Handguards remain a bit divisive amongst mountain bikers, at least according to some rigorous trailside polling. Some folks think it’s one step too close to moto aesthetics, or just another frivolous accessory to add to your blinged-out bike, while others see them as a useful and valuable component for protection and performance. As handguards see more use on the EWS circuit, I would venture a guess that we’ll start to see them at more trailheads as well, for those things always seem to trickle down.
I’ll be comparing three of the most popular and well-designed options on the market these days in hopes of narrowing down the choice for those looking to keep their knuckles safe and sound.
Prior to the individual examples, though, it’s worth laying out some general thoughts on the genre in general - why even consider running handguards in the first place? The first and most obvious answer is the protection from brush and debris, keeping your tender little fingers safe and sound behind a nice plastic shield. They can glance off trees as well in a pinch, should you cut a corner too close. Another benefit is the protection they provide to your cockpit controls, as brake levers and shifters will no longer be the first thing to hit the ground in the case of a crash, providing the handguards have enough coverage.
The other benefits are a bit less obvious, as they’re more psychological than anything else. There’s something about having the visual cue just beyond your hand that makes cornering feel more committed and secure, almost like the mental effect of knowing you’re wearing kneepads - you can just commit that tiny bit more. Some claim that handguards can help with cold hands in the winter, but I’ve found that unless you’re just flying down a section of road there’s little noticeable difference in chill.
One last unforeseen upside to the cockpit accessories was the addition of another hand position when climbing fire roads and mellower sections of trail. Not unlike inner-mounted bar ends or Togs, the mounts of the handguards allow you to open your palm and still get to the brake lever, giving you a more upright and comfortable climbing position if you should want it.
Each of these options had unique attributes and benefits, so read on to see how each of the handguards shook out on trail.
RevGrips • MSRP: $79.95
• Measured weight: 131 grams
• Replaceable polycarbonate shield
• Aluminum mount
• Made in California
•
revgrips.com With a smokey clear plastic guard and a grey anodized aluminum mount, the RevGrips handguards certainly make the extra accessory look as clean as possible. Thanks to a high arch in the mount, there is no interference with your brakes, though the relatively square faceplate allows for some levers to contact the plastic when the reach is fully extended. This may pose an issue for those that run especially flat brake levers, doubly so when combined with long levers assemblies like that on the SRAM Code.
The hard polycarbonate shield does a great job of holding brush and branches off the bars, keeping your hands and brakes unfazed. That said, that rigidity might bite you if you smack a tree at the wrong angle, as the shield could dig into your hand in a worst-case scenario.
Despite the lack of reach adjust, I do think the RevGrips' mount is the nicest of the bunch, with a smooth feel and small footprint. Per the secondary hand position comment above, these served as the most comfortable perch while rolling along.
Pros
+ Sleek and robust mount
+ Easily replaceable parts
Cons
- Hard plastic shield can do damage in a crash
- Lack of mount length adjustment
SendHit Nock• MSRP: $66.41
• Measured weight: 170 grams
• Flip chip for lateral and fore-aft adjustment
• Aluminum mount
• Flexible plastic with foam backing
• Made in France
•
sendhit.com The Sendhit Nocks have seen some major screentime on the EWS circuit over the past year, as they've been consistently mounted to the front of the overall winner Jesse Melamed's bike at every round. This should bode well, and for the most part it does - the Nocks are quite well made. The coverage is very wide, and just tall enough to do the trick without too much extra material. Thanks to a soft plastic with a foam interior, they should be comfortable in the case of a hard hit or crash.
That said, they are a bit overbuilt compared to the others on test, with more parts and a larger footprint than the other two. The primary frustration here is the mounting clamp, as it can get in the way of certain controls, especially if you're running an AXS controller. The other options have the mount on the frontside of the bar, keeping the back relatively low-profile and out of the way. A small gripe, but with some handlebars as
cluttered as they are, every bit counts.
