Hi,
Although I loved the look of my naked GL1000 my age is working against me when travelling at speed, the buffeting and pressure on my neck made riding long distances a problem.
So I bought an old Vetter Fairing and lowers and over the past few months completely refurbished/modernised them and then painted the whole bike changing colour from black to Candy Sirus Blue -
The fairing is a Windjammer SS dating from the late 1970's, I bought it in reasonable condition off ebay together with the audio console. The thing that first grabbed me when I collected the fairing was how much I hated the fake leather effect of the internal panels and the audio console which you can see here -
So I set about smoothing the whole thing out, first a good rub down, then some filler, more sanding then a covering of glass cloth and epoxy resin finally smoothed over with epoxy resin and talcum powder to fill the weave -
Then the same process for the fairing itself -
I chose to cover with glass cloth partly because it stabilises all the filler giving a better finish but also has the advantage of preventing any further cracking of the fairing which I could see taking place in various areas.
Once I had got the internal panels smoothed and painted matt black I turned my attention to the Candy Sirus Blue which I purchased from RS Bike Paints. I wanted this colour as it matched the GL1000 I bought back in 1978 as a lad. Interestingly she is still going and I have tried to find her for years - YJP 198T if you own this bike please get in touch.
This is a three stage colour the first being a silver base coat -
Then the blue followed by some decals on the bike itself and hand masked stripes on the fairing. This was then covered with a few coats of clear.
Masking out the fairing stripes -
After a week I could flat off with 2000 grit and polish, I am pretty pleased with the results, the paint has a nice deep shine -
The next challenge was the fairing pockets. The right side has a lockable cover the left a vinyl cover held in place with press studs. I didnt like the vinyl cover and also the fact that the pocket itself is actually just the inside of the fairing, not very neat at all.
So I designed a cover for the left side and 3D printed it trying to match the right side as far as possible. I also designed some internal pockets and printed these (I have quite a large 3D printer which I made myself specifically for this type of project). I used some 2mm thick ABS Plasticard to make a mounting bulkhead for the printers which was bonded in place using Acetone which works really well on the Fairing as it too is ABS.
Left side cover -
Internal pocket -
I dont intend carrying anything large in the fairing so its just space for a mobile phone and other small items. The right side pocket has a 12V outlet for the Sat Nav and the left a 5v outlet for phone charging.
I could not find the correct GL1000 fairing lowers so purchased a set originally destined for a Z900. These were amazing, brand new in their delivery box complete with all the original paperwork, always amazes me that stuff can sit somewhere for 40 odd years in some warehouse before being used. It didnt really matter that they were for a Z900 as all the lowers for the Windjammer series are the same, Vetter simply cut them to the required shape to suit each bike. However I didn't like how they covered partially my beautiful carburetors so I heavily modified them again using Plasticard and Glass cloth -
Another element I didnt like was how even with the lowers on you can see the fairing mounting system which consists of a frame fixed to the bike with hose clips which looked really nasty to my eyes. So I designed a cover and took the opportunity to combine them with some DRL's which are very effective -
Once the fairing is fitted to the bike the shelter sides will no longer hinge outward. Vetter's solution was to advise removing the hinge pins and sliding the sides into position. The problem I felt with this was that you are then only relying on the securing knob to hold the sides in position with no real accuracy in lining them up with the shelter top. So I designed and printed some adapters which are based on the original hinges but allow location onto the original hinge pins -
Next up came the electrics, I wanted to remove the original headlamp assembly completely so designed and printed a housing that would neatly contain all the electrical wiring -
This feeds out toward the fairing at the rear of the forks which gives a much shorter and less strained cable route -
I used a new 9 pin connector and silicon sleeved wire which is more flexible than the usual cable.
The fairing came with an old JVC radio/tape deck which amazingly still worked. But I wanted something with Bluetooth capability so bought a nice new Alpine unit which has a removable fascia for security, also purchased some marine grade waterproof speakers -
I have a BMW Sat Nav 6 so I purchased a Garmin Zumo dash mounting and fixed it securely to the right hand pocket cover, in this position I can see it clearly and can glance down although I tend to listen to directions more than look at the screen -
I purchased a Bluetooth transmitter which is wired to the rear speaker channels on the radio, so the whole set up works like this -
The Sat Nav connects to the radio via Bluetooth, my Interphone helmet headset connects to the Bluetooth transmitter.
To listen to the radio/music via speakers I simply use the fader control balanced all the way to the front speaker channels.
To listen to the radio using the helmet headset I balance the fader all the way to the rear speaker channels which has the effect of turning off the speakers.
To listen to the Sat Nav on my helmet headset or the speakers I change the source on the radio to Bluetooth. It all works very well.
Overall I am really pleased with the end result and after 4 months work had my first ride today and am absolutely chuffed with the level of wind protection, the fairing positively plants the bike on the road at speed you can really feel the stability improvement.
Hopefully I have managed to update the faring whilst keeping some of its 1970's charm, hope you like it.
Two questions:
