I'm thinking now the weather is getting warmer *cough cough* of removing the rear mudguard thingy majig. Has anyone else taken theirs off? And does it leave an unsightly hole / patch on the swinging arm?
Three bolts which I put back in to prevent the threads getting contaminated. All of five minutes work and looks a lot better.
I should say, there is no unsightly gap left in the swing arm afterwards with unpainted metal or anything like that.
I removed mine on both my Multistradas as I do not do wet. I have the carbon conquest rear chain guard which uses the same holes and stops 99% of the chain lubricant getting all over the rear wheel rim. Much better look for the rear end.
Function over form for me..........the hugger stops a lot of grit being flung everywhere and damaging the finish of parts in the firing line. I have fitted a large carbon replacement
You are correct Count, I was indeed talking about the very back one. I got 2 huggers with my bike when I bought it a short one and a long one (fitted) I shall be putting the short one on when it's time to take the rear guard off. I cant believe how long your can is Andy, is it off a Gixer? Here's a talking point. I you have a long hugger and the rear mudguard on the bike in the wet does it reduce the tyres ability to disperse water. After all a hugger and guard must keep the water on the tyre for longer.
You only need the tyre to disperse water where it contacts the ground, flinging water into a hugger won't make much difference at the business end. More importantly, long huggers and the rear guard look bad - so they go.
Splash guard aka 'Crud catcher' ;-) .............function over form again for me, surprising how much muck it keeps off the backend of the bike in wet conditions - agree that removal improves looks but it's just another quirky feature of the bike.
Couldn't care less about the odd splash, in my experience inclement conditions always mean getting mucky, bike and rider. I don't want some big lump of plastic making the experience worse still.
Each to their own ..........believe me it's more than the odd splash held at bay - for me keeping my bikes in the best possible condition is important and if that's sometimes at the expense of asthetics so be it.
Took mine off and got some bolts to fill the holes (+ a dob of grease in the rear lower hole) as the originals have large shanks which would leave them sticking out a bit.
Funny old thing what we all like or not. I'm with Andy prefer function over form. Kept mine on to protect bike.
I believe form should follow function, and if the function is correct then the form is perfect. That's why I can't get my head around the stupid mudguards on the Multi ?
Took the ugly POS off mine, ran for 2.5 years without one, come rain or shine - that's what buckets of soapy water and sponges are for. Oddly, the MS doesn't throw any more or less dirt up than any other bike, except GS's of course. Oh and it makes chain adjustment a piece of cake when it isn't fitted.
I'm on the fence, soon as I got the bike the rear mudguard came off (and got short hugger fitted), don't do wet when I can avoid it and looks so much better that way. But when away touring can't avoid the possibility of the odd monsoon....so I'm thinking perhaps put the long hugger and mudguard on while away. Do they really make much difference at keeping the crap off?
...disagree....tried with and without and both on permanently now - of course depends to some extent on what type of roads you ride predominantly, I do a fair bit of country back-road riding and considering the state of our roads now imho there's an even stronger reason to keep them - where there's pot holes there's the grit and rubble that used to be the road surface.
Lol, a result just like any other poll then? The only difference I found was that my back seat used to get dirty, although a lot of that is down to the R&G Tail Tidy, rather than the effect of the Crud Catcher (empirically tested). Never fitted the long Hugger as it is plastic, not CF. Mainly always have a top box on nowadays, so back seat is clean(er) again. I think if I ran with panniers, I would probably leave it on?