I had the unfortunate opportunity to see how all three options fared in the event of a crash, and found that the relatively soft plastic of the Nocks was the least effective at protecting your controls from getting moved around or damaged. A relatively simple washout still resulted in a turned and marred brake lever, which is frustrating when you're hoping to just hop back on your bike in the middle of a race run.
Pros
+ Largest coverage option
+ Foam and soft plastic for comfort
Cons
- Least robust in a crash
- More parts and a larger footprint than other options
- Mount design conflicts with some controls
AVS Racing• MSRP: €59.90, ~$66.00
• Measured weight: 105 grams
• Adjustable-length aluminum mount (also available in plastic)
• Flexible plastic shell
• 13 shell colors, 24 decal kits available
•
avs-racing.com AVS Racing might be one of the oldest players in this game, as their delightfully vintage website suggests. As the choice of both Sam Hill and Nico Vouilloz, their reputation seems well founded. The AVS shield is the smallest of the group, but the shape is well considered, giving solid protection to your hand, while remaining sleek in the areas you'd tend to extend your fingers to grab brake. Heavily domed, the shield does the best job of the group in glancing branches and brush away from your grip.
The main downside to the AVS design is the relatively flat mount can conflict with some brake lever assemblies, namely the tall master cylinder on Shimanos. This should only be a problem if you run your levers Yoann Barelli flat, but it's still something to consider.
Pros
+ Least interference with other controls
+ Good shape for glancing impacts
+ Tons of wild color options
Cons
- Coverage may not be enough for some
- Won't clear a flat-mounted Shimano lever
Final ThoughtsEach of the handguards here do a solid job of keeping your knuckles un-bloodied, your hands a bit warmer, and your cornering just a tad more committed. The value in each will be up to you and your specific cockpit setup, but for me, there was one option that ended up on my personal bike more than the rest: AVS. They have the smallest form factor, but do just as good a job at keeping your hands protected as the larger alternatives, with the added benefit of being less noticeable while you're riding.
In terms of general fitment and space concerns, both the RevGrips and AVS are best mounted directly inside of the grip, while the Nocks allow for a bit more side-to-side adjustment should you need it.
Though I've been using the alloy mounts for all three options, it's worth noting that AVS is the only brand that makes a plastic version, which strikes me as a wiser move for carbon bars in the case of a crash. I never had an issue with the mounts gouging carbon bars, but it seems like the right (wrong) situation could do some damage.
Those who ride trails that warrant handguards know who they are, and I must say: as a long time skeptic, I now understand the appeal. The protection and crash insurance is one thing, but the weirdly beneficial cornering effect is a big selling point. I can see why folks are running them year round, and for me they'll be a happy companion whenever the brush starts jumping out into the trail again.
I think the naming strategy has played out as I thought it would. RIP COVE
You don’t think there’s work to be done in the city?
Clowns
Do some reading on basic motorsport aerodynamics and get back to me...
@scott-townes is looking at it fairly simplisticly
Thankfully there’s not much of that on my local trails but if i was weaving through gorse, blackthorn and brambles a lot I’d probably chop up an old plastic bottle and save myself some bloodied fists and lotsa £€$
They are not very durable though. I have broken few of those mounts which is better than my fingers ofc. I dont know if it is intentional but the handlebar mounting screw is on the fracture plane and/or there is too little material around it, the mount cracks around it.
"Intense4life (3 hours ago) - Nobody needs these. I’ve rode and raced around the world for 2 decades and with certainty I can say hand-guards are not required. Well I’m making a point .. neither is the slide mitt in MLB. Or a rear wing on a front wheel drive. Or a chain on an empty wallet… you freakin idiots… you know who you are."
My AVS guards are 85% for protecting my brake levers, 15% for my fingers. Mainly cause only my index and part of my middle finger are covered LOL
I've unintentionally stuffed the bars a few times into roots and rocks this season. Definitely would've scarred up the whole master cylinder, if not broken it completely. Definitely some added peace of mind since I started running Magura's. I may take them off my daily driver and put them back on for wet days, but they'll be living on my park bike for sure.
