I purchased the Polaris Lock and Ride Hand Guards, Part #2874871. They are color matched to the Polaris plastic colors so I ordered the blue ones to match my sportsman 500. These are the non-bar end type, in other words they don’t have the aluminum bark buster bracing that attaches to the bar ends. When they arrived I pulled everything out and made sure all the parts were there. I was short four 10-32X1” bolts. Chalk this up to a negative mark because the closest dealer/hardware store is 20 miles away. Anyway I stopped by the dealer to see if he had some bolts and he did. He gave me the four bolts I needed. I have a great dealer but bad Polaris quality control. Now it is off to install the guards. The instructions are clear and have good photographs for helping you see how the parts to go together. The guards are very wide at 6 3/8” and offer great hand protection against the debris and elements. The color is a good match and they even have the silver metal flakes. The mounting brackets are made of a plastic material but seem to be strong. I am sure in a rollover these brackets will break. Polaris doesn’t list the brackets separately so, hopefully they will offer them separately soon.
The install is pretty simple and straight forward. You first attach the guards to the mounts. Leave them slightly loose for final adjustments later. On the left side (sitting on the ATV) the bolts that attach the guard to the mount end up being under the brake lever so make sure you install this side with the nuts on top. This way you can get a wrench in to tighten them up after the final adjustments. The left guard is mounted to the bars by removing the two bolts which hold the brake housing and replacing them with longer ones supplied in the kit. The guard mounts attach underneath the brake housing and is secured by using two nuts that are supplied with the kit. A nice plus is that all the nuts supplied are nylon lock nuts so you don’t have to worry about them coming loose. There is plenty of clearance between the guard and the brake lever.
The right side is attached by removing the bottom portion of the throttle assembly mount. The guard mount replaces this bottom piece. I wouldn’t discard this piece because if you change guards in the future you will need this piece to put back on. This guard is mounted closer to the bars since it doesn’t have to clear the brake lever. To me a guard must have as much form as it does function. To match the left side I moved the right guard out by using the outer mounting hole and then buying a spacer to place on the second bolt so I could tighten the second bolt and reduce the movement of the guard if it hit something. Once the mounts are tightened up you adjust the guards and finish tightening up the four bolts which attach the guard to the mount. The outer bolt mount is adjustable to allow the guards to be moved in/out for proper fit. Once the guards are tightened they are pretty solid and hold their position well. It will take a strong hit to push these guards in against your hands/levers.
As I stated in the beginning the guards are wide and offer great protection from the wind, and any debris thrown up at you or any limb that stretches out on the trail. They are easy to install and only take a few minutes to put on. The downside is that the way they are mounted you have no vertical adjustment unless you adjust the complete brake and throttle assembly. You also have to keep track of the lower mount on the throttle assembly and the two bolts for the brake assembly. I think Polaris offers a great guard for the average trail rider. The racers will want something a little stronger. I also think for such a great guard the mounting system stinks and could be better thought out to offer much better adjustability and keep the stock throttle and brake components. There is plenty of room on the bars to mount them next to the brake and throttle housings and leave these components alone. This way if the mounts break in a crash you aren’t left stranded because the brake and throttle assemblies are dangling from the bars. Overall on a scale of one to 5 I would give the guards a 5 and the mounting system a 2 1/2.

 

At least the instructions were right. Installed a Winch that was 'prewire' for the 2005 Sportsman and the brushguard from Polaris, but instructions sucked, weren't written correctly.

As far as missing bolts, I had extra's in the Winch install, not all as specified in the parts list and I was missing 6 carriage bolts and 6 washers in the brushguard kit.

As far as the 'lock and ride', how is your handguards 'lock and ride', can you remove them?

I have a Windshield sitting here that is supposed to be lock and ride, but I haven't installed it yet. I also have the 'lock and ride' parts that I ordered separately because I assumed they didn't come with the windshield. I'm wondering if it will be easily removable....

 

From what I understand about the lock and ride system the hand guards do not fit this description. The hand guards use bolts and nylon lock nuts. There are no quick releases that one could remove them or re-install them in just a few seconds. As I mentioned the right mount actually replaces the bottom mount of the throttle. You would have to have that bottom mount handy to take off the guards. If these are supposed to be quick release then they had better re-think the whole mounting assembly.

 

i just got some to put on my 400 no go but they fit my 500 so all is okay

 

Read Polaris's website and it says you can remove/remount them in 15 seconds....

handguards

 

i dont think they will come off that quick

 

Unless they desinged a different mount that I didn't get these things are not comming off in fifteen second even if you had an air ratchet.

 

I bought a set for each of my wife and I's EFI's, they were real easy to install. my kit came with both a set of short bolts and a set of longer bolts to accomodate a winch switch which uses small spacers to clear the housing. I was not missing any parts and actually had extras. I thought the "lock n' ride" guards were going to be like a quick release accessory that I could take on and off. I don't see how they are lock n ride when they bolt on with hardware. I have went trail/woods riding since putting them on and am glad I have them cause they sure do stop the mud/water and branches from hitting my hands. overall I am happy with them, I probably wouldn't take them off anyways if they were quick release. I got them from my dealer at their cost so I am not complaining.