Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories BMW hand protectors on the Triumph..

Well, this was a fun experiment.

I suffer with a little pain in my hands, so anything I can do to mitigate the cold is a good thing. I have a set of heated grips on order, but not arrived yet.

In the meantime, and talking to a BMW rider down at Poole Quay last week, who was coping fine with thin summer gloves despite the current British cold snap, I took a look at the hand-protectors that are mounted on those bikes (This was one of the big trailie R1200 GS jobbies) - Which he reckons made more real-world difference than the heated grips, as all the cold wind is simply deflected away.

Well - they looked really easy to fit, and a quick look on ebay when I got home produced a set.. Fifty of your finest british beer-tokens later and they're in front of me.

They simply attach one end to the bar ends, and the other clamps straight to the bars.

On initial inspection, I thought I would be facing a bit of careful Dremel work in order to shape them round the indicators etc, but I thought I would offer them up first to see how much is needed.

Well - They're millimeter perfect on my America bars, with no mods at all. They simply popped into place. The clamp is not quite right - I'm sure its for a 22mm bar rather than a 25, but its very secure without even being done too tight.

The lever actions are clear - slightly more clearance on the clutch side, and very little on the brake side, but clear is clear - there's no conflict on the action at all.

I haven't taken her out yet, suffering with man-flu at the moment, but they are fitted securely and foresee no issues. A small amount of Dremel work might raise them a little, but I'll ride for a while before making that call.

Best of all - it took just minutes to fit both sets, at least one of which was finding the two allen keys! Will be very easy to remove at the end of the winter.

Here's some pics. Not traditional cruiser fare I'm sure, but do I care?! They look better than overmuffs!

Ben













Couldn't be much easier really.

Next jobs: Fitting the Scottoiler, the heated grips and the Tomtom rider :-)

Would they be easy enough to install if kept in saddlebags until needed? I can think of some situations I would have loved to have those.

Probably a squeezet in the bags, they're long, but might just about fit. Next time I take them off I'll try it and let you know!

I have a set just like that on my tiger. In conjunction with heated grips they make a huge difference in keeping your hands warm and dry.

I think they'll work just fine, and imho they don't look that out of place at all! Thanks for posting this, Ben.

They actually dont look too bad at all. Of course living in sunny Australia, I personally would have absolutely no use for them.

Would like to read your ride report when you get to it. I was reading when the early models had defective hand guards and they had to re-engineered. Looks like you got the new ones. Prices state-side are comparably to a new set of tires.

I talked to a guy who had hand protectors from a Vstrom on his bike. It wasn't a Triumph (can't remember what it was) but as he looked at my bike he said there should be no problem fitting them. I'd be curious to know if they run cheaper than BMW protectors.