So... I'm looking at my 2015 Iron 883 and that glossy black drive belt cover just is ugly as anything can be. I'm going flat black on everything and that frame and the belt cover are all glossy and it annoys me.

Taking the entire bike apart to repaint the frame seems extreme... but removing that belt cover is pretty simple and might let me feel a little better about my war on chrome and shiny black stuff.

What's the downside on removing that cover? Any real world grief that can happen or is it installed to make the lawyers happy and people stupid enough to put their fingers in moving parts?

 

It's there to prevent rocks/other objects from getting in the belt. One rock can destroy your belt.

Plenty of people run without the covers and have no problems. I'd say unless you ride on dusty or rocky roads a lot that there is nothing to worry about. You could remove it completely.

 

You'll find recommendations both to leave it on and take it off! You really must make up your own mind on that. I will simply tell you of a pal who rode his new shiney Buell home and took off the ugly guards, before visiting to show off his lovely new bike. In less than 100 miles and only a few hours he had picked up a sliver of stone and split his drive belt and damaged the rear pulley. By contrast I've owned belt drive Harleys for 25 years and only had one belt suffer stone damage - with the guards on! How lucky do ya feel?!

 

I've been running without belt guards since I got my first belt driven bike in 1989 and have never had a problem with anything getting in there.
300,000+ miles on my '89 FXR, 30,000 miles on my '99 Electra Glide Standard and a couple of years and about 15,000 miles on my '01 Dyna.

No belt guards on any of them and no problems.