time to fully enclose my bike - Page 9 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

bschloop · 03-04-2013, 10:56 AM

I have been following Craigs build from the beginning, and have ridden in Three Vetter challenges. he is only offering the nose piece for sale, and at a price of $750 plus shipping, it has a much higher cost to me than making my own fairing. if you look at the supply chain it is obvious why. Craig has a professional fiberglasser manufacture the part. they mark up the price to reflect their overhead and profit, making $250 worth of materials cost $500 to Craig. He then marks up the product to reflect his investment in it (he is actually not making much if any profit on these) bringing the price to $750. Finally the shipping company gets their cut (we'll estimate $75 roughly) bringing the price to $825. $250 in fiberglass and resin becomes $825 to the consumer, and if Craig were attempting to make even a small profit in this venture, it would be closer to $1000. It must be noted that this only includes the nose not a completed front fairing, and no tail if I were to finish out the front fairing in aluminum it might cost another $100, and an aluminum tail might be a couple of hundred more at the current cost of aluminum. That brings total cost near $1100. If this option had been available before I began working on my own fairing, it might have saved me some money. as it is, I am probably only about another $250ish away from a finished fairing system for my bike. it would not make sense to change directions now.

godscountry · 03-04-2013, 01:39 PM

I see the the end cost is pretty high,well,like they say,were all in this for the long run,practice makes perfect

bschloop · 03-04-2013, 02:47 PM

Please note that I have spent more than $1500 over the last three years on this bike. The price I gave is for the current fairing only. if one were starting from scratch, finding a design that has been proven and is available will cost less than building prototype after prototype working out your own design. if I were to build a luggage set to sell, I would do my best to make sure it would work with Craig's fairing design as well as mine.that way people have an option for which to use.

Grant-53 · 03-04-2013, 06:05 PM

These are the economics of small scale production. The next step is to design for manufacture. So far we have experimented with fiberglass, sheet metal, and coroplast. Your design has the advantage of being a simpler shape compared to the compound curves. I am looking at scaling up paper model techniques for sheet plastic and honeycomb aluminum. It is easier for me to copyright plans than ship parts.

godscountry · 03-04-2013, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grant-53

These are the economics of small scale production. The next step is to design for manufacture. So far we have experimented with fiberglass, sheet metal, and coroplast. Your design has the advantage of being a simpler shape compared to the compound curves. I am looking at scaling up paper model techniques for sheet plastic and honeycomb aluminum. It is easier for me to copyright plans than ship parts.

ask for samples of honey comb panels,I have received some samples from different companies.A application other then your use doesn't mean it won't work,one guy told me they try to sell to the larger markets ,but his panels are suitable for boat,aircraft,trailers,racecars etc.

bschloop · 03-10-2013, 03:28 PM

I finally found a local source for design clay! Michaels crafts has it, and a couple of colors were on clearance for $2.50/lb. this is the same price I found online without having to pay shipping. I bought 2 lbs of it, and am playing around with it. I am hoping to use the clay to make a better mold for the tail. I have also played around with tail designs, and have decided to make a top and bottom piece that are symmetrical, and connect them using a flat curve. this is the way I did it last year, and is similar to how Craig made his nose. I will have to decide what to use for the side pieces. maybe a flat layup of Fiberglass, or aluminum sheeting (the thicker stuff, not roof flashing.)

bschloop · 03-14-2013, 02:16 PM

I got the last piece of foam glued onto my plug for the tail pieces today. Now I just need to finish the rough shaping, and get the clay on.

bschloop · 05-09-2013, 02:29 PM

I just realized that it's been quite a while since my last post, so here's an update.

I played around with the design clay for a while, but found that it requires more of the clay than I had to do anything worthwhile with it. I decided to focus my funds on materials.

The front is finished except for a little filling, and paint. I made a bucket style headlight opening which I can cover with plexiglass later.

For the tail I am going to try the fiberglass over foam technique. I built the shape I want for the tail out of 1/2in polyisocyanurate foam, and am in the process of covering it in one layer of 6oz fiberglass. The polyiso foam can take polyester resin, so that will keep my costs down, and so far it seems to be working quite well.

soon I will need to decide how to make the sides. this bike will retain the original two person seat, so it will be necessary to have pretty long doors. I have a few ideas, one is to use f-glass over foam and hinge the lower portion of the doors to allow my feet to go out. the other is to use nylon with a slot for my feet.

I will have to put in some internal airflow ducting, to pull air away from the engine. it seems to me that having more open space around the cylinder helps it to keep cool, so I am going to use negative pressure ducting behind the engine to accomplish cooling. I will try to take a few pictures of current progress today, and post them tonight.