Being a desert rider I would ruin them on the rocks and get hung up and flipped over by rouge bushes. I would imagine they would look pretty sweet though. there is a tri-z photo in the latest dirt wheels letter section that has nerfs on that looks pretty nice. Your buddys bike sounds pretty nice.
own:
1986 250R- ported polished, carb mods, Esr atc-5 pipe and silencer
1986 250R- mild porting, carb mods (Clean!)
1985 350X- all stock (super clean!!)
1985 350x- desert project in the works
1986 250sx- Mostly stock
1985 200x- (pretty clean mostly stock)
1985 Yamaha tri zinger 60