They serve no useful purpose except to keep the fingers of morons safe. If you are not prone to sticking your fingers in your drive belt, you can safely remove them. The chance of getting debris caught in the belt is increased with the guards present..

 

No belt gaurd on my '07 Street Bob for quite some time.

 

I certainly realize that the guards offer some protection, just as reflectors offer greater visibility at night and we all know some choose to remove them for the "look."

I noticed the paint was rubbed off the upper guard when I removed the bag. Probably not going to put the bag on again.

I am thinking about buying a chrome pulley insert, which is basically just a cover for the pulley.

Just trying to gauge the forum's thoughts on the "naked" belt/pulley look...

 

removed both of mine. rode that way for over 2 years with no problems, then it happened.
Picked up a rock in a parking lot at a campground and broke my rear pulley. I think if you keep it off you will have some type of problem.

 

Going on five years without them....havent had any problems. If you ask me, the only purpose for the upper guard is to protect a passenger from having contact with the belt. If debris falls/lands on the belt it would be on the lower portion of the belt then pulled back and around the pulley causing damage. No passenger....no worries.

 

That seems to miss the reason they are there! A pal of mine bought a new Buell Firebolt and rode it over to show it off. He had removed the belt guards because he didn't like the look of them. In just a few miles he had collected a sharp stone through the belt, that had also made a big mess of the rear pulley.

Leaving them off is not as unwise as playing Russian roulette, but be warned!

 

I pulled mine off with the front fender.. Looks a hell of alot better

 

Been running without either since 2008 when I bought the bike. I have had zero problems.

 

some are claiming no problems with them off and others are stating they did have problems, but no one has said they had a problem with them on. i don't gamble thats why mine are on.

 

I've already chimed in about keeping them on, but in over 20 years of belt drive Harleys (I have three at present) I have suffered stone damage in that time once. A small sharp flint pierced the belt in the centre, which was fine for around 4k miles before it started to deteriorate and I replaced it.

Despite that I keep the guards on all my bikes.