When buying a dirt bike, one of the first modifications you’ll make is fitting a set of barkbusters to the handlebars.
It makes sense. Protect your hands from stray branches on the technical trails and from nasty crashes. They can even stop your brake and clutch levers from snapping off.
But then again…are they really *that* good? After all, they are quite expensive and there are some cheaper Barkbuster alternatives on the market.
In our experience: Barkbusters represent excellent value for money. They are more expensive but also hold up much better you crash compared to cheap Chinese alternatives. The reviews and user experiences show that Barkbusters
Barkbusters Review
Fitting a set of Barkbusters to your dirt bike or adventure motorcycle certain transforms it from a showroom pony to a trail warrior. The type that will actually push themselves so much further.
Here at Frontaer, we’ve used Barkbusters in the past to protect our hands and wouldn’t live without a pair. They certainly live up to expectations when you crash, with the inserts preventing them from rotating when you crash.
In addition, we’ve found plenty of space in the cockpit still for cables and brake lines. For the adventure rider, this is helpful with the volume of electronics mounted these days on the handlebars. Let’s not forget that they stop wind chill quite well!
Given the universal fit of Barkbusters, they do fit on almost every modern dirt bike. You see – handlebars themselves are a universal fit these days and you’ll find them quite easily on the bar ends. Yes – you will need some basic tools from the toolbox.
Suggested Improvements
We can recommend some good improvements particularly around color matching. Some of them don’t match perfectly the main manufacturers and we believe this may be due to Pantone color patents. In laymans terms, this means that the main manufacturers may already have a patent on exactly one specific color and so Barkbusters can’t make them a picture-perfect match.
Another improvement would be better airflow for summer riding. They do have some designs which are more minimalistic yet these also leave you more exposed to tree branches and the like, while reducing the structural integrity.
Then again – these are merely 1st world issues that their design team is certainly working on. Barkbusters have built an excellent product that we’ll continue using for years.
