I don't remember if the rear bumper came on all the touring bikes with hard bags or not. I want to leave mine off. Do I need to make a connecting bracket between the bag mount rails and tie into the rear fender?

 

You have to have a bracket to brace the saddlebag holders and rear fender. HD makes the bracket to let you do this. It is the stock bracket for the Street Glide, Road Glide, CVO's that come stock without the bumper.

Bill

 

I've had mine off without a bracket for a good while now, no issues thus far.

 

probably won't hurt anything without the bracket, but yeah the intent is to install one.

most of the ones I've seen are flat stock, but I've now seen two that were fab'd with square stock and are clearly much, much stronger. No idea on a part number on the latter...

 

You'll want to install the bracket used on the SG, RG, and RK Custom models; i.e. those without fender tip lights and bumpers--it's part no. 91140-04. It's the part I used on my '04 EG when I did the SG fender/fascia swap 4+ years ago. And I have seen RK's and EG's w/o the rear bumper and w/o the replacement part, and the chrome struts do separate from the fender.

Without a bracket, the chrome struts will spread away from the fender.

Carl

 

double check with your dealer , but I think the part number you need is 91140-04

 

When I removed my bumper I used the mount made by Drag Specialties. Just some bent flat bar powdercoated black is all it is. But you definatley need it to hold the saddlebag brackets in tight to the bike.

 

I rode without the bracket for a while and things started flapping back there a bit. No problems once the bracket was installed. I would get it.