Pack for a weekend and the FTR gives you nowhere to put any of it. The pillion area looks beautiful and it is completely useless as a place for luggage.
The top plate is wide enough to give a big duffle a real base, and tapered to follow the shape of the pillion seat so it still looks right with nothing on it. The side plates are cut to play off the angles already in the tail section, so the rack reads as part of the bike rather than something strapped to it.
There are multiple tie points across the plate and the sides, so you are not looping every strap around the same two corners or under the subframe. Load it front to back, side to side, or over the top.
It is also the part that sets the width of the pannier frames, so if hard luggage is coming later, this is what it mounts to.
Same 4.75mm 5052-H32 aluminum as the skid plate, matte black powder coat. All the hardware is in the box.