Making me some new fairings i Am

[sprocket]

So was going over the bike tonight thinking bout pulling the fairings off and giving them a good clean and what not, then I happen to catch a glimmer of my carbon fiber bucket seat sitting in the corner of my garage, so i thought to myself why not mould my fairings and make a whole new faring for it, next thing you know i have taken off 6 fairings, and i have the missus pealing off all the disgracefull sticker work the adorns my FXR, well post tense as they are no more , however im in two minds wether to do the lower fairings as a one piece or keep them seperate, also the same situation with the tail piece and placstics that attatch to it, any sugestions, they still go on sweet as a single item but was thinking ahead for the serviceability of the bike, ie: oil changes general mataince an so, time will tell i spose.

So the choice of meteral will be (seeing as im a bit of a carbon whore) 155g carbon twill weave, but first the mammoth task of moulding all the fairings which is probably 2-3 weeks work alone, but my dream of a full carbon faired bike seems to make the effort all worth it

So ill will keep you all posted on my progress as it happens and post updates ie pics, etc

beside i know that i can make it for less than $2800 which seems to be the going price for a full kit (not that they do them for a fxr anyway) so fingers crossed i im not biting of more than i can chew otherwise i could have a naked fxr on my hands

[aff-man]

So was going over the bike tonight thinking bout pulling the fairings off and giving them a good clean and what not, then I happen to catch a glimmer of my carbon fiber bucket seat sitting in the corner of my garage, so i thought to myself why not mould my fairings and make a whole new faring for it, next thing you know i have taken off 6 fairings, and i have the missus pealing off all the disgracefull sticker work the adorns my FXR, well post tense as they are no more , however im in two minds wether to do the lower fairings as a one piece or keep them seperate, also the same situation with the tail piece and placstics that attatch to it, any sugestions, they still go on sweet as a single item but was thinking ahead for the serviceability of the bike, ie: oil changes general mataince an so, time will tell i spose.

So the choice of meteral will be (seeing as im a bit of a carbon whore) 155g carbon twill weave, but first the mammoth task of moulding all the fairings which is probably 2-3 weeks work alone, but my dream of a full carbon faired bike seems to make the effort all worth it

So ill will keep you all posted on my progress as it happens and post updates ie pics, etc

beside i know that i can make it for less than $2800 which seems to be the going price for a full kit (not that they do them for a fxr anyway) so fingers crossed i im not biting of more than i can chew otherwise i could have a naked fxr on my hands

Good idea but on an fxr??? You gonna leave the weave showing and just put a clear coat over the top?? That would look awesome.

[slowpoke]

So was going over the bike tonight thinking bout pulling the fairings off and giving them a good clean and what not, then I happen to catch a glimmer of my carbon fiber bucket seat sitting in the corner of my garage, so i thought to myself why not mould my fairings and make a whole new faring for it, next thing you know i have taken off 6 fairings, and i have the missus pealing off all the disgracefull sticker work the adorns my FXR, well post tense as they are no more , however im in two minds wether to do the lower fairings as a one piece or keep them seperate, also the same situation with the tail piece and placstics that attatch to it, any sugestions, they still go on sweet as a single item but was thinking ahead for the serviceability of the bike, ie: oil changes general mataince an so, time will tell i spose.

So the choice of meteral will be (seeing as im a bit of a carbon whore) 155g carbon twill weave, but first the mammoth task of moulding all the fairings which is probably 2-3 weeks work alone, but my dream of a full carbon faired bike seems to make the effort all worth it

So ill will keep you all posted on my progress as it happens and post updates ie pics, etc

beside i know that i can make it for less than $2800 which seems to be the going price for a full kit (not that they do them for a fxr anyway) so fingers crossed i im not biting of more than i can chew otherwise i could have a naked fxr on my hands

I gotta say mate I admire your attitude...and being a boat builder I'm guessing you've got the necessary expertise...but all that effort on an FXR? Mmmmmmmmmm carbon fibre....I've built up a carboned out Duke so I understand (and sympathise) with your affliction, but I urge you to choose a more worthy recipient of your affection.
Look at it this way, you could actually make some cabbage outta this once you've completed the mold(s), but I can't see too many FXR riders wanting to fork out much folding stuff on a such a cheap bike. If you pick something a little more er, shall we say "up market", you could be on a winner.

Good luck though bro', I understand there is no fighting the disease.

