First of all I want to know who would be the moron who is riding a hardtail hard in turns at high speeds??????????
Um, some of these morons perhaps?
These are all new bikes at modern racing venues, not some 50 year old bikes in 50 year old pictures. Point is these ~morons~ support an entire industry of going fast on rigid frames. Today.
Why would you tell someone to do that to test the neck of the bike.
I have built over 100 choppers 50 of them XS650. If you are building a Brat bike or a Café bike I would be the first to say leave it in because you may want to cut those turns. Bike sits higher and you can cut turns on it. A Chopper that is 4" off the ground is not a road racer and if you want to kill yourself going fast in turns is a NONO!!!
You build your bike the way you want ITS YOUR BIKE. I have done them both ways and we are talking about a Twin Motor that may reach a top speed of 75 MPH with your teeth and eyes coming out of your head from vibration. COME ON.!!!! I build race frames that go over 200 MPH and the motor has 3 mounts close to 400 HP and go straight and no wobble BUT a XS650 will never come close to that. If you are a novice rider leave as much on the bike as you can it came that way from the factory. If you are just building a Bar Hopper Chopper around town and go to some shows 3 mounts are well enough. I never seen a twin motor without the top mount have enough tork to twist a frame with 3 mounts and have driven them myself many times over 200 miles both on streets with BIG POTHOLES and on Highways. If you are not a chopper fan and you like your stocker so be it I RESPECT THAT but there are other people that look at stock bikes and think they need to look different and you can't blame them for that either. BUILD OR CHOP WHAT YOU WANT ITS YOUR BIKE. And here are a couple pictures of bikes that I built and would not hit a turn in a high speeds!!!! So lets be real!!!
Your narrative is countering itself, so you're saying if you're an expert like you then build it any way you want to, but if you are a (your words) novice or a moron then leave it stock, do I have that right? So build it any way one wants, as long as they meet the standards (set by you) about whether or not a person is a moron or a novice? Oh ok, now I get it.
Uh, just a suggestion here, your ideas may have more credibility with readers if you refrain from making people feel stupid for not doing things your way. So let's be real.
. Y'know whud I mean Vern?
There are right ways and wrong ways to do just about anything. The only problem in this case is that all of the right ways and all of the wrong ways are 100% based on opinions. This is the only fact in this subject worth remembering.
My suggestion on this subject? If you have one single doubt in your mind, then leave the upper mounts in. If you are not 100% certain that it won't cause you problems then do not do it. Conversely, if you have utmost confidence that it will work fine and you are comfortable with the idea, then take the danged things out and run without them. But I would not suggest doing ANYTHING to your bike that you are not 100% comfortable with. The last thing I'd want is to lay awake at night fretting about some decision I've made about my playbike. Or to dive into some corner a little hot and have that doubt lingering in the back of my mind as I struggle to keep everything as smooth and in control as possible while I deal with my overspeeding into the corner (even if the doubt is totally unfounded, it's still there, isn't it!!!!! Taking up "brain CPU" all the while I am needing every brain cell available to deal with the roadbound drama at present). The bike is supposed to be my bringer of good things, not my creator of worries. So I'd suggest that if you have even the smallest of doubts about removing the upper mount
(whether those doubts are unfounded or not!) then don't cause yourself undue grief .......
........ just leave it in and let alllllllll of the kewl kids point and laugh at you because you're too uncool to run without the establishment's upper engine mount (doesn't it all seem a bit silly when put in to realistic perspective?).
So the moral of this story kids? Don't be afraid to run without it ..... and ..... don't be afraid to run WITH IT either. If it gives you the heebie geebies to run without the upper mount then don't be afraid of being TRUE TO YOURSELF instead of being true to some counterculture look. Do what you are comfortable with. The bike is supposed to serve you, not the other way around. If running without it makes you uneasy then be like the rest of us dorks and proudly run with it.
Haahaaahaa!
(Hey man, I know my place in the social pecking order, and I'll not apologize for that either.
)
Me? I'm using it. Call me naïve, I'd say it's a fair assessment.