar and wrist folded over the handguard. Luckily did not break my wrist but that was the last time I rode with them. There are some amazing options for flags. Like u mentioned sxs and also beduro are unreal. We have 6 sets in our crew. And not one broken lever or flag or anything yet.
Barkbusters Aussie made and by far the best wrap around guards
yep 🦘they changed the enduro game…plastic hand guards never lasted more thn one off and usually you’d break a lever or damage your throttle…let alone wack your hand against a rock or tree…
@@H3avyHaul3r I have never broken a set, they're also more compact then the acerbis ones too.
Personally, I don't like the cycra crm. I think the hcm is a better shape. The hump in the crm is supposed to help clear brake and clutch lines. I don't want the extra clamp, either.
Love videos like this. I know you have older videos on certain topics, but I love when people do multiple videos on a subject because their views can always change with experience.
I like flags for the flexibility on trees. In saying that I'm running full wrap at the moment...haha
Agreed. You don’t realize how much they bounce you off tree’s till you go back to flags.
Flag style or wrap around is equivalent to 2t VS 4t subject!
The answer is "molecule flag style hand guards"! Best of both worlds!
Man its like what if someone made wrap arounds that spun so you wouldnt break your arms. Oh wait, they do. The oem wrap arounds made of plastic that never pop out and you can tighten so that they easily rotate in a crash. It boggles my mind why nobody runs them
I’m not using any dirt bike, but I need hand guard to prevent debris from behind the trucks/big vehicles when I’m on a trip…
Is that a 2025 XCW in the shop ? 🤔
Orange seat is 2024
I ran both full wrap and flag style but I much prefer the flag style (perch mounted). I simply feel better with them on, have more room (maybe imaginary) to handle the bike, it's easier to work on the controls, I can grip the bar in a sorta sideways way when I need to, it's way easier to manouver the bike in very tight spaces with them on, I think it's way harder to bend the bar with them, etc. It's been two years since I switched and have, despite everyone telling me so, never broke a lever or hurt my hands, while somehow friends who run FW have done both, go figure... I have the controls tightened quite loosely where I can turn them with moderate force by hand, I run good bar ends, and I learned to drop the bike in a more controlled fashion, and I have zero issues riding in tight and very wooded areas. One thing where full wrap wins is when you drop the bike into soft ground it doesn't get stuck as deeply and it can sometimes be easier to pull the bike up with full wraps just because there's more places where you can grab it. Anyway, try both versions yourselves and see what fits for you rather than getting blindly convinced by dirtbike dogmas.
The Acerbis X-Ultimate Handguards are really durable and are great at deflecting. Seems like two types of riders, those that try avoiding (flags) trees and those who plan on full on punching trees (full wrap). Change your style and use flags ❤
IMO you missed the biggest benefit of a beefy set of flags - they don’t jar your bars nearly as much when you do smack a tree because they have a built-in amount of flex. Much safer IMO. I’ve had some hard tree hits with my enduro engineering flags and never once did they flex back far enough to touch my hand.
What are you suggest for new riders? Will try to do more open cross country riding, and I assume I’ll be dropping the bike more, and I don’t want to break levers and damage components, but also don’t want to break my wrists.
I'm 5'3". I drop my bike multiple times every ride usually if it's technical terrain. Cycra full wrap have held up super good for me.
If your run your levers in properly which most don't and have bar end protectors, then full wraps are totally irrelevant when it comes to dropping a bike
Two more cons to full wraps -
- They like to move/rotate/bend when you hit the ground. I’ve had to get my tools out for various handguards on the trail more than anything else. It’s one of the reasons pros don’t run them, they don’t want to have to be fixing that in a race.
- They will deflect HARD if you brush a tree. I’ve gotten shot off the trail or into another tree quite a few times because of this.
I’ve ran only full wraps for years, all brands on all sorts of bikes. Made the switch to SXS burly guards last year and am not going back. They are plenty stiff to prevent my hands from getting hit and keep my levers safe. At the same time, they absorb the hits instead of transferring them to the bars and sending me off the trail. Because of this I can run them further out and my fingers (especially the pinky) actually take a lot less abuse when I brush against trees or saplings. I ride/race pretty much exclusively east coast singletrack and hard enduro terrain, plenty of barely bar width trees.
SXS are the bomb!
Can you run the full wrap guards on the varg? Any issues with the throttle side?
Full wrap guards snapped my wrist completely in half last year, never again.
Ive had both. Open hand guards are the way to go. much safer and less stiff.
I prefer flags, hands down. But when I was starting off and slower full wraps were better at that point.
I prefer to have a lot of protection on my hands and they would get stuck too easy in the BBs so I run the open ones.
