Highway Dirt Bikes review

Last summer I installed a Highway Dirt Bikes (HDB) kit on my WR250R. Also a ProTaper Henry Reed handlebar, G2 throttle tamer, and Oxford heated grips. Here's a few observations:

The HDB kit is solid. I did the NexGen, with HDB being nice enough to exchange the regular kit for the NexGen - the Ultimate Handguard kit was a little difficult to install due to needing to bend the guards. Fits great, very solid. I also installed 2.125 (2 and 1/8 inch) lower clamps. These allow the top-plate to fit without causing interference with the key. With the Henry Reed Pro Taper bar, this setup gives me a very neutral position - my elbows are bent roughly 90 degrees when sitting. For reference, I'm a shade over 6 feet and have a 33 inch inseam. I can stand comfortably now.

The Oxford grips work great. Slightly wider diameter feels better than stock. Heating is nice. Hooked up with Eastern Beaver 3CS.

G2 throttle tamer - I was getting a lot of snatch in the throttle - not related to clutch control. The G2 combined with the Oxford grips make for a fairly smooth engagement. There's just a nice amount of snatch and with a little clutch control, slow speeds are much easier to manage. Not silky smooth, but nice. I speculate that the G2 with the wider Oxford grips balance out differently than just going with stock grips on the G2. I'm a fan.

I hope this is helpful for others. Happy to answer questions as they come up.

MadYam
2015 WR250R

How much rise over stock did the HDB mounts give you, and are the cables long enough to go a little higher?

Thanks, Paul

The stock rise and Henry Reed contour rise are the same - about 3.6 inches. The sweep on the Henry Reed is slightly less, which I like for my wrists. So the rise I got was all in the lower clamp. I don't recall the stock lower clamp height, but it's easy enough to measure. I think I got about 3/4 of an inch rise. Doesn't sound like much, but it has a big effect.  I have zero issues with cable tension. I seem to recall that others felt a 1.5 inch rise was about the max you could go without cable issues. I think that those using a 2 inch rise report some tension.

Protaper has all their specs on their website as do most handlebar companies. Between lower clamps and various bend you can get pretty much whatever rise you want.

MadYam

Thanks for the info. I've had HDB guards on my last 2 bikes and was impressed with their quality. Their mirrors made it hard to see police cars, not as big of a concern with a 250.

Ridepjride wrote:

Their mirrors made it hard to see police cars, not as big of a concern with a 250.

LMFAO.  But you can see other cars on the road just fine?  

Haha, I bet he means that it's hard to identify that they are police and not just another car. I can relate.

Correct. In California, most LEOs drive Ford Explorers and are hard to discern from civilian vehicles. The old days where all police drive Crown Vics are gone. Smaller mirrors like the ones HDB use make it harder to tell.

I swapped these over from another bike and changed the color to blue. These are about as bulletproof as you can get. Overkill for a WR, but the top clamp is what makes them so nice for mounting a GPS or whatever.

Glad I found this thread, though a little late. I'm definitely going with the HDB top/lower clamps and ProTaper EVO fat bars (same bend as you) but I'm still waffling on the HDB guards themselves; the thought of tapping brand new bars makes me want to But I know it's a better system... Anyway, on to my question: about the G2 Throttle Tamer, did you go for a specific length? I always run ProGrip 714's and I've always had to butcher the grips to fit stock throttle tubes after cutting the ends off. Would love to be able to keep the full grip length for a change and I hear that G2 has longer tubes available. Just wondering how your setup ended up. Thanks in advance if you see this!