USCG Cremeans wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:i wonder if you could remove lets say all but two bolts and justpivot the sissy bar and rails forward? i may try it to see how it works. May scratch the paint though
I assume you mean you would leave on bolt on each side. That is definitely possible.
On my 97, the sissy bar spreads the rails apart. When you remove the bolts, the side rails spring out away from the fender. If you remove all but the most forward bolt and loosen that a bit, it should rotate up. But the turn signal wires are also routed through the side rails so that there's only so much you can rotate it.
I think a better plan is to remove all the bolts and have someone hold the assembly in place to keep from scratching the paint.