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Big Fairing for Small Price

StratTuner

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I remember riding down from Reno, NV to California's Golden Gate Bridge. It was, morning, 28F, and my knees were freezing. The constant 50 MPH wind stream plus what ever chill factor was at work was not fun. I thought, I need to get fairings.

I remember Beemerphile's approach. (can't find the link just now). It was classy and executed with precision on crash bars....which I don't have... hmmm...

Well...I started with my favorite construct..the 1" PVC "T" with a 1/2" slip. I cut the 1" round part in half and put it against the frame down by the cylinders. There is one of these frame bars on each side, so I had a secure, symmetrical, footing to start with. Two zip ties (one one each side of the half pipe) give you a fairly solid support.

To that I added a lenght of 1/2" pvc pipe and went up and out... to a 90 deg. elbow. OK...time to go back and anchor the top to....to what? With another long pipe I just rotated the structure in to see what it would touch, and it came to rest near one of the bolts that hold the wind screen on. Perfect. That will do. I capped the pipe, drilled a hole through it, and zip tied it around the bolt where the lexan gaps at the support flat bar that make my home made wind shield.

Now I had a triangle shape that I new I could fill in with plastic cut from a walmart office waste paper basket. ($4). I cut one big triangle to cover the big opening. Then, I had to make a long rectangular piece to go up from the triangle to where the capped top fixed to the windshield. That took time as I had to contour the piece to fit against the frunk sides. I decided to leave a 1/4" gap so that the black plastic wouldn't have the chance to scratch the surfaces.

Here is the result. Home Made! Ugly? (maybe) Ridiculous... possibly....but wow! It's effective, and it didn't cost much.

Version three might have two 45 deg. elbows per side instead of a single 90 deg. elbow... cut the black plastic around that... and it will not stick out as much and maybe look a little better too.

The fairing is high enough that I can still use the highway pegs attached to the frame. That was another important consideration in my case.

fairing1.jpg

fairing2.jpg

fairing3.jpg

fairing4.jpg

It's not for everyone, but it didn't cost much.

Aero considerations: While it's a larger forward-facing surface, it's also a smoother one. Drag (I hope) will actually be less since the air stream has to move over two large smooth surfaces and not over the jagged, unordered, surfaces that are the sides of a motorcycle.
 
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How many times did it take Thomas Edison to perfect the light bulb? I don't know either, but it was a lot!

I'm always impressed with people who will "go for it".
 
Great ingenuity and execution!
 
I'm glad someone ... noticed... thank you gentleman. This sort of work isn't much in vogue, but it is where more finished, elegant, and expensive items start out.

(PS... the Google gods say Edison made 1000 attempts at the lightbulb. As I recall from Science classes, the filament metal that finally worked (burned brightly and for a long time), was Tungsten. I wish Mr. Edison were around to see the current state of the art light bulbs.

That reminds me... here's a short story about my days interacting with high school students in a computer lab...
student: "Mr. Strat Tuner, I just don't care about history and inventors. Who cares who Edison was..."
strattuner: "your mom pay the electric bill this month? "
student: "yeah..."
strattuner: "who did she pay the money too?"
student: (with hand over mouth) "ohhhhh!"
 
Great ingenuity and execution!

I'd love to see HondaBikePro's adaptation of this effort!

I just decided to trim it up, and I note that each side comes off after clipping three zip ties.... easy on.. easy off....completely reversible... I do like it.
 
[Aero considerations: While it's a larger forward-facing surface, it's also a smoother one...]

My guess is that the increase in frontal area will trump the smoothness.
 
[Aero considerations: While it's a larger forward-facing surface, it's also a smoother one...]

My guess is that the increase in frontal area will trump the smoothness.

Yes... I wondered about that. Math would help me there, but math and I are barely on speaking terms.

When I get back from the trip....or maybe tonight .... I want to cut off the points of the two triangles and reduce the surface area by about 1/3. That will still keep the air stream off my knees but lower resistance.

That means replacing the 90 deg. elbow with two 45 deg. elbows connected by a straight piece. Should look better too.
 
How did this affect your fuel economy although I don't worry about that much? Just curious?
 
How did this affect your fuel economy although I don't worry about that much? Just curious?

I haven't had time to compile any data. I'd like to take off everything but the fairing, ride 180 miles, and calculate MPG.
Then I could take off the fairing and do the same on the same day.... that might give some useful #'s.
 
