Last night I put Spider Diamond Gel Grips on my Vinson. What a pain in the neck. The grips are about 2 sizes smaller in diameter than the handlebars. After about 90 minutes I finally got both grips on. In the process, Of course I had to remove the outside screwed-on handlebar cap. My question is, should I put the cap back on? The grips are not made to take a cap, but do I need the extra length on the bars?

 

Your choice. The caps are to prevent the ends from getting banged up. I put 909 Masher aluminum hanguards (like barkbusters) on before I even rode my Vinson. I've used these type handguards on every dirt bike/ATV I've owned since smashing my hand during a close encounter w/ a tree while racing a H-scramble. You'd be suprised how beat up the plastic roost deflectors are from limbs, rocks etc. A wise investment, IMHO. If you want to put the caps on, simply use an exact-o and cut along the i.d. of the bars. If not, I'd still hang on to 'em to put on for re-sale.

 

Holy crud! 909 Masher Handguards are $80. I've thought about handguards, but that's a pretty steep price. Do you have a better source? The plastic ones are $30. How big a difference is there in the peformance? Obvioulsy aluminum will stop the really brutal stuff better. But how often does one encounter such knarly attacks on the handguards?

 

Dennis Kirk has a lot more to select from. I believe they have Moose or Acerbis in the $30-40 range. Like I said, I bought these when I bought the quad, the dealer gave me a deal, for the obvious. After I got in the market for access's, I requested a DK catalog and have ordered tons of stuff from them.