Road Glide banner

Saddlebag guards

5K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  dklanecky 
G
#1 ·
Hello, I'm new to this forum. I should be taking delivery of a 2009 Red Hot Sunglow Road Glide sometime next week. It will be my wife's bike, once I get done testing it, of course. I'm wondering about saddlebag guards, figuring that we'll set it down at some point. Is there a guard beneath the bag already, and does it provide any protection? What protection do the saddlebag guards provide? If it goes over (gently), will these guards help prevent damage to the bags? Is there a consensus (yeah...right) as to whether the 'low profile' guards or the regular guards are better?

Thanks, I was glad to stumble across this forum tonight, and I recognize many of your names from HD Forums.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Hello, I'm new to this forum. I should be taking delivery of a 2009 Red Hot Sunglow Road Glide sometime next week. It will be my wife's bike, once I get done testing it, of course. I'm wondering about saddlebag guards, figuring that we'll set it down at some point. Is there a guard beneath the bag already, and does it provide any protection? What protection do the saddlebag guards provide? If it goes over (gently), will these guards help prevent damage to the bags? Is there a consensus (yeah...right) as to whether the 'low profile' guards or the regular guards are better?

Thanks, I was glad to stumble across this forum tonight, and I recognize many of your names from HD Forums.

No guard under the bags, only the support bar. The guard rails are mainly for looks. The only protection they offer is to keep someone from bumping the bag while the bike its sitting
 
#4 ·
I've gently set mine down twice, once on each side. The engine guard caught the bike both times and other than a bit of a scrape on the bottom of the engine guard, no damage. Once parking, and once in the garage.

If I was me, (depending of course on the wifes ability to handle the big bike) I might add the saddlebag guards. I've seen people put the water pipe insulation (black plastic / foam stuff on their engine guard bars saddlebag guards for the first few "maiden" voyages, just in case.

The reality is that probably something like 90% of the "drops" occur in the driveway / garage / parking manuevers because that is really the only time you feel the weight of the touring bikes. The guard bars will help in those aituations.

At any amount of speed, they are incredibly stable and easy to handle (keep that hand off the front brake).
 
#5 · (Edited)
What saddle bag guards on the FTLR? As it comes from the factory there are none. Are you talking about the hidden saddle bags supports? they provide no protection at all. I droped my glide when some numb skull tried to do a u-turn in front of me. I stopped in time but dropped it do to forward momentum as I locked the rear brakes and the tail swung out. Prolly less than 5 mph at impact, but this was the result...





















I'm sure that any guard such as one of these high or low profile would have prevented any damage....








 
#7 · (Edited)
One of the first things I bought for my New Road Glide was the Bag Rail kit. I have been riding Harley for over 35 years. I know that when there is a low/no speed lay down, the rails will save paint. If the lay down is to the point that the rails would have not made any difference, they would still give me the split second I need to move my legs and get away from the bike to live to get another one. Plus, chrome may not get me home, but it will get me laid. :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top