Removing the flaps is extreme, but so are we sometimes, and it’ll definitely look much better, otoh it’s not like a particularly unique model that you couldn’t just try to find another one that’ll look better than this one.Removing the flaps would be pretty extreme and the coat would loose part of it's identity. And yeah tightening the cinches did improve the tubular back a lot. Need to be carefull not to over-do it though, otherwise it's not a good look either. I love the huge collar!
I was in a similar position but it was on a very specific model with zero competitors other than custom, so I just went for it and don’t regret it at all, if anything I should’ve done it sooner.


