What decided me to spend £230 for these rear guards was a You tube video by someone with a new Heritage who had a minor spill on it. He said he was fitting the guards because amongst other things one saddlebag had needed to be replaced after his spill and cost him over a $1000 to replace. I thought, 'no way, must have misheard him'. Then I checked the price in the UK for one complete saddlebag - £823! Each! Guards ordered ASP.

 

The Viking Tourpak installation was fairly easy. If you are using either of the H-D tourpak racks, the Viking hardware is way too large. I used 5/16 coarse thread with nylon locking nuts. I bought 1 1/2 in length, but I inch would have been easier.

If you are careful locating your drilled holes, you can get about 3/4 inch forward-back adjustment. I took a quick spin around the block and I believe this set up will work well for longer trips. I'll revert back to the solo luggage rack for daily fun. If I leave the tour pak on very long, I've learned that I will add "stuff" I rarely need and find myself carrying an additional forty ponds around. I downsized from touring bikes to get away from that.

There are no key blanks around here so I order a couple from Viking. The only local key grinders in a store were Home Depot and WalMart and with limited capability for single side key grinding only. All other locksmiths listed seem to be mobile and less interested in making keys from blanks than helping folks locked out of cars, etc.

 

They're a good fit for the Heritage guards - I'd wait for a warm day to slip them on because the plastic can seem a bit brittle. Having them warm makes it a little easier to just slip them on.

Steve

 

I have no idea how they determine their pricing either. I generally use www.surdyke.com for my OEM stuff when I can and they're always cheaper than the HD website. They were higher ($6) than BigSky on these, but lower on others. One comment I'll make about Surdyke is they always seem to have shipping free for orders over $149 with the caveat that it only applies to the first 20 pounds of merchandise. The second thing I'll say is that if you decide to order from Surdyke then don't be in a hurry. It will take a while. Luckily I'm retired and stopped being in a hurry a few years back. LOL

 

Placed order with Big Sky yesterday. Just got notification they were shipped, so quick responce. UPS ground, so it will take a few days, that is If the UPS trucks can make it through all the snow out that-a-way.

 

Nice! I am going to take a long look at that place. I really like Surdyke but man they are slow. Looks like I need to set up an account.

Please let me know about the install. I think these will look good on our bikes for sure.

And man after a long time on touring bikes I'm loving my Softail Heritage. What an awesome ride.

Keep me posted if you would.

Thanks and ride safe.

 

Hey Frank! Can I ask how much shipping was?

 

Free for orders over $150

 

Nice! Same as Surdyke and much faster shipping at that. Thanks I can't wait to see how they look.

 

For anyone running the Viking trunk...have you come up with a liner that fits inside pretty well?