PowerMadd Star-series Handguards

By Bill "BillaVista" Ansell
Photography: Bill Ansell
Copyright 2013 - Bill Ansell
(click any pic to enlarge)

Introduction

I recently upgrade the stock handlebars on my Yamaha Grizzly 700 with the ROX Speed FX 5 Inch Riser Combo Kit with Fly Racing Aero Taper fat bars.

I also wanted to install some PowerMadd handguards, but since the new bars differ quite a lot from the factory handlebars both in geometry and in dimensions (being "fat bars" their outside diameter is not a constant standard 7/8") I was a bit worried about how well the handguards would fit.

This is a look at my installation of the PowerMadd handguards in combination with the Rox Risers / Fly Racing handlebars.

This is the package containing the PowerMadd Star-series Handguards. They come in a ton of different colours but I chose straight black to match the "tactical black" colour scheme on my Grizzly.

The Star-series handguards can be used with two different mounting kits. The first is the regular kit which is part number: PM14252 ATV & Motorcycle Mount Kit. According to PowerMadd:

This kit has a slight bend in the mounting brackets which flares the end of the handguard out away from the handlebar, providing more room for clutch and brake levers. Note - will not fit on Yamaha Grizzly '07-current - use PM14269.

This is the other mounting kit, part number: PM14269 Tri-Mount Kit. According to PowerMadd:

This kit can be used on ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles when room on the bars is hard to come by. This kit mounts past the bend in the bar so there is no need to move levers or controls. Works great on utility ATVs and snowmobiles with larger control modules. Note - fits 7/8" bars only. Use PM14252 for oversize (1 1/8") bars.

Well, this left me with a conundrum since I was installing on an 07 and up Grizzly, but because I had switched to the Fly Racing Aero Taper fat bars, I knew that somewhere along their length the bars do indeed taper up to greater than 7/8".

So the question is - will the PowerMadd Star-series handguards and Tri-mount kit fit on an ATV with larger than 7/8" bars?

The answer is, yes - with a little modification - but not perfectly.

Read on to see what I mean and whether my solution might work for you.

These are the PowerMadd Star-series handguards.

Back side view.

The Star-series have a ventilated section for use in warmer temperatures, with a snap-in cover that can be installed in cooler temps.

This is the back side of the handguard showing the ventilated section, with the cover installed.

Front side with cover installed.

Back side, cover removed.

Front side, cover removed.

This shows the general arrangement of the handguard with the Tri-mount mount.

Close up showing detail of how the handguard mounts to the Tri-mount.

On the bench, showing the approximate arrangement and position the mounts will be located on the bars. If you look carefully, you can see the bars do indeed start to taper up right where the handguard mounts will need to be attached.

This shot shows the position of the handlebar mount installed on the ATV.

As predicted, it's right where the bars begin to taper up.

And the result is less than ideal clamping of the mount around the bar, and...

...the guards end up positioned too high in relation to the handlebar grips...

... which not only looks weird but reduces the effectiveness of the guards at protecting the hands from cold air, trail debris, and branches.

Now, there's a couple of places the mounts can be adjusted to position the handguards, but neither helps with the problem.

By adjusting the two locknuts on the mounting arm, the handguard can be moved left and right to the desired position, but this doesn't solve the problem of the guards being too high.

The guards could also be tilted using this adjustment, and if tilted down that would lower them a bit, but not enough to really alleviate the problem and besides, we want the handguards to be level and not rotated down.

The handlebar-end of the mounting arm can also be rotated, but again, although this would lower the guards bit, it would leave them at an odd angle to the hand grips - lower at the outside and higher on the inside. Again, this is not what we want as they should be level in front of the grips.

These pics show the position of the handguards, adjusted to be straight and level, and illustrate how they sit too high and wouldn't fully cover the hands in this position.

But all is not lost! I have a grinder...and there aint nothin' I can't make better with a grinder!

The first thing I did was grind a little off the inside radius of the handlebar mounting clamps...

... taking down just the tips on each piece so that they would fit better over the handlebars where they taper up slightly from 7/8".

The parts are aluminum, so you have to be very careful here and even when modified the clamps are not a perfect fit so you have to be careful not to over-tighten the bolts and strip out the aluminum threads when tightening them in place.

That helped with the mounting, but not with the positioning.

The key to getting the handguards positioned lower is to modify the "duckbill" piece of the mount that fits into the handguard (shown here by the red arrow).

In stock form, the duckbill indexes with the plastic handguard and therefore the handguard cannot pivot on the duckbill.

But if we can modify the duckbill so that the handguard can pivot on the duckbill, we will have two points of rotation and can therefore pivot the duckbill mount down on the mounting arm (lowering the handguard) and then pivot the handguard on the duckbill up, correcting the angle and bringing the handguard back into a straight up-and-down position.

With this plan in mind, I removed the duckbill and ground off the "beak" (the two projections that indexed with the handguard).

Now, when the duckbill is installed, it can pivot on the mounting arm but we can still install the handguard in a straight-up-and-down position.

I ended up rotating the modified duckbill down 90* from where it was originally positioned.

You can see that if the beaks still existed the handguard would be facing the ground instead of the front.

But because I ground off the beaks, I can install the handguards on the modified duckbill at any angle I want and thus get the handguards both lowered and straight-up-and-down in front of the hand grips.

This gallery shows the results of mounting the handguards with the modified duckbills. The drawback is that the mounting is slightly less secure (if knocked, the handguard could rotate on the modified duckbill as the beaks no longer exist to index with the handguard). But the advantage is that I could lower the guards just about the perfect amount to get them right in front of the grips for max protection, and straight and level.

Overall, I'm happy I got the handguards to fit well as I really like the design and the look.

Ultimately, I may try a different mounting system or even have something custom made as I'm not 100% thrilled with the clamp's fit around the tapered portion of the handlebar, and it would be better if the handguards weren't able to rotate on the modified duckbills if hit.

The problem with fitting the handguards to the Grizzly though is the size of the control modules (throttle, lights, locker). They are so large they leave little to no room to use a mount like the regular PM14252 ATV & Motorcycle Mount Kit that mounts up on the handlebar near the grips.

Total:

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