who keeps that secondary rear plastic fender thing.. why?

My shelf of worthless parts is full so I stored mine on the side of a very rough road in Guatemala. It's probably being used to haul vegetables by now.

I lost it because I am ALL of those things. I'm a child who doesn't read every town's laws before I ride through them, and I utterly disrespect my fellow (ha!) riders. Fuck all ya'll!

Or, I took it off because I know it's going to break anyway, but I'm not pompous about it.

Same here, donated it to a poor family in a small Africa country in whose yard I pitched my tent in '07.
4 years on and they still use it to cultivate a small communal vegetable garden. I get a postcard every Christmas.
S'True

It's a good place to stick your ADV decal.

Off and in the trash can. It "works" when I do not have the cases on. When the cases are on, the airflow screws with that thing and splatters road grime etc all over the back of the bike. Without it, everything stays relatively clean.

lol. Keep paying it forward. Love the post.

....there's the ADV spirit I know and love.

Left it on so far. Hasn't bothered me. Didn't ever think about it until this post.

Thanks for the reminder to go and spendy spend w/ Sticker Man!

Was pushing the bike back from a gas pump a couple of years back, the thing was bent and caught on the wheel, ripped it off. Haven't bothered for a couple of years now. Can't have done much, as haven't noticed any difference

I've broken two of the little buggers off. Not on my bike though.... First one was a rental bike in Arizona a couple of years ago. We were off road bouncing around with full panniers and one hard bottom-out later it was on the trail behind me. The second one was on a friend's bike and I only claim responsibility because the bike went over on a trailer and the offending strap was one I had checked. The only casualty? The hugger. I offered to replace it but he insists it looks better without.

In my humble opinion, the things are a pain. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd take the one off my bike. Maybe it'll just break off....

Has anyone actually read a law that says it's required? I checked the California vehicle code, and could only find a rule about fenders being "sufficient" or something like that, for vehicles with three or more wheels. Nothing about bikes.

My '02 GSA did not come with one so I thought I coud live without it on my '09 GSA. The big advantage I saw not having ot on is you won't have to remove it before removing the wheel for a tire change.

My rule of thumb is if it breaks or falls off and dosen't make the bike run, it goes in the trash.

You don't have to remove it to remove the wheel!

My Harley buddies joke about my goofy little fender. I will keep mine if only to annoy them.

That may be the best reason yet.

Yeah. It's not a law per se. It was an import/export requirement, IIRC, imposed by the EU and then rubber stamped by the US. It was because the rear fender did not protrude far enough downward to cover the rear wheel. Again, IIRC, BMW had already put the bike into production so they came up with that little goodie to make the commandos at the compliance bureau happy.:huh

Mine exploded over the Salt Flats out in Utah's west desert. That odd salt/mud combo is some heavy stuff! Also i dont know anything about the law of the fender because, for some reason, my bike goes way over the speed limit. And I think I should fix that legal issue before I worry about a plastic fender...

I keep mine on because it was designed by BMW German engineers and they are not to be questioned. It will operate as designed IF you maintain it properly!