Using dog igloo house,aluminum wok, or planters or ??? as front fairing

[aluminumwelder]

It's too bad all the commercially available fairings are expensive as heck
And let's face it, not too many people have the skill set to make their own.

So what kind of "common" materials can be used instead of a custom one off fiberglass shell?

I was walking around lowes and saw a huge 39" wide by 30" tall dog igloo for $125. Looked like polyethelene or maybe abs plastic , if abs that stuff is very very easy to glue together.

here is a slightly smaller one at amazon just search for dog igloo. (drat forum wont' let me post links because I am a new member!)

How about two wheel barrel shells riveted together to make a kind of front fairing, however they are about $80 each.
I was at restaurant depot and they had a 40 liter aluminum wok for around $90.
At home depot they had some huge planters that were about 24" diameter.

what other off the shelf mass produced and thus "cheap" items could work well as fairings for those that want to save money and fuel.

Unless it makes economical sense why bother is for better or worse how many think!

[Superfuelgero]

At 5 posts I believe you can post pics. Post a pc or a link to what you want it to look like and I might have a few suggestions.

[aluminumwelder]

I honestly do not care too much how it looks, I just want to meet these goals
1. be safe
2. be cheap so the ROI is short
3. be fast to make I dont' want to spend weeks on this project. a couple days would be nice.

I just searched craigslist and found a few dog igloos for around $40.
I'd kind of worried that the dome is too fat and needs to be more pointed, Maybe a small flame to heat the top of the dome would push it out?

I'd rather prefer a aluminum cone/dome type shape. but the only cheap aluminum dome i can find is a wok and it has an even flatter nose than the dog house.

Then I could just weld up the entire frame to the nose

[j12piprius]

Check craigslist. This area had a fiberglass septic tank with a crack for $50 a year ago. Other possibilities are fiberglass spas or bathtubs. I would look for used ones because new items are way too expensive.

[aluminumwelder]

thanks,, but I've never seen a cone shaped tub or spa? Maybe with some clever angled cuts one could use that for the bakc tail shape fairings. ?

[j12piprius]

There's an old plant pot in my back yard that is 16" tall, 45" around and has very thick walls. I think something like that would be good, and would like to see how you attach the fairing to your bike.

[Grant-53]

I have had success with sheet 4 mm coroplast and paper model techniques. Sheet aluminum is another possibility. For the tail sections I use waste basket sections. Hex mesh wire glued between plastic tarp sheets rounds out my favorites.

[Cobb]

What about lawn edging, flashing or the rim to a large garbage can?

[aluminumwelder]

the problem with many garbage cans and planter pots is the have a big flat bottom.
As far as attaching the cone to my bike I will use an aluminum frame of some sort
http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/2011-Streamliner/2011-vetter-streamliner-p49.html

the above web site talks about making a tail section for a Ninja bike. I dont' know why a nose was never put on, seems like that is the most important part!

Vetter uses a nose cone that is about 24" wide so I guess one of those 30" wide igloos would be best bang for the buck, unless I can figgure out how to make out an aluminum nose cone for cheap.

[j12piprius]

I cut the top and bottom off one of the plant pots and used it for my first grill block mods.

It could be used for a fairing the same way and you wouldn't have to flatten it out.