Hi,
What you see below is the result of two years of gluing foam blocks together, sanding, shaping, and finally, glassing with epoxy and fiber glass cloth.
It's been ridden on the bike for about one month now, and works great, except for one thing that bothers me enough to consider selling it.
Data:
The fairing is currently fitted to a 2012 Honda CBR250R. The fairing is held onto the motorcycle with a custom tubular frame, that took two iterations to get right. Just creating the framework took an entire winter with the motorcycle in the basement.
The next winter saw about 1-1/2 sheets of 1.5 inch foam to complete the fairing shape in the same theme as Craig Vetter would do.
The fairing is very robust with minimal flex from wind and so on. It currently weighs 18 lb and has a full layer of 6 ounce glass both inside and out. The outside is currently sanded fairly smooth and the inside is not sanded at all.
Gas Mileage:
The stock gas mileage of the CBR is so far 115 mpg, driven mostly around 45 mph on country back roads. The same when done with the streamliner fairing yields about 122 mpg. This is calculated after four full tanks.
Construction Quality:
I consider this a top quality build. Details: each fastener has a brass hole liner that acts as a torque limiter, to prevent any damage to the embedded wood blocks. My last fairing had fasteners directly loading the wood, and it took a set over many years of use. The brass liner also intends to keep moisture out of the wood block, for better longevity.
I used West System Epoxy for all glass work, and a gram scale for all mixing of epoxy and hardener. Yes, I could have used pumps, and have in the past, but as of late, the pumps stopped working, so break out the scale.
There are welded embedded fixtures inside the fairing foam that hold the mirrors in place. Unless the bike is tipped over, these mirrors are not going to move at all.
The plexiglas is high quality Lexan. It is pre-bent to it's current shape by placing in a custom fixture, and holding at 130C for 4 hours. The plexi is allowed to cool, then band sawed to it's current shape, edge sanded, drilled for mounting and fastened to the fairing mounting holes. By the way, the Lexan can be bent over on itself about 180 degrees with no flex failure. As long as the owner does not scratch the glass, it should last the lifetime of the fairing.
The fairing shape around the handlebars is about 1 inch larger than the swing of the handlebars. The handlebars are custom welded units that were narrowed for the minimum width to the wind. The stock handlebars will not fit inside this fairing.
Reason for Giving Away:
Side winds. Craig and others may be less sensitive to side winds, but riding in a 20 mph side wind makes me very unsettled. I can do, but simply do not care to continue riding with this much side wind sensitivity, thus the sale.
I have full plans on making yet another streamliner, but with much less side wind sensitivity.
Price:
Free
Thanks for looking, Jim.