You'all might get a kick out of this, but I fabbed my saddlebag guards out of 1/2" copper pipe. I got my bags a couple of days before I was leaving on a 3 day motorcycle trip and hadn't found the guards and in a pinch, I decided to make them. One of my buddies had made his from metal rod and I bought three sticks and measured and started bending the rod and was nearly done with the first one when it snapped on a bend. Halfway through the second rod, it snapped as well. Frustrated, I started brainstorming and just happened to see a 10' piece of copper pipe standing in the corner of my garage and the idea hit me. First I started trying to bend it unsuccessfully. Then I saw the bag of copper 90 degree elbows sitting on my bench and it all made sense. I measured each piece and started cutting the copper, with a pipe cutter. I fitted all the pieces together loosely and held it up to the bike, marking angles etc. until I had it in mind what I needed to do. I then took the two pieces that needed to mount to the frame, under the chrome bar, and flattened the ends with a hammer. When you hammer copper, it gets real hard! Then I drilled 3/8" holes in the flattened pipe where the backrest chrome side piece bolts would go through it. I measured everything one more time, eyeballing it next to the bike, using the saddlebags to see where it needed to hang. I marked each elbow and pipe where they came together with a permanent marker so that when I drilled them they would be lined up. Took it back into my shop and drilled 1/8" holes through the elbow and into the pipe, and used small sheet metal screws to screw it together. Then after it was finished and I made sure it matched up to the bolt holes on the bike, I simply wrapped the entire guard with good quality black electrical tape.
The hammered flat pieces fit up between the chrome piece and the bike frame and the bolts were long enough to go back through, no problem. It works, and seems strong enough to keep the bags level. I've loaded both bags down and it hasn't ever drooped. Like I said, I was in a pinch, but I'll leave them as long as it works. Cost was minimal. You can see the bags on the bike in the gallery. If someone wants closeups, I'll shoot some and post them... One mod to this might be to use a torch and solder the elbows on. I didn't have the torch or the solder so I decided to use the sheet metal screws.