John,
The plate comes off quite easily, it's only spot welded to the fork shroud:
I drilled the four welded areas to weaken them, then waggled and levered it a bit until it came away. Don't get too 'medieval' on it though, you can mangle the shroud as it's quite soft. You should be left with, at worst, a few dents or holes and the area where the plate was which will be bare metal. I just put tape over mine, but you could always paint it if you're fussy