Flags for me with bar ends 100%👍
Yep my best friend clipped a tree and he broke his arm ugly style.
I'm not billy bolt so I run full wrap guards lol
I put teflon under my full wrap guard clamps and loosen the end and wrap bolts a bit. I started doing this to keep them from bending my bars but after a short time realized this also allowed the guards and levers to slip and rotate out of the way on hard ground impacts. Idk if this will reduce the potential for injury in a majority of the risky situations but I like to believe it would.
For us supermoto guys i use full wrap acerbis rally pro. Tough as shit. They aren't the best looking but i crash hard a lot. Knock on wood never broken a lever, bent a bar, the guards bend. But you bend them back. I do single track and trail riding too. I've had other full wrap handguards that look great, ended up being expensive junk.
I ran the stock flags on my KTM and switched to full wraps. For the normal enduro riding I do, I don’t mind the rigidity of the full wrap until we do longer days and dual sport rides. The best middle ground I have found is the stock KTM flags with the KTM power parts plastic completer pieces. Same thing that is found on the XCW hard enduro/Erzberg models. Great option for anyone running brembo brakes and clutch. Or braketec/magura guys buy the Husqvarna versions.
I prefer flags 👍
I had wrap around on my motard, daily commuter basically, never actually had use for them. I might do flag style just to stop bugs, debris and block some wind for colder rides. My XR will probably get use out of the wrap around type.
I run oem flags on my 2023 300xc and full wraps on my 2017 fe501 super moto.
In my mind I like flags, but once I’m moving I don’t really notice a difference
Have you ever tried the fastway handguards from pro moto billet? They’re my favorite because they attach to the handlebar clamp. They leave a lot of bar space available for mirrors, GPS, phone or whatever. I am currently running some made by Zeta that attach the same way because my bike came with them, but I prefer the fastway. I’d be interested in hearing your thought on the ones that attach to the handlebar clamp, not just the bar itself.
Thanks Kyle, I have been riding with a brake lever that is shaped like a U from dropping it. I think I am going to go with the Flags and do the teflon tape trick on the levers.
watching your videos has all but sold me on ktm 300 xcw!! keep making videos!!
Sweepstakes? But you said the previous one was the last one. Oh and the one before that too. You will need to make a lot of commission sales from RM to pay for the Varg, good luck!
We all run full wraps in my group. Those of us that didn’t at first learned to very quickly.
I was riding some tight single track a couple of weeks ago and had blood spurting out of fingers nails on both hands. Ordered some bark busters same day.
i rarely ride through trees, but i still prefer pro bend full wraps. Most of my falls happen at slow speeds and I often use the guard as a handle to lift and/or drag my bike down to where I can remount to repeat the process of failure.
Full wrap around is nice when the drunk guy in a SxS hits you and sends you off the trail, ask me how I know
I've seen a couple pros run flag style because the wrap around deflect off of trees more than flags do. I still run wrap around tho 😂
Love the cycra crm probends... have to buy the cycra bar pad to fit over the bars...
Good video. Ive always had bark busters on every bike. I ride mostly in CA.
I ride full wraps, but do mostly Enduro. I'd like to try flags sometime
if you aren’t running full barkbuster style handguards you aren’t serious…protects you and your bike…
Fake news. Look at Hard Enduro guys or any other pro and see how many riders you see with them.
@@kurtheidelbach i can’t take hard enduro (trials on a dirtbike) seriously anyway, like i’m going to follow the throw your bike at the terrain crowd for tips…
The guys in Enduro GP don't run full wrap. It's my understanding that any fim sanctioned Enduro in Europe does not allow full wrap handguards. And I agree with you completely about hard Enduro. 👍👍
I only ride in the woods really. I go full bc location
SXS flags and their billet mount gives you the best of both
It's never been debatable for me. Full wrap hand guards only.
You obviously haven't made good contact with a set of full wrap and good contact with a set of quality flags for comparison or you definitely wouldn't say that.
If you don’t need wrap arounds you’re riding too slow and/or in too easy terrain. 😂
Full wraps protect your front brake lever from being grabbed by passing brush, etc. and throwing you down. Full wraps also better protect master cylinders and throttle housing (would have prevented Sexton crash).
😂😂😂😂😂 it would have prevented the crash? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
You should be running your levers properly adjusted in where that isn't a problem anyways LOL. And no it wouldn't have prevented Sexton's crash moron!
Crash was caused from stuck throttle caused by rock cracking throttle housing. Full wrap handguards generally protect entire throttle housing from roost.
Are you gonna have any more review videos or anything on the Beta 250rr?
Exactly. No content on it so far.
👍👍
As an east coast guy I hate full wraps because they will snatch the bars out of your hands if you clip a tree, or ping pong you into another tree. Flags let it slip by. Yes every now and then you’ll crush a pinky but it’s really not that bad.
