Nope, he is lucky he was a friend, I probably would have punched him in the face. After his passenger cleaned her drawers out, we took his bike apart and made it rideable, then went back to camp. I found the parts breakdown, he will be fixing my bike.

 

they contain the bags if the fastener comes loose.. i have had a fastener work loose before.. and have heard several storys of the bags sliding down the road by it self..

 

Like boogaloodude I don't care for the way they look. I would like the protection for the bags, I have thinking about making some just one more thing to get around to.

 

Put the HD nostalgic rails on my SE. After having them on my Ultra, I really didnt like the looks of them without the rails. Does give some amount of protection and should the fastners come loose, bad scene to look in your rear view mirrors and seeing the bag sliding down the road.

 

The impact bent the bar which in turn DENTED the saddlebag it was guarding. BTW from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate "Dent-a depression or hollow made by a blow or by presssure.

It is dented not broken or scratched.....

 

If you're talking about the two horizontal bars that run along the bottom edge of the saddlebag? Then my "opinion" are that they are 95% cosmetic. The vertical bar at the front of the bags will take most of the tip over force that the engine crashbar doesn't. And in that RARE instance where the bike is hit from behind with a force EXACTLY at the horizontal bars height and forcing it EXACTLY forward, then yes they can be structural. Kinda like a straw being forced into a tree during a tornado. Those chances are slim though since most car bumpers and all truck bumpers are quite a bit higher. And even if they did - you'll have a lot more damage to deal with anyway.
I left the 5% for when the bags are not secured properly - they'll keep them on until you stop.
To see how week they are just pull up on the outside rear corner of them. They move REAL easy. Not much help holding up 900 lbs of bike!
My 2 cents worth.......

 

Looks are good, but the big bars only help the hard bags in a tip over on flat ground. If their are any other variables involved, the bags are likely to get at least a little damaged. Been there, done that.
My $0.02

aka Bob

 

It's an old school look. I don't like the looks but then that's just my opinion.
I guess they would stop a door ding from a car and not loose the bag going down the highway. Neither one concerns me.

I did put the front bar on, just to help in a slow drop situation.

 

As one who has experienced a few slow drops, the front bar on a bike with extended bags are worthless. The only thing that might save those bags are highway pegs set real low on the engine crash guard and posssibly foot board extenders. Plus a metal plate on the bottom of the bags.

Beary

 

I have a couple different sets of bag guards, just so I can swap out the look...
You should be able to use anything from '99-'07. The frame changed in '08, so those may not fit yer '05.