Tried making your own fibreglass fairings?

**rapid van cleef** · 29th September 2012, 18:31

hey,

seeking some info here. has anyone tried making their own track fairings from their road bike fairings as a mould?

im not bothered about them looking pristine, just somthing that will do the job to save my road fairings.

I know i can buy a set for around 7-800 bucks which is great. however, if i could knock some up for a fraction of that, then great, more cash to spend on the bike for performance bits and maintenence

I was discussing buying race fairings with someone at work and they suggested I make my own as the gear is very cheap. They had no experience of motorbike fairings but have made heaps of other stuff out of fibre glass

it may take me a few days, but thats ok.

seeking info and advice if you have any?

thanks guys

**tigertim20** · 29th September 2012, 18:56

My advice is buy a SMALL fibreglassing kit, and try to make a small piece or two first, get and understanding of how much work, time, patience, effort, money is required, before jumping in and making a mes that you end up throwing out

**rapid van cleef** · 29th September 2012, 18:59

OK, yeah i was thinking that. Ive seen on a usa thread someone done the same and said they would never do it again! My concerns are possible damage to my current fairings from the process.

My work mate reckons the whole thing will only cost around 100 bucks, plus a few days.

rather get some info from someone that has done it though so i thought id post here.

**FJRider** · 29th September 2012, 19:19

To make up a new fairing ... you need to make a female mold first. If you make one copy ... just using your existing fairing ... it wont work.

You will find it's too large if you use the outside. And too small if you use the inside.

**FJRider** · 29th September 2012, 19:24

Originally Posted by rapid van cleef

My work mate reckons the whole thing will only cost around 100 bucks, plus a few days.

Give your workmate $200 and tell him you'll be back in three days.

Fiberglass cloth is cheap. Fiberglass resin is not.

**cheshirecat** · 29th September 2012, 20:01

Rec you use epoxy. Slightly more expensive than GRP but much easier to use, more tolerant of temperature, mix ratios and far less in the the fume department. You can use carbon bi weave (dual diagonal weave) which handles compound curves and fill with a glue/fillet filler which is easy to sand and fair. Oh wet the mat out first and remove excess resin before laying into the mould. You van trim excess matt when semi dry so helping avoid the carbon shard in the skin problems.

**bogan** · 29th September 2012, 20:18

Originally Posted by rapid van cleef

My work mate reckons the whole thing will only cost around 100 bucks, plus a few days.

He might be in the ball park with that once you have some good molds. But good molds will likely take 5-10x that to prepare.

**Brian d marge** · 29th September 2012, 20:38

ive tried it a couple of times and ended up in a big mess
read big mess....gave up

might try again one day ,,,something small for the missus

stephen

**DEATH_INC.** · 30th September 2012, 07:50

Don't do it. It takes ages to get the hang of it, and sure as shit you'll destroy your fairings the first go.
Either spend the $$$ and buy some, or just get some of those cheap shit chinese fairings and use those.
Actually...what year is yours? I may have a solution...

**Bender** · 30th September 2012, 08:17

Fibreglass moulding is not for the inexperienced.

There will be a point where, after learning how to make and fair a mould, then do laminates and fair them, you will be able to produce fairings at a fraction of the cost.

But it will have cost you thousands and many many hours to get there.

It would only be worth doing as a hobby because you want to produce fairings, not to save money.

**SILVER SUZI** · 3rd October 2012, 11:45

I'm in the process of repairing my fiberglass race fairings, and like others have said, it's not real cheap and it's really really time consuming. And I'm only doing repairs.
Not only do you need resin & hardener and cloth. There is also a shit load of consumables involved. You should be using gloves (disposable latex type), you also need solvent, loads of throw away brushes & rollers sand paper... yadda yadda. You get the picture.
If you are making race fairings, check the regs for whatever class you are going to run in. Carbon fiber is not legal in some classes. Oh and it's also not cheap.
You will also need good advise on what type and weight of cloth to use for each part.
I'm not saying don't do it. But like others have said, do it cause you want to do it, not cause you want to save money.

**Dave-** · 3rd October 2012, 13:36

Originally Posted by SILVER SUZI

I'm in the process of repairing my fiberglass race fairings, and like others have said, it's not real cheap and it's really really time consuming. And I'm only doing repairs.
Not only do you need resin & hardener and cloth. There is also a shit load of consumables involved. You should be using gloves (disposable latex type), you also need solvent, loads of throw away brushes & rollers sand paper... yadda yadda. You get the picture.
If you are making race fairings, check the regs for whatever class you are going to run in. Carbon fiber is not legal in some classes. Oh and it's also not cheap.
You will also need good advise on what type and weight of cloth to use for each part.
I'm not saying don't do it. But like others have said, do it cause you want to do it, not cause you want to save money.

To further what has been said here.

Don't buy the cheap chinese plastic fairings either, cause you cant repair them (as easily as fibre), buy fibreglass fairings.