If you ride on dirt bike trails in the United States, you may have noticed that in many places, you are required to have a spark arrestor in order to ride your bike on the trail.

However, there may be a bit of confusion as to what a spark arrestor actually is and what it does to your dirt bike!

Not to worry, here’s an in-depth rundown for what you need to know:

A spark arrestor is a screen-like device that fits into the tailpipe of your bike to prevent sparks from coming out.

Considering all the forest fires that happen and how ravaging they can be, you can imagine why most trails require having a spark arrestor on your bike! In the right conditions, all it takes to start a fire is a single spark.

How to see if your bike has a spark arrestor

Checking to see if your bike has a spark arrestor is really simple – you just need to take a look! Most newer bikes have them pre-installed. You’ll be able to read on or around the exhaust pipe whether there is a spark arrestor or not.

If you are unable to see any indication on the outside, you can shine a flashlight inside or use a screwdriver to gently feel around and see if you can feel a steel mesh/screen.

If you bought a used bike, the previous owner may have removed the spark arrestor so it’s a good idea to know whether or not you have one installed or not.

Do you need a spark arrestor?

Not necessarily, but if you take your bike onto federal lands and trails, you do need one to stay compliant. The United States requires that all internal combustion engines have spark arrestors fitted if they are operating on federally managed land.

Additionally, it’s a good safety precaution for preventing forest fires. Remember, all it takes is a spark.

Where does the spark come from?

You may be wondering “I’ve never seen sparks come out of any exhaust pipes before!”

What the spark arrestor is actually preventing is tiny particles of carbon that may become stuck in the engine. In newer and well maintained engines, you won’t see any sparks because the whole combustion process is very clean and all that comes out are the exhaust gases.

In older engines or less maintained ones, tiny deposits of carbon may begin to form on the insides. During the combustion process, these bits may get dislodged and fly out of the exhaust pipe with the rest of the gases.

At that speed and temperature, they can catch on fire – they are bits of carbon after all – and appear as a spark.

The wire mesh inside the exhaust pipe prevents any such particles from exiting the exhaust pipe.

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Spark arrestors and performance

There’s a bit of debate in the ATV and dirt bike community whether or not removing the spark arrestor increases performance since air is able to exit the exhaust pipe just a tiny bit faster since it has no mesh to add drag.

The general gist of it is that you’re not going to really see any meaningful gain or loss in power – the most you’ll see is about 1 HP. If you ask me, that 1 HP is not really worth the risk of starting a wildfire!

If you really want to increase performance, you can install an aftermarket exhaust system that is more powerful even with a spark arrestor attached.

Another area where you may notice some difference is the sound of your engine. Removing the spark arrestor will increase the sound of your engine by a couple of decibels.

Some people like noisy engines – it’s like leaving your mark on the air! Others may prefer to have more discrete sounding engines.

How to clean a spark arrestor

There are two types of spark arrestors – mesh style and disc style. If they get clogged, they can seriously dampen the performance of your engine because they’re now blocking a lot more airflow.

To clean the device, simply remove it and scrape or burn the debris off. If you’re using a mesh style arrestor, it’s pretty straightforward.

With a disc style arrestor, you’ll need to take apart the discs and clean them all one by one. Otherwise you won’t get the performance you’re looking for.

Additionally, if your exhaust pipe is not working fast enough the gases have to go somewhere, and that causes other safety concerns and issues.

Conclusion

At the end of the day it’s a good idea to keep the spark arrestor in, or if you don’t have one, to install one. They’re really cheap on Amazon and the reduced wildfire risk of having one is far better than the slight performance boost you may or may not see from removing it.

A huge part of owning a motorcycle is customizing it and modding it to your taste and style.

You can really make a bike your own by modding it – and one of the mods you can do is installing drag bars.

Drag bars are used by street racers to help increase speed, but they’re also used in choppers and cafe racers to give some flair and style. So that begs the question: what exactly are drag bars?

Drag bars are handlebars that run straight across the front of the bike, not rising above the neck at all.

The advantage of using drag bars is that it forces you to lean forwards when you ride, lowering your body’s profile and thus decreasing drag, increasing speed.

Less drag = more speed because drag applies a force in the opposite direction that the bike is moving in. If you decrease the drag, you can go faster without your engine working any harder.

In some cases, the difference is quite significant – in other cases, it’s still there, but not as noticeable.

Of course, if you’re riding a Harley, speed isn’t your main concern – so drag bars are areas of interest with choppers and Harleys because they look so damn cool.

Where did drag bars come from?

Legend has it that drag bars originated in London. Riders would select a song from a jukebox, race to a pre-defined point, and try to come back before the song finished playing.

While there is no way to really verify this story, it is a cool legend and awesome talking point – plus it’s something that riders would most likely do!

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Drag bars vs Ape hanger bars

Normally, Harleys have what are known as “ape hanger” bars – where you’d have to sit up straight and reach your arms out all the way in front of you to grip the handlebars.

