Ok- you are right
You asked for an opinion, I gave mine as a professional machinist-
You as a former sign painter say its impossible to change an emblem, you are right.
Just wondering why is the font, the depth of the lettering and the patina different on kawasaki from the rest of the emblem?
And I apreciate your opinion but you are missquoting me. I did not say that a logo is impossible to change. What I said was, "as a retired professional sign painter I know how touchy Harley is about use of their logo." Anyone caught using their logo, in any manner at all, without their permission is setting themselves up for one heck of a law suit. That includes anyone thinking they can use it by simply altering it a little. They are extremely touchy about it! As a sign painter I had to be very much aware of copywrite issues where logos are concerned. I painted many signs for motorcycle dealers, many that sold Harley's, and even though they sold them they had to get special permission to even put up a Harley sign. Some were refused permission and so quit selling them! Those that didn't get permission, and put up a Harley sign, found themselve's lip deep in crap from Harley Davidson.
Back to the bar, I don't have a picture of the sissy bar that I own. The one in the pic is the identicle one off Ebay. I simply copied and pasted to show what the logo looks like so there is at least two in existance. The one on Ebay and mine. Mine looks like brand new and the chrome is unblemished. Try to understand, you are looking at a rather poor pic of what apears, to me at least, a dirty sissy bar so it's hard to tell the depth of the background around the lettering and the lettering itself. I have an actual sissy bar to inspect and mine is unblemished in any way. Also, while it's very similar to a Harley logo, the shield is shaped a bit differant. Believe me, I considered your opinion but stop to think. The sissy bar is not all that thick to begin with. To grind off an emblem completely, then take out the background to about 1/2 inch ( the hight of the letters ) then the sissy bar would be very thin where the background is, but it's not. The clencher is that the surface of the lettering is the same exact hight of the sissy bar's surface itself. To have altered the emblem the surface of the modified lettering would have to be lower if something was ground off. The only way it couldn't be would be if the original logo was raised beyond the surface of the bar wich would put it uncomfortably poking a rider in the back and no bar I've looked at is made like that. to get to the bottom of it I'm going to email Kawasaki a pic and ask them if it was produced by them. I'll let you know when I get an answer.