I installed a HD Brawler Solo Seat for my 2012 Fat Boy Lo today and saw there was a plastic film on the rear fender underneath the passenger part of the stock seat. I'm assuming that was to protect the fender while the seat is on. Anyway, I removed the plastic (it looked really bad with only the solo seat on) and now want to buy the HD passenger pillion that goes with the Brawler solo seat. I know this pillion is carpeted underneath, but will it still scratch the rear fender?

Thanks!

 

Stick the plastic on the bottom of the seat. If yours is junked you can buy a new one. A lot cheaper than painting a fender

 

It won't scratch it so much, but it will wear through the paint.

 

No matter how padded and carpeted a seat bottom is, it will eventually start to wear on your paint if that plastic is not on the fender. And I stress that the plastic has to be on the fender and NOT the bottom of the seat. The reason Harley sticks the plastic on the fender is so that there is something between that seat and the paint that does not move or allow debris underneath it. A passenger seat will do both of those things which is what eventually starts to wear on your paint. Small grains of sand and other particles can work between the seat and fender. When a passenger sits on the seat, you have downward pressure plus vibrations and the motion caused by the person moving on the seat (the seats are not 100% immobile) which causes these small particles to grind into your finish. Even without the introduction of foreign matter, the bottom of a seat (even a carpeted one) will rub the finish over time. Imagine if you took a cloth and just constantly buffed your paint in short fast movements and downward pressure equal to the weight of a person.

If you want to run a passenger seat but want to take it on and off then you may want to consider a fender bib. Look in the parts catalog or on HD site. It is a decorative piece of leather/leather-like vinyl that you bolt on in place of you pillion and covers that area of your fender that has that plastic protector on it.

Some people might argue that the above is not true and maybe if you only have a passenger every now and then and you just go on short trips to your favorite watering hole then you may be okay for a while. This was the case for me when I first started running with a passenger. I then assumed that no harm would come to my fender and continued to run my pillion without the protector. I then took my passenger on an all day trip. You can imagine my disappointment when I took off my pillion and saw the wear marks on my fender at ever pressure point where the seat made contact with the fender.

 

Yeppers a fender bib for solo ridden.

hope Ur warranty is still good since U took off the plastic film.

 

You are so right! I stopped by my dealer and cleared that before I took it off - sad that it has come to where we joke about the warranties and how they can be voided.

 

Thanks! So, I take it I can put the passenger seat directly on the fender bib, which buffers the fender?

 

I don't know if people run them like that or not. But the idea is that you swap them out. When you want to run a solo seat you install the bib. When you want to run two up, you remove the bib and install the seat. The plastic film is what stays on the fender all the time.

 

I leave the bib on and mount the seat over it