Hah, I remember days of riding my bike and having the same stripes...
Fortunately I'm not that hardcore to do the same on my motorcycle. I went out 1 time in the rain and turned back after 4 blocks. My wides Ninja 250 isn't terrible because the fairings and the angle that your legs are in... You're sort of "tucked" behind everything and it keeps the water off. A cruiser, the whole front of my legs were soaked after a block. So... What happens if I get caught mid ride? Eh.... I don't know there. I guess I'd be stuck at that point or get wet.
I'm going to check the local laws to see if I need the fenders and go from there. Pretty sure I need at least the rear for inspection... And I may put the front back on depending on how it goes after riding for a little bit...
I actually LIKE the badges there. The only reason they are left. If I swap tanks some day, I'd probably not do anything to put them back on, but I kind of like them there so it's not completely debadged.
I am going to put on a rear fender of sorts... Mount it to the swingarm and have it sit right above the fender. I'm actually leaning towards the BlueCollarBobbers fender for the price... Plus - it's made for the bike and would fit better than anything I can source or fabricate myself. Unfortunately they won't sell the mounting brackets without ordering the whole kit (liability issues), so I'll have to fabricate the mounts and brackets to hold it up, but that shouldn't be terrible.
Thanks all!