Did you cut your balls off | GTAMotorcycle.com

Did you cut your balls off

timtune

Well-known member
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your levers to fit barkbusters?

I installed moose racing guards on my KLR that were meant to fit a DRZ. I had to twist them up a bit (20deg easy) in order to clear the levers. An unscheduled get off this summer showed me the levers arn't fully protected this way.

I'm considering nipping the balls off the ends to make them fit within the guards. I know the balls are supposed to protect you from being impaled but I can't see that happening if the levers are behind the guards.

Thoughts??
 
My Honda XR400R has the balls removed to fit behind Ascerbis hand guards.

I figure I'm in more danger of being impaled by a tree than my levers in that scenario.
 
I cut mine off when I put my Acerbis Rally Pro handguards on my DRZ.
 
You could also try moving the clutch and brake clamps inwards on the bar a bit. You might need to remove small plastic locator pins on the switch clusters that fit into little holes on the bar
 
The balls on the levers also prevent your fingers from slipping off the end of lever. Sounds like you just need to move the clutch perch/brake around to fit as Ash said. The brush guards aren't really meant to protect your levers from a crash either, they're meant to protect your hands.
 
I'll third moving your levers in more.

And as Dricked said, they're hand guards not lever protectors.
 
You could position the guards (more or less) horizontally and rotate the levers down to a position where you have a good position standing or sitting.

As mentioned the ball keeps your hand from slipping off. At one time I broke a clutch lever and decided to clean it up and leave it on as it was now just a little short. In the end I found that it would occasionally slip from my grip, so I installed a shorter lever with ball.
 
I've had the guards on for some time now. They're rotated up about 20 degrees and maybe I turned the levers down a bit too (can't recall)

I did read somewhere that the guards should only be angled up 10 degrees. I'd like to get them back closer to that.

Between switchgear, lever mounts, mirrors and the inner guard mounts I don't think I can move things in. Sounds like I wouldn't be the first to off the balls.

To the first two posters who nipped them, did you find any grief not having them?
 
I've had the guards on for some time now. They're rotated up about 20 degrees and maybe I turned the levers down a bit too (can't recall)

I did read somewhere that the guards should only be angled up 10 degrees. I'd like to get them back closer to that.

Between switchgear, lever mounts, mirrors and the inner guard mounts I don't think I can move things in. Sounds like I wouldn't be the first to off the balls.

To the first two posters who nipped them, did you find any grief not having them?

No, honestly I don't even notice they are gone now. I really didn't want to cut them when I first got my handguards, but I didn't want to rotate them up either, so I picked the option that looks the best and provides the best protection. I'm going to swap to a RSC Clutch at some point anyways, so I wasn't too concerned with cutting the left side.
 
I always cut mine off. In 20+ years, never an issue.
 
The motocross club I race with is trying to get people not to run cut levers. But of course that is a different thing because most people there don't run hand guards.
 
No, otherwise I'd have to change my Handle here.

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I'm not seeing why you'd have to, unless they're the wrong ones, or they're installed incorrectly, there's tons of clearance on my bike.
 
Smaller balls than average it seems
 
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No, otherwise I'd have to change my Handle here.

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I'm not seeing why you'd have to, unless they're the wrong ones, or they're installed incorrectly, there's tons of clearance on my bike.

It would appear you didn't have to cut them off because you are still running the bar-ends. Most people (me included) take the bar ends off when you put on handguards. I get when the bar ends come on the bike to begin with, but I don't think you need both. Plus having your bike be a couple inches narrower is better, and looks better imo.
 
The balls on the levers also prevent your fingers from slipping off the end of lever. Sounds like you just need to move the clutch perch/brake around to fit as Ash said. The brush guards aren't really meant to protect your levers from a crash either, they're meant to protect your hands.

They do both.

Ask me how I know.
 
Well they can do both but the primary purpose is to protect your hands.

IMHO their primary purpose is to prevent objects such as tree branches from smacking your levers and or hands. My old KLR would hit the brake lever and nearly pitch me off the bike or ram in the clutch at importune moments.

Trials riders on antique bikes would forever be busting levers when they fell so they would back off the clamps so the levers would rotate on the bars rather than snap off in the middle of an event.

I broke levers on my KLR regularly (luckily they are dirt cheap and in stock everywhere) and rode from Maine to PEI before I got replacements, so I mounted a set of used ascerbis guards, and never broke another lever.

On a side note, they did a great job of protecting my hands during various get offs and one front tire blow out. ;)

YMMV
 
I thought that leaving the pinch bolts on the brake/clutch was common knowledge! Mine are loose enough that if I give them a good whack with the palm of my hand I can move them. Maybe that's why I don't break levers often? That and I prefer not to fall.
 

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