Rear Wheel Fender Inner Damage

[fnickel]

Riding home the other day, I heard a rubbing/scraping noise, sounded like maybe from the rear wheel area. I pulled over to check it out, and I could see light scraping marks on the left sidewall of the rear tire. I rode home carefully to check it out later. Laying on the floor on my back, and looking up past the rear wheel, I could see something near the top of the tire leaning against the left side of the tire. I was able to reach up and pull it out, as it was loose. It was a piece of broken plastic. It appears to come from somewhere near the top of the rear tire on the left side, possibly the fender inner? I am planning to replace the rear tire this fall/winter, so will be able to take a better look at it when the wheel is off. What I also notice is the gap of the plastic to the left of the rear wheel is much less than the gap of the plastic to the right of the wheel. Is that normal, and is that what some of you are seeing on your 1500's? Also curious if any of you have encountered this issue. The bike is a '92 1500SE with 105,000 miles. I've owned it for the last 10 years. There are no other drivability issues. We ride 2 up mostly (approx 350 lbs total), and there do not seem to be excessive bottoming out issues. It did have a trailer hitch on it when I bought it, so it is likely that it was used for towing before I had it. It has had a few tipovers on the left side during my ownership, all at a standstill. Could these have caused the rear frame carrying the rear plastic to be shifted to the right? Any other ideas?