TESTED: BULLET PROOF DESIGNS KTM/HUSQVARNA ADV GUARDS

BY CHAD DE ALVA

Bullet Proof Designs (BPD) is best known for products like their radiator guards and other protective hard parts that have been protecting dirt bikes for years. BPD also has a line of wheels, and they’ve been applying their extensive experience making top shelf protective parts for dirt bikes to making protective parts for adventure bikes. In no particular order, here are some of the Bullet Proof Designs ADV Guards available for the KTM 790/890 and Norden 901.

Rear Disk Guard / Rear Caliper Guard

If you ride your adventure bike off-road, it’s only a matter of time before your rear rotor runs into a rock or other trail obstacle. Depending on how that interaction goes, your ride could come to a stop quite quickly, should your rear brake rotor get damaged. The BPD Rear Disk Guard is the “install it and never worry about it again” solution for completely protecting your rear brake rotor from harm. I have the dirt bike version of the BPD Rear Disk Guard on both of my KTM dirt bikes, and with a combined ten years of use and hundreds of hours of smashing into all sorts of rocks, all I’ve been able to do is beat up the leading edge of the guard – proof positive that they work as advertised. The ADV version has a beefier 1/2inch thick shark fin to better withstand ADV use.

The Rear Caliper Guard might strike some riders as a bling part, and that’s a fair assessment. It’s pretty darn hard to hit the rear caliper on an adventure bike. However, it’s not hard to catch the rear ABS cable on a passing branch, bush, or something else that could snag or damage the cable, and that’s the real value of the Rear Caliper Guard – keeping that ABS cable safe.

My only wish for the Rear Disk Guard and Rear Caliper Guard would be the addition of the bosses that exist on the factory brake caliper bracket that help hold the wheel in place during installation. These bosses make holding a roughly 40 pound wheel in place easier while you’re pinning the axle in place, so hopefully they’ll make it into a design revision. Yet even without these bosses, the Rear Disk Guard / Rear Caliper Guard is a no-brainer for any rider who likes to adventure bike in the rocky places of the world.

Rear Brake Master Cylinder Guard

Another ride-ender if damaged is the fitting on the rear brake master cylinder – and the Bullet Proof Designs Rear Brake Master Cylinder Guard is the answer. This part installs in a minute, and completely takes this potential failure point out of the equation.

Case Saver

If you’ve ever seen what a chain breaking can do to an engine case, you’ll know why you need this part. If you haven’t seen what a chain breaking can do to an engine case, just know that it’s very expensive, and very not fun to deal with in the field. The Bullet Proof Designs Case Saver brings all of the protection to your engine case, and it’s slotted design makes cleaning mud and other schmoo out easier than the stock cover. A detail I appreciate here is the included cover for the gear position sensor, which is much better than the plate that other case savers on the market utilize. The BPD Case Saver should be a day one upgrade.

ADV Footpegs

Many riders opt to install larger foot pegs on their adventure bikes to give them more control and more leverage. Bullet Proof Designs adventure pegs are both wider (front to back) and longer (pivot point to peg tip) to provide a larger surface to stand on for more comfort and more control when steering with your feet. Traction is adjustable with user configurable set screws, or the studs you see in the photos. Make sure to use blue threadlocker on the traction screws when installing. The studs on our pegs provided completely locked in levels of grip to the moto boots we regularly ride with, which is great for getting after it off-road where you really want to stay connected to the bike. If you’re looking for an adventure sized peg, the BPD ADV Foot Pegs are a great choice.

All of Bullet Proof Designs protective parts are designed and manufactured in the United States and backed by a lifetime warranty. While I’ve never had to submit a warranty claim in the years that I’ve been using their parts, I do keenly appreciate the fact that I can pick up the phone and talk to a knowledgeable human at BPD to get my questions answered. Judging by the scratches and gouges on my rear disk guards, I can confidently say that BPD dirt bike parts work as advertised, and I expect nothing less out of their ADV Guards in the years to come. For more information, visit: www.bulletproofdesigns.com.