NoRider

As I look for new fairings for my bike I realized how ridiculously over priced they are, and how once you get down to it... its just plastic...

I was thinking that it can't really be that expensive to make a pair from plastic or fiber glass, and was wondering if any one who was into repair knew of any methods of making molds for fairings? I realize that this isn't an economical approach if you only plan on making one set, BUT spending the money to make a mold, and then making 50 sets off of that mold would make it much cheaper to provide sets of fairings. Any one on here know of a machine, or a method that is economical to make large quantities of fairings, or molds?

Real Random

the knockoff ebay kits i hear are cheap?

NoRider

are those actual kits, or is it some thing that helps you make cheap fairings?? Because ive looked for FZR fairings, and I got nothing under 300 bucks.

Armenian

from what i've heard it aint worth it

tundrafiend01

Take those bitches off and go streetfighter....

NoRider

haha i hate the streetfighter look. But I was thinking about how to make a pretty simple mold... Take the original fairing and use either fiberglass, a plastic, or some sort of glue that you can poor onto the back of it. Let it dry and harden until it forms the same shape as the fairing except slightly smaller. Then use that mold to lay fiberglass over it and basically make a copy thats slightly bigger than the mold (back to the original size of the fairing). As long as making the copy isn't labor intensive the only costs related to this are purchasing a original set of what ever fairing you want, and the chemicals used to make the mold, and the copy. Although this doesn't make sense if your only doing one copy. If your making 50 copies and selling them for half or 1/3 of what other companies are selling them for, you could A. Make good money, or B. Provide really really cheap fairings... At the end of the day, it all depends how long it takes to make each copy...

xshanex

it's not a simple mold though. Fairings are thin and fairly complex shaped. Also require labor to finish them, design the mold, set up the mold, pour the mold. There's also not a huge demand for aftermarket ones....how often does the average person buy new fairings for their bikes? The companies making them are well established with production facilities and years of experience making them...sure they're probably able to make a set for half of what they sell for but their labor costs are lower and they're able to perfect and setup a new mold in a day where it would take the average person. They seem to be also setup to support mostly racers

Aftermarket fairings are only $600 or so...making a set for $200-300 isn't going to happen....only way is if they were made in China at a factory with experience in plastic molding, dirt cheap labor, and with no EPA or environmental controls. You would still get killed on shipping since they take up so much room

skr00zloose

i'm goin to excuse that comment.....once...


anyway, coming from a person who has made and used many a fiberglass mold to make custom panels...


go buy replacements.


unless you're looking to make something completely unique, it's not worth the time, energy, money, or the headache to try and make replacement panels. it's NO WHERE near as easy as you think, and you'll probably never get it to fit like a factory panel. go look at the fitting on any racer's fiberglass bodywork. it's not even close to the same level as factory panels, and those panels come from companies that do it every day.

if you're still not convinced, i can give you some pointers, but in no way am i interested in helping with the actual work. it's a freakin nightmare, and in the end, it'll cost you just as much (if not more) than just buying good replacements. i have a few molds here if you want to see what all is involved in it, but they're all custom pieces, not trying to replicate a factory piece, so the tolerances of fitment doesn't have to be as tight.

NoRider

I was honestly thinking of making fairings for my FZR600, The thing is the bike came with the R1 front conversion, BUT the lower fairing is missing and they said it would cost over 200 to get a replacement... THATS NUTS! I also know that a huge demand exists for these fairings due the fact that the bikes are old, and just from years of use, the fairings crack and get messed up, so thats pretty much the only thing I could think of that would be worth it. I am interested in seeing some of your work though. But if you say its more work than is worth it I'll tend to believe you due to your experience in this field. Is there some way where I could make a fairing that would fit what I have now??? Either pay you, or if you could tell me a way to do it that be good. I'm not looking for it to be perfect, just bolt on, and cover my headers, besides that... my bike needs to much work to get looking great. Its just my first bike, and i just want it to look decent.

skr00zloose

i know what body kit your talking about on your fzr. it's a one piece upper, and a one piece lower. honestly, $200 for a lower fairing is a good price. it would cost you more than that to make a good mold and then glass up a panel from it. not to mention the time involved.
like i said, i have NO desire to do fiberglass panels. the only reason i've done them in the past is because i couldn't get what i wanted from anywhere, so i made them myself.
making molds is not easy. EVERY blemish in the mold WILL show up in the final product. the molds have to be 100% perfect. i've never done fairing panels, just custom headlight panels and custom tails. i don't even know any easy way to make a mold for a fairing. all my bikes are streetfighter styled, so i never had any need to build fairings. i guess the easiest way would be to use an existing panle as a mold, or at least the basis of a mold. that kind of defeats the purpose though, since you'd have to buy the panel to make a mold from.
you could probably get some beat up stock fzr lowers and cut them up to make them fit your upper, then use them for a mold to reproduce in fiberglass. that would probably be the easier, and cheapest way to do it, but it would probably still end up costing (overall) more than the $200 to just buy a replacement lower from airtech. that, and if you're not famliar with doing fiberglass work, you're in for a rude awakening, and probably alot of junk panels before you get one right.
not trying to scare you away from trying it, just be prepared for alot of work. for what you're looking to do, it's easier and more cost/time efficient to just buy a replacement. there's really no market for what you're trying to do unless you can produce them for less than what they can be bought for, and the quality of the panels is AT LEAST as good as what is already available.