Hey guys,
Clipped a tree stump with my left hand & made a mess of my finger.
Has anyone tried the MTB bark busters & found they're any good/work?
Many of the trails I ride have you dodging trees with your bars, so want to avoid this happening again.
Cheers!
by just_sendd_it
12 Comments
Well, obviously they will prevent torn skin/bleeding and dampen a small percentage of the impact. They look dorky as hell. I’d rather slow down and become a better rider around those trees 😅
Bloody knuckles cause pain, and pain is a good deterrent for bad technique.
Nope
I prefer to just avoid the trees.
They work against brush but noting more. If I rode in desert areas with cactus, might be worthwhile.
I ride a ton of trails in my area that get overgrown during certain times of year by thistle and mustard weed. The thistle has thorns that hurt like hell and the mustard will whip you and pull your brake levers. For this stuff I love handguards. Will they save your broken finger from a tree stump? Not likely but MAYBE. But I wouldn’t count on it.
And to the other commenter that made a comment about bad technique, stfu. Everyone makes mistakes.
🧐
I am a firm believer in Handguards. I ride big duallies and handguards have saved my hands a few times. But, get the proper ones with the steel bar for stiffness.
Check these out, I’ve yet to try them but My pinkies keep asking.
[https://www.pinkbike.com/news/review-loamlab-counterpunch-hand-protecting-grips.html](https://www.pinkbike.com/news/review-loamlab-counterpunch-hand-protecting-grips.html)
People run hand guards mainly so they take the hit instead of brake levers in a crash while racing, and so they can look like an EDR/EWS pro. Hand protection – who the hell knows. I guess that’s a side benefit.
What you want are Counterpunch grips for pinky protection, but you might not like them and how they change the feel of outside end of the grip. I tried them and don’t like the feel.
You can also move your brake levers more inboard so chance of smashing pinky finger decreases. This is a good and free solution. Many dudes (primarily dudes with really big hands, that haven’t thought about their setup) run brake levers too close to the grips and hang their hands at or off the end of their grips – big no no, very bad habit. Fix your braking position to be truly 1-finger, hand fully on the grip, and no exposed pinky. Move those damn levers inboard!
Depending on how wide your bars are, the type of riding you typically do, and your height/arm length you could consider trimming your bars down. I have an older xc bike with very narrow bars by today’s standards but prefer them over the 760mm Texas Longhorns that came on my new trail bike. I’ve since trimmed them to 720mm and hit trees far less often, but am considering cutting them to 700 or 690.
Interesting