I haven't had time to compile any data. I'd like to take off everything but the fairing, ride 180 miles, and calculate MPG.
Then I could take off the fairing and do the same on the same day.... that might give some useful #'s.

I bet it isn't to big of a differnece but I was curious. Loosing a couple MPG's is worth keeping the legs warm.
 
I've found a good set of knee/shin guards under my riding pants prevents my knees from any cold wind blast, so that's maybe another thing to consider or supplement a fairing AeroBlocker™ :)
 
Yes he did.. His was executed in heat-bent lexan and attached to his crash bars. I have some experience heat bending lexan (I do that for my home made wind screen), but I wanted to keep this design simpler... something the average Joe could do with home tools and a couple trips to Home Depot. (neighborhood DIY store).
 
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Fairings 2.0

Update Fairings 2.0

During my long ride to Amarillo, I actually removed the 1.0 (flat) fairings to see if they were holding me back or reducing gas mileage. I decided they were not since the MPG never changed. I've concluded that carrying as much WEIGHT as I did... was the real problem.

At home, I re-installed the PVC pipes as before but decided to make the plastic covering more aero-dynamic. How to do that?

My solution was to crease the skin covering the PVC triangle in its middle. Instead of having the plastic strung over the PVC flat (like the strings of a tennis racket) it would bend to a point forward so that the oncoming wind hits the angled point and not a flat surface.

I did the mockup with cardboard first over the existing PVC pipes. After that was as "right" as I could make it, I used the cardboard as a template for plastic. (plastic from a $4 Walmart waste basket...Rubbermaid). The result is a little more aero and possible aesthetically pleasing... well as pretty as PVC pipe and plastic can be anyway.

Here's the result.

fairing2a.jpg
Notice that the plastic doesn't overlap the piping at all this time. This makes it look a little more "trim" I hope.

fairing2b.jpg
Creasing the plastic in the middle of the triangle synced up with the "beak" (as some have called it) on the NC. I expect the increase in aero is infinitesimal, but it looks a little better.

fairing2c.jpg
The angles from the front are visually appealing (to me anyway).

The effect keeps wind off my knees. Feet are still exposed.

Utility? You can put the fairing on and off with 6 zip ties. I'm keeping it on right now as it's still a little cool where I am.
It's very cheap to construct, modify, and maintain.
Thanks for looking in on this project.
 
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One thing I miss about my Burgman scooter was the quiet cockpit. The fairings on scooters "almost" make them worth having. (didn't like the cvt on mine)
Maybe it was pride, but I had an inferiority complex while on my scoot. I wanted to have a REAL bike!
I realize now the many big tarmac munchers have a LOT of fairings to make them comfortable.
 
I agree. My 2012 Burgman 650 Executive was awesome in sound and wind protection (and storage!), but like you, I didn't care for the looming repair potentials on that CVT, and other than the go cart I built as a kid with solid tires and no suspension, the Burgman was hands down the worst bone stressing bike I have ever had the displeasure of riding.
 
One thing I miss about my Burgman scooter was the quiet cockpit. The fairings on scooters "almost" make them worth having. (didn't like the cvt on mine)
Maybe it was pride, but I had an inferiority complex while on my scoot. I wanted to have a REAL bike!
I realize now the many big tarmac munchers have a LOT of fairings to make them comfortable.
I have to agree with you on every point. My Piaggio BV 350 gave excellent body protection from the wind, though there was some helmet buffeting at speed. I often look with envy at the big cruisers on the highway with all that protection, especially when it's cold, but I really wouldn't want one. I too didn't like the CVT - I missed the direct connection and control that real gears give you. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I also felt a bit of the inferiority thing on a scooter. I feel bad even saying that because the scooter was a ton of fun and I really shouldn't have worried about anything else but I did. I'm just more comfortable on a motorcycle. I hardly ever got acknowledged by motorcycles on my scooter - now it's back to the motorcycle wave. There is no getting around the fact that scooters are looked down upon by most motorcycle riders.
 
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I hardly ever got acknowledged by motorcycles on my scooter - now it's back to the motorcycle wave. There is no getting around the fact that scooters are looked down upon by most motorcycle riders.

That phrase caught my eye... I make a point of giving the "keep two wheels down" hand sigh (two fingers pointing down) at

scooters
motorcycle police


both risk the same as I do and deserve that "blessing" as much as any rider.
 
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