Sissy bar for road king special
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 11,471
Likes: 2,998
From: Charleston, SC
The ebay/amazon mounts suffer usually in the cheap plastic they use for the round rubber isolators.
They are made of some low quality plastic and deform/crack easily. The metal part of the mounts themselves are usually ok.
I tried several of the ebay versions and ended up using a chinezium mount but replaced the isolators with HD brand and it works great now.
Also, the actual passenger back rests on ebay/amazon that I and my cheap friends tried have worked fine. Surprisingly good actually.
You can definitely see a difference between HD and off shore quality but not 100's of dollars worth in my opinion.
Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/18474058790...Cclp%3A2047675
They are made of some low quality plastic and deform/crack easily. The metal part of the mounts themselves are usually ok.
I tried several of the ebay versions and ended up using a chinezium mount but replaced the isolators with HD brand and it works great now.
Also, the actual passenger back rests on ebay/amazon that I and my cheap friends tried have worked fine. Surprisingly good actually.
You can definitely see a difference between HD and off shore quality but not 100's of dollars worth in my opinion.
Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/18474058790...Cclp%3A2047675
Cruiser
Joined: Dec 2021
Posts: 157
Likes: 122
From: Ohio
The good- All the parts were there. It's definitely sturdy & once I had it installed, it's not coming off.
The bad- Nothing quite fits "right", it took a lot of finagling & I even had to use my vice to spread the bar to get it to fit on the mounts. Still, I had to loosen all the bolts on the mounts to install the sissy bar then re-tighten them. Now, to remove the sissy bar I'd have remove the bags & loosen the mounts. Luckily, I'm okay with leaving it on.
This whole experience is completely different than my Uncle's when he put a genuine HD sissy bar kit on his Street Glide- it fit & worked perfectly.
As far as the backpad, I went to the local HD dealer (Valley HD in WV) & bought an HD backpad for $75. I even had to modify the stock HD backpad mount as it's totally flat. Any pressure from above on the backpad would cause it to slide. Into the vice it went with soft rubber to protect it & a little sweat/cussing later, I had the top curved enough were it won't move. I guess what I'm saying is that nothing seems to be perfect anymore, but you still seem to get a better product when you spend a little more money. Pics-
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,600
Likes: 4,042
From: Virginia
4 pt docking kit gives you more options down the road, tourpak or luggage rack etc. you can buy the parts online and do the install yourself and save some dough.
Thread Starter
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Advanced
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 71
Likes: 31
From: South Jersey
First phot is a hogworkz, second is a knock off brand sold by Dennis Kirk. Basically I'm around $150ish for harley brand and hogworkz OR $100 for a knock off brand....harley does give you 1year warranty AND points if I use my harley card at the dealer?
Then buy a knock off sissy bar like mentioned above which I was looking at anyways
Then buy a knock off sissy bar like mentioned above which I was looking at anyways
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 20,616
Likes: 4,440
From: anacoco, la
as far as the docking hardware goes, it's only attached to the bike by 4 bolts. if you think it is that hideous to have on full time, remove those 4 bolts and take it off. only takes a couple of minutes. that's what i do with mine. i use it for my tourpack, but when i'm not using the tourpack, the docking kit sits in the bottom of the toolbox drawer that i have for that kind of stuff.
like lp, i have the chinese docking hardware, and have replaced the bushings with the genuine hd bushings and it works pretty good.
like lp, i have the chinese docking hardware, and have replaced the bushings with the genuine hd bushings and it works pretty good.
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Thread Starter
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Advanced
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 71
Likes: 31
From: South Jersey
as far as the docking hardware goes, it's only attached to the bike by 4 bolts. if you think it is that hideous to have on full time, remove those 4 bolts and take it off. only takes a couple of minutes. that's what i do with mine. i use it for my tourpack, but when i'm not using the tourpack, the docking kit sits in the bottom of the toolbox drawer that i have for that kind of stuff.
like lp, i have the chinese docking hardware, and have replaced the bushings with the genuine hd bushings and it works pretty good.
like lp, i have the chinese docking hardware, and have replaced the bushings with the genuine hd bushings and it works pretty good.
