X2, the Rooster Tail is exactly what you'll get. Right directly in the face!When the rain stops and you're riding on the wet streets, you still get the Rooster Tail, and it sucks Big Time! I love the no front fender look myself, but I get caught in rain way too often to deal with that ridiculous bull ****. It's friggin miserable!

If I was just bar hopping no big deal. But 95% of my rides are over 50 miles from home. That's a long way back in the rain.

 

I think it looks cool specially with 16" tires. I did read somewhere that one time a guy threw a rock in his oil cooler, hence he needed a new motor. I have also read that the bandana trick works to keep the spray down too.

 

I dont have a front fender and the rooster tail kind of sucks but honestly all you have to do is kind of move your head to one side or ther other and it gets rid of most of it. To be honest the worst thing that happened to me was not seeing a dead squirl in the middle of the road and I hit it and when i got home i had a hunk of flesh stuck on my face. Other than that, I love it.

 

The rooster tail sucks, but I have found it really only is a factor below about 45 mph. At highway speeds, the water doesn't ride the tire long enough to be thrown in your face. As for rocks and stuff hitting the engine, most fenders don't come down low enough to provide protection from that anyway, so really no difference there. You do get some sand debris in the face, but again, only at slower speeds. I ended up making myself a fender because I do get caught in the rain and getting sprayed in the face started to get annoying. But fender less does look badass!

 

Keep a fancy snot rag in your possibles bag and tie it around the forks when it rains. Breaks up that rooster tail pretty good. You can also try different speeds to "aim" the spray lower or higher. At highway speeds the spray from my 16" front on the Sloptail pretty much just goes over my head.

 

Only did it once back in the 70's while waiting for the fender to be chromed..

(Yeah back then we chromed the front and rear fenders..

but anyway I got caught in a rain coming home from work and it seemed that at 30-35 mph I'd get a steady stream of water off the front tire that came right back into my face..

I was sure happy when I put the front fender back on...

 

I think it looks great, but won't do it for the reasons mentioned already

 

Guys, when one pulls the fender on a Crossbones, what do you use to replace the strut on the right side?

 

I love the fenderless look, and rode it that way for about a year. But then put a fender on when it became my only running bike and winter (cold water spray off the the road is not fun).

 

Just do it... it looks badass!.. that is how I rode my Sporty for years.. and that is how I ride my Blackline... sure.. you will notice stuff being thrown in your face in the beginning.. but you will quickly forget about it.. sure.. rain sucks.. you will get used to it too... I ride completely fender-less.. I routinely ride in random storms here in South Florida.. I get home and my clothes are so heavy from all the water I just start cracking up..
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