I know what you mean about closeness to fairing Paul. -They don't actually touch but they are so close that you worry that if you do drop the bike - it will just bend the bungs back up into the fairing and do some damage.
Same could be said about similar risk on a lot of other bikes I suppose - for example I fitted R&G's to last bike and they sat very neatly in a gap in the fairing but adajacent to some fans etc - see pics below.However when I dropped the bike on a mountain road at virtually nil speed earlier this year they did a brill job and I sustained no damage apart from a minor scratch to bottom of fairing. Also the bung stopped the bike falling onto and breaking the front brake lever which would have been a real problem 1,000 miles from home and proably is more of a concern.
2 mates also had similar issues on that trip (one rolled of side stand and the other forgot he was on a side slope and put his right foot down onto thin air) and we all got away with it due to bungs being fitted.
I appreciate the theory that with bungs fitted in that if you drop it at speed they could rip half the engine out - but R@G are at pains to state that the fixing bolts in their bungs are designed to bend and avoid this in event of drop at speed (ie sliding along on the bungs and maybe catching something). I work on basis that for higher speed drop = can I walk away OK - never mind the bike damage.

