So Bail are you saying you cut yours off in place too?

 

I also 'removed' mine.....not cut....and used the Bruiser's Inc. bracket to keep all tied together.....no problems yet!!!

 

HD has been removing parts for years from the Touring bikes and then selling them to us owners of later model years as "accessories"--e.g. passenger grab rails, air dam/baffle, etc.

If the rear grab rail ("support tube" in Harley speak) wasn't functional, they would not have produced the new one for use on the '06-'08 SG's (that doesn't have the license plate mounting points found on RK, EG Standard, RG) IMO.

But lots of guys have removed the grab rail and haven't had a problem, and I have never seen any quatifiable data on "flex" issues.

 

There is NO frame flex. There may be some flex of the fender struts, but because there are many other attachment points (also unrelated to the frame), there are no adverse effects to the handling of the M/C.

Get a parts book and see for yourself.

 

I took mine off, cut the bar as far back as possible. Chucked it in the lathe, used a cut-off tool, got a chrome plug from Lowes and it came out sweet. You could do the same thing with a pipe cutter. Take a look at the attached photos. No extra flex in the frame noticed yet.

 

Had a buddy cut it 1/2 " behind indent. Threaded for 14/20 bolt and installed the nuts on the end.

 

Edellavedova, when I cut the bar off mine I just went to the NAPA store and bought the chromed plugs and snapped them in.

Ok, as far as the frame flex........why is it that the only bikes that HAD the stupid bar on them was the baggers if flex is such a major problem? Folks load the crap out of every other model that Harley makes and haul *** all over creation without anybody worrying about frame flex. Maybe it's because the frame horns on the baggers are a heck of alot stronger than the cheesy license plate mount. That bar is just that, a plate mount. And now that the MOCO found a different place to mount the plate even the 09 baggers don't have that bar anymore. So either the MOCO is using way better steel in the frame horns now or maybe it never was a concern........

I put 6000 miles on my EG without the bar and with no problems whatsoever.

Just my humble opinion.......

 

I powder coated mine black which helped it blend in but still give some dimension on the rear end. I think it looks better black than gone. MTCW.

 

Klock Werks, sells frabricated parts that are to be matched color wise that will make your 08 look like a 09, I would assume that is removes the chrome tube and replaces it will painted filler pieces like the 09's have.. just a thought... I poke with this company at Hals HD at the 105th. Real nice people!

RJ

 

MassHD, I marked mine with a marker while it was on, removed it, then cut with cut-off wheel. I probably could have tried with it in place and used towels for spark protection, but figured the extra 20 minutes in removal gave me piece of mind and no chances of jumping with the cut-off wheel and hitting undesired areas.