Hand Guards / Wind Deflectors

[joshbeverly]

How well do the OEM hand guards work for keeping cold air off of your hands? Are there aftermarket ones that are better for keeping the wind off your hands? I don't plan on riding off road much so I'm not worried about how durable they are. I have aftermarket bar ends that won't work with the OEM hand guards so I will have to buy those as well. I'm curious if there's a kit that had bar ends and the hang guards as opposed to buying OEM bar ends, hand guards, and the bigger wind deflectors that attach to them from Wunderlich.

[capt cf]

IMHO, not that great.  That said, I have no experience with the aftermarket on the XR.  I have had Barkbuster Storms on several of my adv bikes though and those worked pretty well.  I also have the Barkbuster BBZ covers and, although I haven't tried it, they look like they would go over the top of the stock guards on the XR easily enough and provide way more protection than any extensions (they are similar to Hippo Hands, but not as burly).  They aren't pretty though.  I commuted year round by motorbike for years and my go to winter kit was Barkbuster Storms, BBZs over those, heated gloves and heated grips.  Had that combo down to about 12F and, although it wasn't fun, it was tolerable.  Now that I don't commute I don't ride much if the temps are under 45F.  If it requires more than heated grips I'm staying home.

[RichieRich]

OP, I was kind of in the same boat as you. I commute year round on my motorcycle besides days where it rains hard and there's standing water on the highway.

Most days aren't cold in California, but being that I live in the valley, the fog really settles in and gets cold. Some mornings are about 45F but wind chill feels like 20F when riding. I was contemplating about getting the OEM handguards (https://www.shopbmwmotorcycle.com/products/bmw-s1000xr-handguard-kit) but as you mentioned, I have bard ends that do not work with those. I also didn't want to look like an adventure bike.

I ended up getting these heated gloves (https://helmethouse.com/tourmaster/synergy-pro-plus-12v-heated-glove.html) for my commuting on colder mornings. I have not used them yet, but have a feeling they will be enough to not complain about cold hands when I get to work.

The only thing I am trying to figure out is how to route the wires from the gloves to the connector. Do I put the wires inside my jacket? Run it outside the bike and let them dangle? Not sure...

[capt cf]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

OP, I was kind of in the same boat as you. I commute year round on my motorcycle besides days where it rains hard and there's standing water on the highway.

Most days aren't cold in California, but being that I live in the valley, the fog really settles in and gets cold. Some mornings are about 45F but wind chill feels like 20F when riding. I was contemplating about getting the OEM handguards (https://www.shopbmwmotorcycle.com/products/bmw-s1000xr-handguard-kit) but as you mentioned, I have bard ends that do not work with those. I also didn't want to look like an adventure bike.

I ended up getting these heated gloves (https://helmethouse.com/tourmaster/synergy-pro-plus-12v-heated-glove.html) for my commuting on colder mornings. I have not used them yet, but have a feeling they will be enough to not complain about cold hands when I get to work.

The only thing I am trying to figure out is how to route the wires from the gloves to the connector. Do I put the wires inside my jacket? Run it outside the bike and let them dangle? Not sure...

Not familiar with those, but I have used both Gerbings and Keis.  With those you install a pigtail on the battery and let that dangle on the left side of the bike near where your leg rests.  Then you route a Y cable down the sleeves of your jacket (my winter jacket had a liner so it was easy to route it between the liner and the shell).  That way it stayed relatively in place and I didn't have to fiddle with it.  The mounting procedure was: get on bike, attach wire from bottom left side of jacket to connector on bike, plug in gloves, put gloves on, start bike, turn on gloves.  It's a bit of a faff but once you get used to it you forget about it.  Once it got sufficiently cold I just left the Y cable in the jacket for the rest of the winter and rode with those gloves every time.  On a rare nice day where I wanted to ride for fun I would either use another jacket or pull the Y cable out and use normal gloves.

[joshbeverly]

I have heated grips so I wasn't really looking for heated gloves. I will look into the bark busters.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by capt cf

Not familiar with those, but I have used both Gerbings and Keis.  With those you install a pigtail on the battery and let that dangle on the left side of the bike near where your leg rests.  Then you route a Y cable down the sleeves of your jacket (my winter jacket had a liner so it was easy to route it between the liner and the shell).  That way it stayed relatively in place and I didn't have to fiddle with it.  The mounting procedure was: get on bike, attach wire from bottom left side of jacket to connector on bike, plug in gloves, put gloves on, start bike, turn on gloves.  It's a bit of a faff but once you get used to it you forget about it.  Once it got sufficiently cold I just left the Y cable in the jacket for the rest of the winter and rode with those gloves every time.  On a rare nice day where I wanted to ride for fun I would either use another jacket or pull the Y cable out and use normal gloves.

Honestly, thank you for this. I feel like it's a very simple process but I just didn't know how to go about it haha. I think the day of wearing these gloves will be coming soon.

Originally Posted by joshbeverly

I have heated grips so I wasn't really looking for heated gloves. I will look into the bark busters.

That's what I said, but heated grips can only heat your palms, not the top of your hands. I read a lot of reviews and many said the handguards were "ok" at deflecting the wind. So instead of spending money on something that might work, I just went straight to heated gloves. Again, I didn't want the "adventure bike" look haha.

[capt cf]

IMHO, in order of effectiveness in cold weather:  heated gloves; heated grips; deflectors.  The heated gloves really, really are a game changer.  I never liked the gloves themselves much and always thought they were inferior in technical features and protection level compared to their non-heated counterparts.  I experimented with heated glove liners under nicer gloves (goretex sport gauntlets), but could never get it right.  I think it would work well if you can find the right mix of sizes, but I never got a fit I was happy with and they always seemed to give me much less dexterity than one piece heated gloves.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by capt cf

IMHO, in order of effectiveness in cold weather:  heated gloves; heated grips; deflectors.  The heated gloves really, really are a game changer.  I never liked the gloves themselves much and always thought they were inferior in technical features and protection level compared to their non-heated counterparts.  I experimented with heated glove liners under nicer gloves (goretex sport gauntlets), but could never get it right.  I think it would work well if you can find the right mix of sizes, but I never got a fit I was happy with and they always seemed to give me much less dexterity than one piece heated gloves.

We need a like button on the forums.

I agree, not a fan of the feeling/protection on heated gloves. But I think we can agree the feeling of cold hands with non-heated gloves is probably more dangerous.

[capt cf]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

We need a like button on the forums.

I agree, not a fan of the feeling/protection on heated gloves. But I think we can agree the feeling of cold hands with non-heated gloves is probably more dangerous.

Yup...totally agree.  That's where I ended up after spending a bunch of money and time testing stuff.

[Antares]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

We need a like button on the forums.

I agree, not a fan of the feeling/protection on heated gloves. But I think we can agree the feeling of cold hands with non-heated gloves is probably more dangerous.

Cold hands for sure, in my early days many a times this caused serious problems and at least 1 or 2 occasions where i almost crashed because of it. In the UK I can get away with a decent set of leather (but not winter) gloves all year around + with heated grips and hand guards from the XR and GT but I do agree heated gloves add a lot of comfort even on top of  those 2, that said, definitely way too bulky... I hate too thin gloves and I have bulky gloves, I have Richa Stealths that give a balance between the 2 and I seem to manage with them.