So my bike finds itself in a situation where the upper belt guard seems to contact the fender above it on bigger hits...I had removed it and like the look and am happy about the decision...

Heres the thing... I ride 2up a bit and have found myself concerned that my wifes pants leg could come into contact and maybe cause a problem...she has a lot of jeans with frayed bottoms.

Do you think this may be a problem? I put the guard back on for now(thought about this last night) and other than hearing the contact(which is rare but does happen) there is no damage to the guard or the fender in any way.

the lower guard stays off!

 

i pulled mine for the same reason... i just let her know to watch out for it when she is on... we have logged alot of miles together and not really had issues... i just was on the phone with her while i read this, asked her advice... she said she wears her "skinny leg jeans", and tries not to touch the fast moving belt... if all else fails get on your own bike and not worry about it...
i am still nervous at times when she has had a few drinks and is on back having a good time that she will forget and get a rude awkening... i was thinking that i may cut my belt guard and just bolt the section that is by her heel... that would protect her while ride... hell i just thought of that... great idea! i am going home to do it... it would still bolt up to the normal location on the foot peg, she would be safe, it would not hit my fender, and would look cool as hell!

 

It's kind of like a crash though, never planned always on the look out to avoid, but sometimes an accident will happen. Just the thought (of course my mind is always worst case scenario) of the belt hooking into the jeans and pulling her foot into it and chewing it to shreds, if not off. I guess I've seen to much on the job, but that would be my fear. So, I wonder if you could make the belt guard a little lower profile

 

Let me know how you feel when your wife's (or someone else's) pants leg gets caught in the belt and there is severe injury. Murphy's Law will always be at play here. Tempting Murphy by taking off the upper belt guard, is going unnecessarily way up on the "ladder of risk." An occasional clunk when the belt guard hits the fender....so what...

 

I guess I am trying to understand is, you are concerned about her pants leg getting caught in the rear sprocket? Unless her pants are dangling around the lower part of the sprocket, I don’t see how this would happen. I wouldn’t worry about it, unless are going 30+ in reverse. Personally I don’t and never have ran belt guards.

 

It's a lot more likely that her ankle will touch the belt and get a friction burn. The belt is moving forward and unless she puts her foot between the belt and the swing arm I can't see a problem. Is she pigeon toed ? Sorry couldn't pass that one up. I would be more worried about a burn than something catastrophic happening to her foot.

 

Damn it Loner, your right, Unless you got reverse on that bike, to busy thinking like a little kid and the primary sprocket on a bicycle

 

I can see a situation where wind combined with the longer frays may touch the belt and get grabbed by it... if it does and pulls her leg foward toward the sprocket she will panic and who knows what could happen... I put my guards back on for now... They really don't hit much and I increased my preload a notch and have not had em hit at all since...
If it persists I think I'll cut out the area of the guard where the fender makes contact.

 

or teach her to ride 70's chopper style with her legs wrapped around you

 

Or, mount the passenger pegs off the top shock mount.

mud