OEM 2018 Handguards review

[Dennis the Swede]

When i bought my bike i had a 350km ride home from the seller. Leaving home weather was 18C and sunny. Well that didnt last. Riding home the weaher sucked with only 10C and heavy rain. Ever sins i have been looking for handguards the whole summer to prepair for colder weather. I didnt wanna mess to much with the MTs naked cool look. Not finding what i want i was starting to give up. But then i saw an ad on a forum for a pair of new OEM ones. I had discarded them earlier for the price but i really liked their style. I found it very hard to find any info about them on the internet so i thought i give them a review.

 

First, 240$ for a couple of handguards is very expensive and there are a lot cheaper options if you just want the protection handguards give. I managed to get them for 110$ witch i consider a good price. These had just been trial fitted so they where in mint condition. But as expensive as it gets for handguards.

Quality and finnish is beautiful with a matt black base and three resessed lines of silver. Giving them a cool look and makes them differ from other aftermarket ones. The mattblack works really nice with my matt black 2018. I also have a matt black wind screen and they look to belong together. The construction is sturdy with a metal frame. The form is unique and i havnt seen any other that is similar. The slim design makes them integrate well with the mt-07 overall design and i think they ad some agression to the look of the bike. A kind of Mad Max feel if you will. Well i like it.

Fitting them was a breeze and took about 10 min. You just unscrew your barends and install these in the hole. Then you unscrew a screw on one side and a bolt on the other to secure them to the lever base using your original screw and bolt. So nothing to complain about.

Function then? They look really slim and i was worried about how much wind they where going to deflect. The wind protection is ofcourse less than bulkier ones but they actually work. Wind is hitting me just on the top part of the knuckles so my fingers manage to keep warm on my daily highway commute of 20km. Coldest day sofar was 3C with windy micromrain so as bad as it gets if its not pouring. Sins they are built on a metalframe And feel very sturdy i would say impact protection also is very good compared to plastic ones. But thats something i hope i dont have to test.

So overall verdict. Really cool design and good quality. Expensive as fu.. and there are much cheaper ones with better wind deflection. They work well for my intended use and i think they look very nice compared to other handguards. So if money is of no object or if your vanity just declares theese are for you. You will not be disapointed.

I hope you guys enjoyed the reading. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Dennis the Swede