Price: €69.90

Standard equipment on enduro motorcycles, the AVS hand guards are a cut-down version for push bikes designed to protect your hands from branches and vegetation as well as preventing plants from hooking around your brake levers and throwing you over the bars.

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If you’ve followed any of the racing at the Enduro World Series, you can’t fail to have noticed the hand guards sported by 2017 overall winner Sam Hill, as well as DH legend Nico Vouilloz.

The plastic shields are mounted to either plastic or aluminium arms that clamp around the handlebars. We tested the more expensive aluminium versions, which invite a €20 premium.

At 10mm wide the clamps take up vital real estate on your bars, so aren’t ideal if you run a cluttered handlebar. That said, we managed to fit them to an e-bike with dropper post remote and power switch on the left side of the bars without compromising the ergonomics.

While the aluminium extensions are stiff, there’s some flexibility in the plastic shields – don’t expect them to brush off fist fights with trees. In fact, because they stick out in front of the bars, it’s actually more difficult to wiggle through tight woods than it is without them. Where they really come into their own is when riding overgrown summer singletrack – you can lean into the undergrowth and smash through tunnels of ferns without worrying about getting tangled up.