I’m in the PNWet as well, and I’ve considered them for wind/wet protection in the winter, then raspberry/stinging nettle protection in the spring.
Do they actually do much in the way of windchill/hand warmth? And how much of the wet foliage does it actually help prevent against?
It’s not cold enough for pogies around here. But cold enough that you want your brisker gloves, and are thinking of more sometimes.
I honestly don't give a rip what other people think about how my bike looks. The benefits in cold weather and keeping the sharp bushes off my hands are worth it for me. Do they save you from hard tree punches? No. Can you still get whipped by some branches? Yes. Will your hands still get wet from the bushes? Yes, but far less than without.
@ ocnlogan I find the guards deflect about 67.3% of the water that is sitting on bushes/ tree branches/ other trail users that stop in the middle trail junctions. No just kidding but quite a bit is the non quantitative answer.
The biggest pluses for me are:
1. no torn open back of hands/ fingers (gloveless) due to my lack of ability to tell the difference between hard and spikey baby trees and soft and bendy baby trees (there are botanists cringing out there I know).
2. Not having to compromise on front wheel line choice because an other wise spikey/ grabby sapling is growing next to that part of the trail, and
3. No unexpected brake lock when a branch or a sapling impacts the front brake lever when you were not anticipating it (which is usually combined with points 1 & 2 above and generally whilst hauling into something steep and rocky!!).
In addition some of ride in places where there are a lot of kilometres and very few (relatively ) riders and trail maintainers so the saplings grow in beside the trail and in some places the Shepherdia is 6-8' tall and dense AF.
Being able to ride through those sections without having one's hands stripped raw is worth the pfaff.
Are the ugly AF? Yes. Do I care what someone else thinks that I run them on my bike? Heck no.
Gotcha
Cons: clearance on hitch mounted bike racks, aerodynamics, aesthetics for some people, and the “feels weird seeing them there” phenomenon.
It literally takes A ride to get used to them- then maybe another because you realize what poor line choice you’ve been taking because of trying to avoid bushes.
Been around longer than anyone and have the most shield adjustability.
vcguards.com
Overall, I'm astounded by the vitriol in the comments. Tossing a bike around, cornering hard on singletrack frequently means leaning into thorns, thistles, brush, saplings, etc. depending upon region. Like riding a dropper posts 15 years ago, you don't know until you tried it and once you do, you won't want to go back.
And your riding a bike in the woods. If you're trying to look cool, I can assure you that mountain biking isn't it.
I also found in an EWS race this year (Sugarloaf) that my bars were too wide (780, now 760) to commit in certain sections, so I cut them down and added guards to see how I felt about them. The first few rides I found them almost invasive, and they messed with my peripheral vision a lot. After running them on my bike everyday for a while, I eventually found the opposite to be true. I can see my bars more clearly when I get forward in chunk and need to push through, and once you get used to them, you can position hands closer to tress without worrying about being wrong and hitting your finger first.
As for the winter warmth aspect, we ride in -10 and snow on the east coast, so anything to break wind is nice... Even if its just placebo.
Note: I run the Revs with MT7s, and there is no fitment issues at all.
Would definitely recommend the AVS guards in any case! I've crashed a few times and they've protected my fragile Magura levers. We have quite a lot of overgrown trails here during summers and they've been great for fending that stuff off too - you can just charge through it all without getting your hands shredded or having them snag your levers. I've clipped a few trees with them and they help glance off those kinds of impacts too. They're surprisingly good for keeping your hands dry too when you ride wet trails!
Overall, I've had mine on for about 18 months now and the guards have some pretty big scratches and gouges all over them. I'm glad they're on the guards rather than my hands. Aesthetically they aren't incredible, but they're so good functionally I don't see myself taking them off any time soon.
www.loamlab.bike/products/counterpunch
www.thingiverse.com/thing:3158861/files
Again, Jesse Melamed has credited it recently with saving his hand.
