+1 on that, I wanna see too

 

You are all wrong it is to relieve the air pressure that builds up from the front of the fender so the front of your bike deosn't lift off the ground at the awesome speed generated by the mighty v-twins we all love.

 

It probably strengthens the entire fender by making it more rigid. Otherwise it would flap around and cause stress cracks and failure over time. My 2cents.

Here is some other useless crap for the avid reader:

http://www.google.com/search?client=...9933d19f024e3b

 

So the wheel can keep rolling when packed with mud.

 

Since Indian already had the 'fender-skirt' look, Harley decided to go with
the flared-look. (Looked better than fender 'fins')

 

It's cuz that's what Mr T wanted...and pitty tha foo that don't flare Mr T's fenders!




(yea...I'm hella bored)

 

OK. I went a cut about 50 pieces of yarn, 2 feet each. I then tied each piece on to the front grill of a very powerful hair dryer. When I turned it on I have what I believe to be a very close representation to a hand held wind tunnel.

So, its all or nothing. I take that new creation and start to see the effects of the the air as it moves around the fender flare. All that happened was that the yarn got all balled up.

Results are inconclusive.

 

it is flaired like that so you can look down and if you see the fender on each side of the bike you know you are going streight

 

Maybe it's to help deflect small stones that get caught in the tires from going up and hitting the paint on the gas tank?