Bark busters on trials bikes?

[Gerald]

I’ve just noticed on a bike classified that the particular bike has Barkbusters fitted. This has me thinking that it’s the first trials bike I’ve seen with these, however I’ve only seen a pretty small number of bikes really as I’m new to the trials scene.

I’m interested to know if these are worthwhile fitting and what the downsides might be.

Thanks

Gerald

[PA]

Downside would be having your hand slide inside them and break your wrists as you go over.

[Rod]

Fully enclosed hand guards(BarkBusters etc) are a recipe for disaster on any dirt bike in my opinion but especially on a Trials bike.

PS: There are some very sturdy open ended guards on the market if you need them, I have open ended RHK guards(reasonably cheap) on my GG enduro bike which have saved my hands/fingers many times and like this type of guard on this type of bike. This would be the type of hand guard a youngster or beginner could benefit from in Trials but definitely not the fully enclosed wrist snapping type.

[Gerald]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Gerald

[eagle]

I've had barkbusters on my KTM enduro for 17yrs & never had a problem, when i purchased my Sherco enduro 2015 the first thing i did was install barkbusters!!
I do a fair bit of trail riding with mates & the DirtriderZ group, & have NOT personally met anyone who has had this so called dreaded broken wrist syndrome, i come off a fair bit & have never had a problem.
I'm not sure they would be an advantage in Trials though ? i know i've only broken 1 clutch lever trail riding in 17yrs, but i have broken about 3 levers/perches in the last 4yrs of riding my trials bike, they may be confidence inspiring to a beginner ? i have als seen people wear body armour & full face helmets on Trials bikes too

[David Lahey]

For trials riding, the mass-moment-of-inertia of the steering assembly is something that manufacturers go to extreme lengths to minimise. Fitting anything like barkbusters makes the bike handle way worse than otherwise. I know this from experience, having fitted plastic Acerbis fully enclosed barkbusters to a TY250 twinshock for when I rode a 2 day enduro that had a lot of single track in forested country. These plastic barkbusters are much lighter than the Goddards aluminium extrusion type and even the Acerbis made the steering way worse for trials-type riding. They did their job for that ride (in 1998) and they have been sitting on the shelf ever since.
About the PPE that some people wear, yes you do see the full-face helmet thing sometimes but it is usually because they are starting out and haven't bought a trials helmet yet. They usually also are wearing MX boots for the same reason. Both these PPE items make trials riding much harder to do than using trials PPE.
I do know that quite a few people wear knee braces and elbow protection and knee guards are also common in trials, but body armour or neck braces are quite rare.

[Gerald]

This is really interesting, thanks for taking the time and effort to reply.

Gerald