Bones and Mesh

[Mudbill]

Yeah, I think you should be able to remove those, but it would leave a hole around his neck. You'd have to stitch that up and map the texture to the new faces. Same problem would occur if the texture was invisible, I would think. There would be nothing connecting his neck to his body (that is, if the wheel is extruded directly from his neck and not added as a separate object).

Edit: I took a closer look and it seems the wheel does not connect to his neck. You should be safe to remove it or make it invisible without having to do much more.