[sprocket]

Yeah yeah i know why the fxr, well im doing this mainly due to my finincial situation in that, me buying a house has to come before buying a new bike so ill be stuck with this for a least the next year and a half, also the missus is keen on learning to ride so i could always hand it down to her , not to mention the yobbo that owned it b4 me droped it hard so she aint the prettest horse in the stables, yeah i maybe insane in thinking up random stuff like this to do to my bike but hey at least everyone will remember me as the mental guy that built a carbon kit for his fxr

anyway enough explaing myself

heres an update:

Ok so i cut and ploished the first article today that being the front guard, then made a stand for it to keep it nice a steady to work on, so looks like the rest of the night will be taken up with me waxing it for tooling tomorrow at work

[Mental Trousers]

Admirable. Good on ya for doing something different. How much carbon fibre work have you done before?? Is this kinda like a test run for when you do get another bike??

[sprocket]

Admirable. Good on ya for doing something different. How much carbon fibre work have you done before?? Is this kinda like a test run for when you do get another bike??

Have a fair bit of experence working with it now have built numerious car parts out of the stuff its more finding the correct weave for the tricky corners I've found in the past, that the smaller the weave the easier it is to to work with however its a tad more expensive so a bit of a catch 22

[gav]

Actually there are more and more people racing FXR150's in buckets, depending on your prices you could well find a market there. So a single seat tail section in one piece could be worth looking at. Don't think the actual carbon weave is that expensive is it? How much do you think a tail piece would work out at?

[sprocket]

Actually there are more and more people racing FXR150's in buckets, depending on your prices you could well find a market there. So a single seat tail section in one piece could be worth looking at. Don't think the actual carbon weave is that expensive is it? How much do you think a tail piece would work out at?

Well carbon prices are very dependant on the type and closesness of the weave the current weave i have in the pic abouve is $103 per meter and thats at what ever discount we get ive never paid rrp on the stuff spose thats why i take it for granted but i know at the moment the is a shortage of it in NZ well thats the rep that we get the carbon through reckons anyway

I did think to myself that there could be a market for bucket racers with various fairings so prolly could wack up some plane white fiberglass ones pretty cheap if the demand was there i lke the idea of a single piece tail aswell but that means i have to split mould it which means more work but it would look hell cool also was thinking of maybe a modified tail to incorprate a led type light, anyway im ranting on now we will see how it goes

[Ghost Lemur]

Following with interest. Keep posting with images.

Think my baby would look hawt with carbon loving.

Interested in seeing how you go about fabricating your new fairings as I'm going to have minimal choices for new plastic for my baby. Either import from UK, hack from a different machine or make (get made).

Just out of interest what would you estimate it would cost for a set of carbon "plastics" for the CRM?

[sprocket]

Ok quick update on progress today finished waxing the front guard tonight (10 coats just to be safe, dont want any stick ups) and applied the first coat of gelcoat, so i will back it up tomorrow sometime and start to glass it on monday when i get back to work

anyway here are the pics

[bugjuice]

Postie managed to get incredibly lucky and got full CF for his RGV250. The difference in weight was amazing.

As 'durr' as it sounds to be spending time and money on carbon fibre for an FXR, on the upside, the weight you'll save (and you could add a bit of your own lines thru it) might actually make it a fraction more nimble!!

Plus, get this goin well, and I'm sure there's enough of us here to keep you busy! I've got a few ideas meself!

good luck!

[R6_kid:Me]

what is the cost difference between CF and fibre glass per/m? Thinking of doing this kinda thing on the FZR400 as it sorta needs some new front fairings.

[sprocket]

what is the cost difference between CF and fibre glass per/m? Thinking of doing this kinda thing on the FZR400 as it sorta needs some new front fairings.

The difference would be about $90-95 a meter, fiberglass is pretty cheaps unless you are one of those suckers that get it from mitre 10 or ripco and various other home hanyman outlets.

[degrom]

Yeah yeah i know why the fxr, well im doing this mainly due to my finincial situation in that, me buying a house has to come before buying a new bike so ill be stuck with this for a least the next year and a half, also the missus is keen on learning to ride so i could always hand it down to her , not to mention the yobbo that owned it b4 me droped it hard so she aint the prettest horse in the stables, yeah i maybe insane in thinking up random stuff like this to do to my bike but hey at least everyone will remember me as the mental guy that built a carbon kit for his fxr

anyway enough explaing myself

heres an update:

Ok so i cut and ploished the first article today that being the front guard, then made a stand for it to keep it nice a steady to work on, so looks like the rest of the night will be taken up with me waxing it for tooling tomorrow at work

No need to explain your self... I respect your ideas and really want to know how it turned out. Good luck!!!

[sprocket]

Update: just finished glassing the mould, so should be ready to clean up an release tomorrow. Might have a test run and make some plain fiberglass ones first before I get into making the CF one so I can plan how everything will go, thought it might also be a good idea to keep track of the man hours involved in such a task for anyone else that would want to give it a go

mould #1 : labour so far is 6hrs 30mins

Anyway pics