2020 Hawk 250 Plastic gas tank trim?
 

Has anyone had any problems with running the bike without those attached? Looks like they are meant to channel air to keep the engine cool so I was wondering if they are really needed or are they just cosmetic?

They are just tacked on junk with no purpose .

the whole bike is cosmetic lol.
They do nothing more then "look".......

They might protect the tank from dents from a drop or low speed crash. I try not to crash though. Hahah.

It's just a trend that Honda copied from bigger bikes that had active cooling and used those plastic to keep the rad cool...

You can remove then and nothing is going to happen..
If you instal an oil cooler then they are going to come in handy.

They don't, even worst they will make the pain wear faster on the tank, because they don't even have a rubber gasket...

They probably don't help with an already dismal top speed either. They're the opposite of aerodynamic.

I took mine off yesterday as I was getting an odd noise at higher ram. It fixed it and I kind of like the look better. I think they will go back on after I cut them into a shape that follows the gas tank lines. The mounting brackets look ugly and potentially dangerous when left exposed.

I wish there was a smooth tank available without the tabs.
Although I do wonder why the chinese manufacturers, who are always looking to save a penny, havent deleted them if they serve to purpose. I mean they'd save manufacturing the brackets, bolts,nuts,welds,trim pieces,decals and a pound or two in shipping weights. I dunno.