Desert Dawgs Engine Guard Covers
Leader Motorsports Accessories
$104.99
www.leadermotorsports.com
800.828.0844
How many times have you jumped on your bike and thought, “Damn, I hope it rains on me”? Yeah, me neither. If you’re any kind of a rider at all, it’s going to happen to you, though; you’re going to get wet. Course you’ve got your rain suit in the saddlebag, or in the fork bag, or bungeed to the sissy bar, right? No? Oops. Let’s just say for the sake of preparedness that you do actually have a rain suit to put on. But don’t you just love how the rain and spray from the highway come right up from under the gas tank and blast you in the chin? Yeah, me too.
However, if you happen to be riding a bike with engine guards, there is a cure for the common rain—Desert Dawgs. Desert Dawgs are rain gaiters that slip over your engine guards or crash bars. They actually call them “motorcycle chaps.” I guess they call them “chaps” because they help shield your legs from the rain and the cold. And yes, they really do work. You can be shielded from the rain and cold just like the big boys with their Ultra Classic Electra Glides with their lower fairings in place.
Desert Dawgs motorcycle chaps are manufactured in the U.S.A. by Leader MotorSports Accessories using top-quality leather-touch vinyl or genuine leather. They claim to minimize cold updrafts, repel road spray, and keep bug juice off your legs—and they do. Just for your benefit, I went riding in the rain with a pair of Desert Dawgs on my Road Glide. (I selected the vinyl Dawgs with no studs.) There was a definite difference. My shins didn’t immediately get soaked. Naturally, it’s still best to don your rainsuit, since you never know how intense the rain will become. The Desert Dawgs also block the wind, so your rainsuit pant legs will not flap around on your hot engine parts.
Also for your benefit, I went riding in colder 40-degree weather to test the Desert Dawgs. Nah, not really. I went riding in colder 40-degree weather just because I wanted to go riding. Course the Dawgs were in place and my chin was happily comfortable, since no cold updrafts were blasting past the “motorcycle chaps.”
Desert Dawgs are easy to install on your engine guards. They are even slotted on the edge to allow for installation over highway pegs that you may have attached to your engine guards. The 6″ slots allow for custom fitting around a wide variety of highway peg positions. Three brass or stainless steel snaps provide the closure for the “chaps” around the guards. A nylon strap with a plastic clasp snugs the tops of the right and left Dawgs together. Lastly, hook-and-loop straps secure the bottoms of the Dawgs in place—about a three-minute operation.
Desert Dawgs are available for about every Harley engine guard made since 1986. They are available in plain or studded styles, and also feature an “ultra pocket” on the back of each chap for extra storage space. So far I’ve just stuffed a shop rag in the left one and a tire gauge in the right one.
Top Dawg Tracey Cramer lives and rides in Minnesota, and guarantees that you will be able to stay warmer, stay dryer, and ride longer with Desert Dawgs Engine Guard Covers. Take her up on that, and try them out; you’ll be glad you did. I’m certainly glad to have my “Dawgs” along for the ride.