These are commonly associated with the lazy Sunday cruise, where you’re just out with your biking buddies, cruising around town at a leisurely speed and enjoying the air on your face(and through your hair, if applicable!)

Drag bars are the complete opposite of ape hanger bars. Instead of sitting up straight, you’re now leaning forwards almost all the way, with your belly nearly touching the gas tank.

This is the only way your hands are able to reach the bars and still have control!

Are drag bars difficult to install?

Not at all! The wiring on normal handlebars is most definitely longer than what you’ll need for drag bars, so you just need to remove the old bars, route the wiring inside the drag bars, and fit them back on. There are also drag bar replacement kits available that you can use.

Are drag bars comfortable?

That depends. Since you’re going to be leaning very forward for most of the time, even slight differences in the way your grips are angled will feel different.

You may feel some back strain from leaning over so much – but once you find the sweet spot with your grip angle, the back pain should become better and you’ll find a comfortable position.

As soon as you install the drag bars, though, you’ll notice a huge difference in how sporty your bike feels.

6″

These drag bars rise 6″, have a 6.5″ backwards sweep, and a diameter of 1.25″ that tapers to 1″. They’ll fit in any Harley Davidson bike and can also be used for custom applications.

There are pre-drilled holes to route the wires through.

8″

These drag bars rise 8″, have a 6.5″ backwards sweep, and a diameter of 1.25″ that tapers to 1″. They’ll fit in any Harley Davidson bike and can also be used for custom applications.

There are pre-drilled holes to route the wires through.

10″

These drag bars rise 10″, have a 6.5″ backwards sweep, and a diameter of 1.25″ that tapers to 1″. They can fit in any Harley Davidson bike and there are pre-drilled holes to route the wiring through.

Powder-coated black gives it a sexy and sleek look.

Drag bars for specific models

2014 and up Harley Street Glides

Designed specifically to fit Harley Street Glides(2014 models and up), these drag bars by FMB Choppers are pre-drilled, powder-coated, and hand-made in the USA. These rise up 16 inches as you can see in the image.

2013 and below Street Glides

Harley Dyna, Softail, and Sportsters

Designed specifically to fit Harley Dyna, Softail, and Sportster bikes, these drag bars by FMB Choppers are pre-drilled, powder-coated, and hand-made in the USA. These rise up 16 inches as you can see in the image.

2014 and below Road Glides

These are meant for Road Glides years 2014 and below. These bars rise up 9 inches. They are pre-drilled, powder-coated, and hand-made in the USA.

What is a heel toe shifter?

In motorbikes with floorboards, the gear shifting mechanism is usually a heel-toe shifter: two shifting levers connected together in the shape of a V. In bikes with rider foot pegs, there is usually a toe shifter.

To change gears on the toe shift lever, you have to place your foot under the shifter and push up to shift into a higher gear, and pull your foot out, place it back on the lever, and push down to shift down.

With a heel-toe shifter, your foot is on the shifter, and you’d push down with the balls of your feet to shift into first gear, and push down on your heel to shift into the remaining gears. To shift down, you can push on the toe shift again.

You’d have to use the clutch in either situation, obviously.

Disadvantages of a heel toe shifter

One of the main problems of a heel toe shifter is that since it is used in bikes with floorboards, you can’t take extremely sharp, banked turns since the floorboards would scrape against the ground.

However, the kinds of bikes that heel toe shifters are on mostly are more cruising bikes than sport bikes, so you’re not going to be banking too steeply anyway.

Another disadvantage is that most bikers are accustomed to the toe shifters, and switching to a heel toe shifter is quite a learning curve especially if you’ve been riding toe shifters for a very long time.

A lot of people have bought bikes that have heel toe shifters in the stock configuration but they end up removing the heel shift part and only using the toe shift.

A second advantage of removing the heel shift and only using the toe shift is that it makes some more room in your floorboards. It also doesn’t work well for people who have large feet, who may find that their heels don’t fit properly on the heel shifter and that makes it uncomfortable for them to shift up.

However, other people have noted that the transition is quite easy and a couple of shifts will get you used to it.

Advantages of a heel toe shifter

The most obvious advantage of a heel toe shifter is that your boots don’t get scuffed up by pressing them up against the bottom of the shifter.

Some riders have also noted that the floorboards which go together with the heel toe shifters are useful for standing up and taking a break, especially on long rides.

Plus, since the heel toe shifter is simply an extended version of the toe shifter, if you don’t like pressing down with your heel to shift down, you can just use the front part as a toe-only shifter.

How to heel toe shift

Aftermarket conversion solutions

Luckily it’s quite easy to change from a toe shifter to a heel toe shifter and vice versa. There’s no one part that fits all sizes, though, so you’ll have to find a part that will properly fit your bike.

If you want to convert from a heel toe shifter to a toe shifter, you can simply remove the heel part and use a cap(available to purchase) to close the exposed spline.

Converting from a toe shifter to a heel toe shifter is a bit more difficult and requires buying the right part – but you can check out Amazon.com or other aftermarket sites that have a very good filtering system to make sure you get a part that fits your bike.

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