A number plate, to be precise, replacing the ubiquitous bracket beloved of designers – or forced upon them by legislators – at the moment.
It’s not remotely fair that they’ve fitted it to the back of a heavily modified FXDR, although that will grab the attention of those who have dismissed the model’s styling … at least until they recognise the swing-arm that has only ever fitted to that bike.
And why did an American company fix this European problem? Surely the domestic model had something more elegant?
As it happens no: they refer to it as The Euro Arm and are as dismissive of it as many are on this side of the pond.
Their solution mounts in the same place on the swinging-arm, even using the original oem bolts, and they’ve been careful to match the finish and unique machine work of the swing-arm.
The result is a premium product that looks like it should always have been there, and takes account of the drive pulley and belt guard.
It is topped off with a frame for the plate itself that you can specify as a mounted vertical or horizontal mount, and which is finished in a gloss black to provide ‘the right amount of contrast’. The frame is wired for an LED illumination light, but will give you something to think about: it won’t hold a legal-sized UK plate … but then black and white is frowned upon too, as is Brush Script as a typeface, so that’ll be the least of your worries.
I’m not aware of anyone acting as distributors for Heartland over here, but the FXDR License Plate Relocation Kit is available from their own website for $519. Sadly, there is no option for a bracket without the license plate, but you can always ask if they’ll sell the bracket alone and make your own arrangements. Tell ’em that I said it would be okay. They will have absolutely no idea who you are talking about, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get.