The guys at Suzuki put the fender there for a functional reason, not for looks.  I'm worried that if I perform this cosmetic surgery on my bike, the rear tire will kick up some stones and break my taillight or nick my rear fairing.  Do I really have to worry about this at all?

My inner fender is trimmed to just below the license place.  I've never had any problems.  I'd say 50% at least of the GS riders here have done a fenderectomy and I've never heard one person say it was a bad idea (well, one guy did, but he hadn't done a fenderectomy, he just thought it was dumb).

I don't think you'll regret it.  If you ride in the rain on a regular basis, you might want to keep it.   

what difference would riding in the rain do to your riding?  Or is it courtesy for other people BEHIND you?

 I have done the mod to my 05 F it cleans up the look of the rear quite nice. [ FREE ] I also noticed that in the rain the [ ROOSTER TAIL ] I now have makes the cars hang back farther making my ride much safer. Good looks and safety to boot all for FREE!

When I bought my bike, the previous owner had done a fenderectomy up to the bottom of the license plate.  This means I can't really compare, but I think there have been two things that have happened:
1. More spray in the rain, both at the car behind you and on the back of my bike
2. Weakened the integrity of the rear fender, causing the wide rear turn signals to vibrate a lot at some speeds (I never noticed the signals vibrating, but my dad mentions it when he follows me). 

If it wasn't done when I got my bike, I'm not sure if I would have done it...  But one of these days I plan on getting shorter (Buell) turnsignals that hopefully won't vibrate so much

The only reason the fender is that long to begin with is for licence plates in the UK and  other countries... It isnt going to effect anything if you dont have a plate that is that big.. cut it off.. It looks soo much better! 

Its a DOT thing to have it so low I believe or maybe the european as someone said. Like 18 wheelers are required to have mud flap to protect cars windshields or something to that effect. Mine is cut right below the licence plate and I have never had any mud spray on my back or rocks fly up at me. Nor have I noticed the high speed vibration. I would take a rotozip or some small cutting tool, draw a line, and use a file to finish it off. Its a pretty innocent and hazard free mod, also free in the way of cost!

-ash

I've been thinking about doing this on my 05 bike, but I'm still not sure... 

but anyway, if you had this procedure done and want to go 'back in time' and restore the fender, I found this informative guide to do it for only $4.95 
http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15947

you do get more water spraying up on the taillight but you dont get any on your back.

I completely eliminated the fender... Only drawback was the undertail getting a little dirty.

I cut mine right below the plate...  I ride in the rain a lot...  It does spray more on your tail light and the guy behind you, but that's pretty much it.

Quote from: fettcols on February 14, 2006, 11:52:14 AM
I completely eliminated the fender... Only drawback was the undertail getting a little dirty.

The inner fender is there to stop Camerys, right?

you could always cut the rear fender, drill in a couple of holes and attatch a rubber mudflap when it looks like there will be rain.

Quote from: Jake D on February 14, 2006, 12:59:08 PM

Quote from: fettcols on February 14, 2006, 11:52:14 AM
I completely eliminated the fender... Only drawback was the undertail getting a little dirty.

The inner fender is there to stop Camerys, right?

Well, the swingarm and rear wheel did a good job of that. You should have seen it, my plate scratched a good fifteen inches back his hood.

Remember that an object released from a rotating body will have a velocity perpendicular to the radius of rotation.

In my little illustration below you will see that it is not possible to get wet.  The tangent line extending from the back of the taillight to the surface of the tire proves this.  This is the maximum angle water can be expected to travel past the taillight, negating the effects of gravity.

You can also see just how ineffective the stock fender is.  The fender ends right along the tangent line, so it offers no increased protection over the taillight!




Cut it off!   

Quote from: GeeP on February 14, 2006, 06:44:20 PM
Cut it off!

Math is hard


I vote for cut-it-off too...

Yay math! That's well illustrated.

I kinda like the look of the rooster-tail that pops off of bikes without rear fenders. Makes it look like a jet-ski!

will a fenderectomy decrease the actual value (moneywise) of a 2005?

I'm getting convinced to do it, but I want to be sure.

Would putting a hugger on keep some of the dirty, muckymuck from under the tail, on the headlight, etc?

Quote from: subc on February 14, 2006, 09:37:04 PM
will a fenderectomy decrease the actual value (moneywise) of a 2005?

Nope.  Not unless the buyer is extremely picky.