Shaping a new fairing

[Bert Patterson]

I use a Wes Cooley fairing on my '82 GS1100E. It works very well, but about a year ago a Bike of the Month had a pared-down '84 GS1150ES (?) fairing that looked very cool. The original is a large frame-mount fairing, but he cut it down to a small bar-mount cafe fairing about the size of the Wes Cooley.

I have an 1150 fairing, black and red, in perfect shape. I'm thinking of doing the same for my bike. I don't know if the fairing is made of plastic or fiberglass and I on't realy know the best way of cutting it. Does anyone have any experience with this? I don't want to have to do much painting or touching up chips. Help, eh?

[Anonymous]

I don't know if the fairing is made of plastic or fiberglass and I on't realy know the best way of cutting it

I am not sure if it is fibreglass or plastic, but I would bet on plastic. To cut fiberglass, fiber cut off wheels on a die grinder work well, to cut plastic you want a toothed wheel of some sort, either cut teeth or one of the "structured tooth" type. Abrasives don't work that well on plastic as it just melts and gums up the kerf line.

I think whatever you use to cut the fairing you will need to touch up the paint, because you will see the fairing material on the cut edges and it will almost certainly not match the paint work very well. And you will have to sand the cut line to get nice, smooth edges, which will also require some paint touch up.

Mark

[KennyJ]

I use abrasive cut off wheels and while they do "melt" the plastic, thye do leave a nice cut! The melted plastic peels right off. I have cut fairing this way for years.

Kenny

[Bert Patterson]

Thanks - fortunately, it's a damn big fairing, so I get practice a bit on the edges first. And I'll have to find a place to buy the screen.

[solo suzuki]

hey bert!
this the bike!? thought you would've remembered...
nice to hear from you.

[isaac]

DAMN! what are the wheels on that bike? More pics?

EDIT: Found the pics on your site. VERY nice work, Solo.

[crag antler]

DAMN! what are the wheels on that bike? More pics?

EDIT: Found the pics on your site. VERY nice work, Solo.

Almost embarassed to say that this was the first time to your site.
Very coool. Nice work with the bikes and the site 8) 8) 8) 8)

[solo suzuki]

Almost embarassed to say that this was the first time to your site.
Very coool. Nice work with the bikes and the site 8) 8) 8) 8)

nothing to be embarassed about
glad you enjoyed it, spread the word!

[Bert Patterson]

hey bert!
this the bike!? thought you would've remembered...
nice to hear from you.

That is absolutely THE bike. I didn't know it was yours. So, how did you do the fairing and where did you get the shield?......and......what are those rear shocks? More on the wheels later.

That bike is actually my wallpaper on my computer.

[solo suzuki]

That is absolutely THE bike. I didn't know it was yours. So, how did you do the fairing and where did you get the shield?......and......what are those rear shocks? More on the wheels later.

That bike is actually my wallpaper on my computer.

first, let me tell you i'm very flattered about the wallpaper, 8O
you never know about these things, you build the bike, you take pictures of it, put up the site...makes me very happy that someone would connect with it and save it ! i build that bike 10 years ago so, great!!!

the fairing: masking tape the area you want to chop,
trace the exact shape on the tape
( the tape will protect the surface you are about to cut!)
use a jigsaw, just follow your drawing/line slowly
use a file then sandpaper to smoothen the edges

reshaped the scratched shield the same way, then painted it black

the shocks are works performance units

later, claude 8)