I am trying to decide on how to deal with the support hoop on the back.

Putting aside that the hoop is structual or not...still thinking about that as well.

Not sure if I want to get rid of the hoop and go with the AutoGem lights and use as run/brake or go with the Stealth Rack...not to many pictures of personal bikes with this on but have seen it in person and it looks pretty cool. It would be just for looks because I have a rack with my backrest for hauling.

I am getting ready to get the Street Glide rear fascia with the fillers and the Tri-Bar light and am removing the turn signal bar and mounting the plate under a Low Profile smoked tail light lens. I will add some turn signal leds in the bags or somewhere.

With the smoother look with the turn signal bar gone and the plate under the tail light I am leaning on getting rid of the hoop for a smoother look but afraid it will always be on my mind about the structual integrity of the rear with it gone....I know there are different openions on this but we know what they say about openions...LOL

Please help me decide.

Thanks,
Greg

 

Bump...

 

Its not a rg but here is my eg that i converted to a sg. Just to give you some ideas.=)

 

iam thinking of doing the same thing...would like to be sure that removing the hoop dosent screw up anything.....i had a friend cut flush l.e.d. lightbars in the filler strip and painted them...looked good but not really brite enough

 

Hello,

I have done precisely what you are contemplating. The support hoop is for a tour pack. The support hoop once unbolted, slides out of its support (like a trombone). The auto gems come with mounting brackets and instructions. The mounting brackets are chromed, so if you want them to blend in to your paint scheme, you'll have to get them painted/powdercoated. I ultimately removed stock rear fender, fabricated a fiberglass extended rear fender, frenched in the license plate, and added a tear drop brake/running light. Gave it a "lowered" look. Eventually swapped it all out, so now I have the auto gems and a stretched rear fender on the shelf. You can do it easily. Good Luck.

 

This is what I did to my SG. I left the hoop on, If I need extra tie down space for a jacket or what ever I have it. You cant just remove it entirely. You need the ends to bolt the struts onto at the fender. I know you could hack saw the ends off. I like it on my 08' as I have a 09' fender installed. For those that don't know, the 09's don't have the hoop.

 

For a truly "clean" look, you may want to address the recessed bolt head that is located at the bottom of the RG fender (and all Touring model fenders '08 and older, at least) and the antenna holes in the SG facia. The bolt head is covered by a stick on cloisonne on a stock RG; and HD sells rubber plugs to cover the holes in the SG facia that aren't used. Neither of these is a very "clean" look IMO.

As for removing the chrome support tube ("hoop" as you called it), I had my bike apart for paint and got a chance to look at the rear frame, struts, etc., and it seemed obvious to me, a non-engineer, that the support tube "boxes" the rear of the frame adding structural strength. But I have no empirical data to prove that one way or the other. For me, I'm satisfied that if HD could save $5 by not having the support tube, HD wouldn't have it on the bike.

On my paint project, I did some bodywork to cover the bolt head and fill in the antenna holes while retaining the chrome support tube and I'm happy with the result.

Good luck with your project.

 

I removed the hoop and put in screw in spike from bruisers/cruisers cannot remember the company that deal in baggers only. I have the "hoop" off a year and have not noticed any diffrence in handling or movement of the fender. I like this look better than the autogems. If you like I can take a pic, but stuck at work now and no means to connect the camera phone to the computer here. Sorry

 

 

Dawg, sick, just sick.. I think I'm going to huuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrlllllllllllllll.