Disclaimer: I know a good number of riders (with saddlebags) don't use bag guards. I don't blame them either. It's a personal thing with each rider and their bike. I've had enough overbalance escapades (no wrecks or slides though) to know that I do like bag guards. However, I've never been much of a fan of the stock guards. They'll prevent bag damage in some drops that happen in 'normal' or level settings, but they're very marginal for other places. They also don't offer quite enough protection for extended H-D bags in my opinion. I did the typical thing of online research and boiled it down to replacing my oem guards with Factory 47 units, or Vindikta guards. After consulting with my chief designer and hawk-eyed navigator, we decided on Vindikta. The chrome guards cost considerably more than black and the delay would be 6-7 weeks. Order placed.

About 4 weeks later they shipped. I was told that Vindikta is one of the absolute top aftermarket manufacturers in terms of quality, appearance and customer satisfaction. They were right. The new guards came out of the box and amazed me instantly. Strong. Bold. Perfect chrome. Custom lines. My wife loved them on sight.



I installed them today. No beer job...that simple. The worst part was needing to remove and clean the saddlebags and other parts. Here they are just after install and before all the cleaning and reassembly.



I had some concerns about the guards looking wrong for the bike. That's hard to explain but we all have our eye for likes and dislikes...rights and wrongs. My first impression was very positive, but I wouldn't know until I got the bike back together and both of us could evaluate them.

The result:







You can decide for yourself if they look good or appropriate on the bike. After our first ride with them and doing multiple walkarounds, they're staying on. The points do project out farther than the oem guards and will maintain additional clearance in the event of a drop. Of course...a bike drop is NOT in the plans. These guards are pricey for sure. But a ruined oem extended bag with custom paint is both costly and a major headache to get replaced. These would prevent that in event of a dropped bike.

Finally...I can and will recommend Vindikta and their products. Great company!

 

Your wife's calfs don't ride on them ? I have a short wife, I see an issue......

 

I could see where someone with short legs (especially short thighs) might contact the upper bar with their calves. The reality is that I just don't really know if it would happen in use. My wife is 5'-8" with longish legs. She was able to feel the upper crossbar if she pulled her feet back. In normal foot placement on her footboards she was unaware of the guards. I wish I could be more helpful, but I simply don't know of a way to be sure how various passengers would feel about these guards.

 

How much farther out then OEM do they project?

 

No way to measure, but here's a couple images for a visual comparison:

OEM:




You can compare the oem guards in these 2 pics to the Vindikta guards in my original post. My guess is the 2 points project outward at least an extra inch. The lower point is the one that will do the most to protect the bag bottoms.

 

My only issue would be the points in a accident causing a injury , but beauty is in the eye of the beholder

 

They go well with your bars 👍

 

I think those bars look fantastic on your bike, nicer than the OEM.
They do look like they’d offer better bag protection as well.
I also notice you have the angled highway peg mounts on the front bars. In the event of an “overbalance escapade” would those mounts turn on the engine guard bar and possibly impact or damage the lower?
Im trying to decide between the angled or the straight billet mounts.

 

I agree with YZR on this one, they do go well with your handle bars and make the bike more " custom coordinated " I also love the paint on your ride...

 

This was a serious consideration for us, and especially for me. I'm very safety-conscious, and protective of my wife. We discussed the guard points and decided they would be very unlikely to cause an injury in the event of simple drop. They actually might help prevent passenger injury by providing more clearance between the bike and the ground or road if in an accident. But ultimately, in an accident there are a myriad things that can injure you. It's really a coin toss/judgment thing. Thanks.

Thanks. The bars are definitely part of the deal visually. The guards matched them extremely well I think.

Appreciate the compliment, and I agree absolutely on better bag protection. My highway pegs are mounted on H-D Adjustable Highway Peg Mounts: https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/e...it/p/50830-07A. They definitely can rotate on the engine guard with a bike drop (proved it with a previous bike), however if they are correctly tightened they don't rotate easily and aren't likely to damage a lower fairing in a simple 'I dropped it' scenario. Part of the equation might be exactly where they are placed on the engine guard also.

The 'custom' effect of the guards is pretty dramatic when seeing them on the bike up close. It's a next-level addition for sure. Might be overkill for some bikes but they seem to fit the picture perfectly on this bike. The paint on this bike has been some of the best money we ever agreed to spend. I probably will build another touring bagger someday but it will be hard to do a paint set that pleases us as much as this one does. Thank you!