Some enduro pros use them. If you ride downhill, the speed is comparable to moto. I dont have them on the DH rig because that mostly sees parks and built trails. On the enduro though, I do single trails, "unofficial trails" and exploring.
- sponsors.
Jesse Melamed, and Sam Hill both notably run hand guards either full time, or just “quite often”.
Jesse started running his a while after breaking some fingers. So maybe that’s related/the reason? Not sure for Sam.
www.ergonbike.com/en/product-details.html?a=griffe&s=gptouring&anr=42410036
I just use the extra position for long easy climbs. I don't think I ride the same type of trails or as fast as some here do so can't speak first hand on the protection piece. They also have the slightly smaller GP-2.
Curious how you might throw those up against these above
I like them so much I bought a second pair for my hardtail or when I show up to a ride I know is super overgrown and give them to a buddy. They are really fast to install.
I like them so much cause they're bigger to deflect more brush (we have a lot of overgrowth and prickly bushes here after getting hit by fires), have plenty of adjustment range, and they flex enough to not snap.
Turns out it had left a 3/16” or so long thorn completely embedded/hidden in the soft tissue just to the side of my fingernail. It took me a week to notice that it wasn’t just soreness from the impact, and dig it out.
So yeah, if you ride anywhere where you are hitting brushy trails at speed, this seems like it could be worth it.
About 0.000052 football fields, or 0.000043 football pitches, depending on which "football" you meant.
Or about ~4-5mm (ok, 4.7625mm for that one guy that wants to know) for those not wanting to bother visualizing how small of a chunk it is of a sporting play area.
in a crash, your hand needs to be able to escape out the end. I have seen more broken wrist from wrap
around "bash guards" in moto. Also heavy and bad idea to connect into end of bar.
The guard bending is a fine feature because it doesn't break. If it did break it wouldn't protect. The guard pushing into the hand is good compared to just crashing your hand into a tree. So again ignorant just completely wrong. I've actually had this happen so again actual knowledge and experience.
The guards protect the brakes from tree branches. There's no replacement. So again completely ignorant in the advantage the guards give you.
They are a thing because they are useful and everyone who tries them likes them... You look pretty stupid buddy.
Both of you are correct.
Hand guards protect against a lot, especially at lower speeds.
Hit stuff full speed, straight on, against a hard immovable object such as a larger tree, I mean, go fast enough and hit hard enough and the hand guard will not do much, but I wouldn't say it does any harm either.
I would argue that the hand guard (possibly depending on which on) will disperse energy to all fingers and that way possibly save you from injury.
The inertia of turning a mountainbike front (bars, fork and wheel) compared to that of a motorcycle will always be less and, because of this, open hand guards will protect a mountain biker more.
When hitting the end of the bars where the pinky is especially vulnerable, hand guards will not save it as it will equally hit that exposed pinky. This is where the counterpunch comes in and saves the day.
Depending on what you want to protect yourself from you can do as you like! Personally, I go with the counterpunch or the counterpunch and the open hand guards. This last option I consider to give me the best protection.
Few years back, everyone looked weird to you, if you had no neck brace, even for a Sunday afternoon ride through the park. It was so important for your safety, that NOONE use them anymore, not even @ UCI DH races.
Live long overrated bike products!
BTW, it's just as stupid thing, as the derailleur guard decades ago
Spend smart, not hard.
there's a little company in Israel called Elephant Skin witch makes cool hand guards at really cheap price!
elephantskin.co/en
Branches on the trail? -> Gloves & snips
Cold hands? -> Gloves
Crash protection for breaks? -> Tighten the mount to just move before bending
Full impact on tree? -> Gloves & crash, bars rotate and take the impact. Same with handguards just 6cm sooner.
Ride behind a moto with high speed on a track spitting out chunky rocks? -> Handguards
There's a link, Togs are a brand of inner bar ends, or bar in's and I love using them, I just find it weird that they are illegal is all.
Just silly for MTB and I’ve broken tips of fingers on branches so I’m know and still won’t ride a MTB with them. Just silly.
- cons: You can’t ride like Sam Hill