The featured bike certainly looks nice, and I have no doubt that a ridiculous number of hours have been invested into getting it to look that good. But, just like it takes many hours to make me look presentable, that has no bearing on function. I'd also point out that the stock front fender is also a fork brace, running without it makes the forks sloppy and the steering vague.
I ride my bike, and you also ride yours. Our roads and weather are similar. There are practical considerations that out weigh fashion. You wouldn't wear nice leather dress shoes out in a snow storm to shovel the drive would you? I'd wear insulated boots. Not fashionable, but certainly practical. That is my mindset and where I'm coming from.
Here are some terms I've learned over the past years when researching suspension setup:
Static sag - how far the bike settles the suspension without the rider.
Dynamic sag - how far the bike settles the suspension with the rider onboard.
Suspension travel - the distance the suspension moves from fully extended to fully compressed.
Properly setup suspensions have some static sag otherwise they "top out" harshly when the suspension is unloaded. This not only unsettles the bike when riding, but can damage fork or shock internals. By your description, your Harley and Honda have too little static sag, possibly from too much preload? After a bunch of measuring, including mocking up the stock springs on threaded rod to test for coil bind, I've put 25mm / 1" preload spacers in my forks. That is about right for my setup and leaves me just clear of coil bind at full compression. With a 23L / 6 US gal / 5 real gal. tank and a sometimes heavy tank bag, it is difficult to be just right, but that is my reality. Obviously, dynamic sag is greater than static sag, and I've read that dynamic sag should be somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 total suspension travel. I'm closer to 1/2, but without investing in new, higher rate springs such is life. General consensus is that progressive rate springs are to be avoided as they result in an unpredictable, impossible to tune suspension. Yet most springs commonly available are progressive rate. Fancy words sell parts better than science.
You stated earlier that your fender was smashing into the lower clamps. This then shows that the forks were set too high in the clamps for their travel. It is possible to make spacers that internally limit the fork extension or compression. But that is beyond my knowledge. I can tell you that 20 wt fork oil was very stiff in my forks, and not in a good way. Every little road imperfection was transmitted to the bike. Some people (most magazine writers!) think this is good. I'd argue that if you are going to pay the weight penalty for a suspension, it should be working for you not against you! Hard hits were drastic impacts with 20 wt, they unsettled the bike. In cold temps this gets even worse, unless synthetic fork oil is used. After a short time I switched to 10 wt synthetic fork oil and put slightly more oil in the forks than called for. This resulted in a smoother, more compliant suspension that stiffens on compression. The only time my forks bottom out is when I'm riding too hard off road. Bottomed it twice and boy is that a hard hit! I've decided it is easier to slow down than try to keep up with the enduro boys with their long travel suspensions. I've read that it is possible to adjust the size of the holes in the damper rods to change the damping rate. Larger holes for less damping, smaller for more. But again, that is beyond my knowledge. I will suggest being careful to not make the holes so large as to weaken the damper rod.
So, there you have my brain dump on suspension. I hope some of it is useful.