Soft Lowers
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 13,107
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From: Texas, USA
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Cruiser
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 127
Likes: 1
From: Texas
Road Captain
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 647
Likes: 7
From: Corning, Ohio
I've a set of soft lower for my Heritage. A word of caution, when installed on a Heritage using the regular engine guard, the brake pedal may mve forward enough to get caught in the fastening devices of the lowers. I simply gound out a notch in the brake arm, welded it over and sprayed some clear coat over the area. Works great. And to answer the other question about helping, YES they do. They move the air around you and doesn't allow as much to come up around the tank.
I just tried a set of the new HD soft lowers on my bike and they really do work to keep the cold air and rain off of your feet and lower legs. I did notice that some of the wind hits higher up now on my legs that are above the top of the lowers, but it is definitely more diffused and your legs stay warmer and drier.
The new soft lowers actually have a hard plastic insert in them to keep them rigid so they hold even with the front of the engine guards and don't flap around. This also ensures that the brake pedal won't hit the soft lower since the rigid plastic inside holds it far enough away from it. They have side zippers in them that you can open for the use of highway peg mounts. They definitely stay on solidly and don't flap. The only issue is that they don't detach from the plastic inside, so if you have smaller saddlebags, there is no way you can take them off, roll them up, and stow them somewhere if you choose.
I also noticed that the instructions tell you to wrap the straps around the frame downtube on either side of the bike. Problem with this is that if it is flapping around at all, it can chafe the powdercoat on the frame, and on the right side, it will come close to the hot exhaust pipe. So what I did was just wrap the lower strap around the floorboard mounting bracket and then take the upper left strap and crisscross it in front of the downtube and connect it to the right side buckle and did the same with the right side strap connecting it to the left side buckle, so basically the upper part of the lowers are connected to each other and the lower part is wrapped around the corresponding floorboard bracket. This keeps all of the straps off your downtubes and everything holds nice and tight (at least up to my personal speed test of 85mph anyway...).
The new soft lowers actually have a hard plastic insert in them to keep them rigid so they hold even with the front of the engine guards and don't flap around. This also ensures that the brake pedal won't hit the soft lower since the rigid plastic inside holds it far enough away from it. They have side zippers in them that you can open for the use of highway peg mounts. They definitely stay on solidly and don't flap. The only issue is that they don't detach from the plastic inside, so if you have smaller saddlebags, there is no way you can take them off, roll them up, and stow them somewhere if you choose.
I also noticed that the instructions tell you to wrap the straps around the frame downtube on either side of the bike. Problem with this is that if it is flapping around at all, it can chafe the powdercoat on the frame, and on the right side, it will come close to the hot exhaust pipe. So what I did was just wrap the lower strap around the floorboard mounting bracket and then take the upper left strap and crisscross it in front of the downtube and connect it to the right side buckle and did the same with the right side strap connecting it to the left side buckle, so basically the upper part of the lowers are connected to each other and the lower part is wrapped around the corresponding floorboard bracket. This keeps all of the straps off your downtubes and everything holds nice and tight (at least up to my personal speed test of 85mph anyway...).
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Cruiser
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 127
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From: Texas
[QUOTE= I did notice that some of the wind hits higher up now on my legs that are above the top of the lowers, but it is definitely more diffused and your legs stay warmer and drier.
The chrome windshield lowers keep the air off the top part of your legs.
The chrome windshield lowers keep the air off the top part of your legs.
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Good to know! Been thinking about these for my Deuce, but the OE bags are so freakin small I doubt the soft lowers would fit in them.
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,973
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From: Omaha
I've a set of soft lower for my Heritage. A word of caution, when installed on a Heritage using the regular engine guard, the brake pedal may mve forward enough to get caught in the fastening devices of the lowers. I simply gound out a notch in the brake arm, welded it over and sprayed some clear coat over the area. Works great. And to answer the other question about helping, YES they do. They move the air around you and doesn't allow as much to come up around the tank.
With the lowers and "fangs" installed it keeps lots of wind and rain off.
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