Flags for the win!
Another tip is to replace the stock throttle tube with a Motion Pro nylon tube when running handguards. It's dirt cheap (like $7), indestructible, doesn't attract dirt from a static charge like the stock plastic so it's always smooth and easy, and it has a "pop out" end cap, so no cutting needed to install handguards. As for the handguards themselves, I have found that the basic models from Enduro Engineering and even budget brands like Tusk, seem to outlast the pricey brands like Cycra here in the eastern woods were we really put our handguards to use on every ride!
flag style CON: They mount directly to your clutch or brake assembly on your bars (see :58 sec in on this video) and when/if you drop it or hit something hard enough which riding hard enduro is bound to happen it will shatter the mount that holds your clutch or your front brake to your bars and KTM has a crappy design and you cant just replace the mount its cast into the clutch assembly or brake assembly so your stuck paying $250-$300 for a compete new one just because the mount broke.
but a PRO: I know have the Cycra full wraps and i own a Clake and will never own anything else on any of my bikes. One of the best investments made! Team clake!
Lol lots of models of flags that have its own perch. He even said it in the video. 😂😂😂
@@MuhName ya agreed, the factory ones suck though their mainly there as brush guards.
No, not true at all LOL. All sorts of high-quality flags that don't mount that way.
I don’t like wrap arounds anymore. Bent to many bars, broke my bar mounts, and damaged my triple from the added leverage from the wrap arounds.
I’ll run flags till I die.
standard full wrap hand guards broke both my wrists over the years.
The Cycra pro bend hand guards I've never had an issue. They are great!
Always save my bike from damage, never bend or warp, flags always stay on.
Heard this from a guy at work also.....hmmm 🤔
Maybe I am doing something wrong, the full wrap around guards always mess with my throttle when I go down. The enduro engineering and sxs seem to be the best non wrap around guard.
That should never happen. Try moving the throttle assembly inboard just a tiny bit (like a mm or 2). Also, make sure there is no rubber from the grip hanging over the edge of the throttle tube that might be rubbing on the guard or bar end.
@@40rpt When you go down with wrap around guards don't you also get a ton of dirt and sand in the throttle tube? I had mine start sticking after a get off in the sand. I appreciate the advice though, ill have to try it if i decide to do full wraps agin.
@@2uzfe4x43 Hmmm, I never have those issues. Maybe the throttle tube I use helps with that. Once of the first things I normally do when I get a bike is replace the stock throttle tube with a nylon motion pro tube (it's like $7). It's indestructible and has an end cap that just pops off for hand guard installation (no cutting). Since it's not plastic, it doesn't develop a static charge that can make dirt stick. It's so cheap it might be worth trying to see if it helps. Good luck!
Can confirm, my thumb caught my full wrap handguard last year and violently detached my UCL from my thumb
I had no idea about the injuries on the full wrap. My son is still new and tips over a lot on his KLX140 and I’ve replaced the levers and throttle tubes and figured I’d protect them. I’ll run nothing and happily replace levers and tubes instead of a nasty injury.
I found that I hit more trees with full wraps. I cut 1 inch off my handlebars and I hit way less trees. We have some tight trees/doorways in some of the local races. The flag style are great for brush.
didnt think about the injury part. yeah not running full wraps anymore. coming off the bike tomorrow. i like my hands and arms😭😭
you can effectively break your wrists on the levers…they are only a few degrees below where you’d run “full wrap around” barkbusters
@@H3avyHaul3r i run asv breakaways so not very likely
You break those levers just as easy..it’s when you go against the break away that breaks them like plastic, easy as a stock lever on a tip over or tree rub..I know, I trashed 5 in one season when I ran xc3 pro 125 gncc..they are nice when they fold away but not when they jam a tree or rock against the break away using anything other than a full wrap bark buster..
@@Yamaha38XCRacer i dont race xc only motocross and singletrack. i wreck alot not trying to break an arm on full wraps. already took them off
Also, a con of full wraps is it really doesn't support the proper riding position rider triangle. Especially if you are doing GNCC. The SXS hand guards are awesome. Yes, most people have their levers way too far out.
That literally makes no sense. The rider triangle is not affected by nor has anything to do with wraparound hand guards.
Not sure how that's true, full wraps are adjustable and don't interfere with your hands regardless. Maybe some cheeseball set that interferes with the levers, but a decent set is fully independent of the levers.
@@OtisFlint Has absolutely nothing to do with that. Apparently you don't know what the proper rider triangle is. Your hands actually grip more of the ends of the grips. They 100% interfere with them.
@@kurtheidelbach Oh right, i forgot all the top pros are flying around with the bar end in their palms...🤡