Installing V-Strom handguards on Bandit 1200S

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Installing V-Strom handguards on Bandit 1200S

Once again it is the time of year when the weather starts getting colder, especially on the early morning rides. Maybe I got spoiled with heated grips and handguards on my BMW bike, but riding the Bandit 1200 on a chilly morning made my hands feel numb. Time to get some handguards.

Like many before me, I decided to go with the V-Strom factory handguards. Why? well, they do look "factory", are large, and can be had fairly cheap.

Here is my very simple install - a few minutes once you have it all gathered together:

First, you will need some longer lever studs, as the stock ones are too short once you install the handguards. The handguards mount with the lever studs themselves. You can either order them from Suzuki, or, like I did, grab some 8mm bolts and have the turned down on a lathe . . .

To this:

Then thread the lower part with a 6mm die. Notice, the stud part is longer by 0.150", or the thickness of the handguard plastic:

The right side mounts without any modifications, but the left side is slightly larger. Drill a new 8mm mounting hole here:

And cut off the stock hole, plus a tiny bit of plastic to clear the clutch master cylinder:

I also have custom made bar-ends, so I needed to slightly enlarge the bar-end hole in the handguards. This is just a few thousands of an inch, and I made sure the handguard would not pull off the bar-end. Here is one of my ends:

Then, all you need is a couple of minutes to install the guards on the lever studs, push the bar-ends through the ends, and tighten everything together. I pushed the handguards slightly out toward the bar ends. The plastic is flexible enough to just bend slightly.

Here is a closeup from the front:

And the finished look. It comes across as "factory" and that's okay. These guards are strictly for weather related discomfort. I run real handguards on my ADV bike, but the Bandit will never see off-roading. :)