Metal fairings

[TripleKing]

Anyone here ever make fairings of half fairings for their Kat out of sheet metal? If so, what gauge metal and where did you get it? My fairings are old and cracked and I dig metal on bikes versus plastic.

[92xjunker]

I personally wouldn't want metal fairing, sharp fragments during a crash. All though you can cut your old ones up, some have when doing a semi street fighter.

[TripleKing]

True

That is true, I can cut the old ones up, but I could also roll the edges. I am into old café racers and would love just clear-coated polished metal.

[soulpatch]

Nothing like the heat transfer from a hot engine onto metal fairings. Amongst other issues this is just pretty dumb...

Paints have come a long way in that you can either paint to replicate chrome or do some of the chemical dips.

[Kreylyn]

ABS plastic is significantly easier and cheaper to acquire, work with, and doesn't require expensive specialized tools.

I've not seen much of any information online of someone attempting major metal fairings that didn't turn out "amateurish" to put it nicely... and that's being very nice. While I'll not say not to do it, I would suggest that there is good reasons it's extremely uncommon.

Krey

[91_gsx600F katana]

I just created a steel headlight cover for my street fighter build. Made mine out of 22 gauge steel. My only concern is in a crash you dont slice the hell outa urself. But steel is nice bc you can weld it and you can do more custom stuff than with ABS. Im sure no one here knows how to aquire huge sheets of ABS or plastic and make custom fairings. But steel is easier to aquire and its used all the times in customs. if your not doing alot of bends then thicker steel would be better for longer spans, 20 -18 gauge. but its harder to form and cut and heavier, 22 gauge is lighter but easier to cut and form. Could always roll some beads to add strength with thinner steel vs going heavy with thicker steel. Steel forming tools are pretty cheap too.

if you get fancy and can weld you can always do aluminum to help with weight.

[dano68]

Holy sheeeet. There is a reason besides the wieght issue that fairings are made of abs. Nuff said.

[Vilewind]

Hey man if u really wanna put that kinda work into it I say go for it make it your own creation.

[Circuitmage]

Would be great for zombie apocalypse. Road Warrior style.

[crazycraven420]

would it be practical? No.

would it be unique and interesting? Absolutely. Id do it under the right circumstances

[il_ragazzo]

It would be the delorean of bikes if you used stainless... underpowered + WAY over weight... that will send you back to the future.

[mektek]

Sheet aluminum would be better than steel. It can be formed quite well and could end up being lighter than plastic. I've done fairing lower sections in aluminum and it looked pretty good.

[Mojoe]

would it be practical? No.

would it be unique and interesting? Absolutely. Id do it under the right circumstances

and what circumstances would that be? I took 5 minutes to wrack my brain into trying to come up with one good reason why I would go through all the effort to fabricate a set of metal body panels, and the only one I could come up with is if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to do it.

[crazycraven420]

I think if you were goin for a "stealth fighter" look with lots of angles it could be neat.

[Mojoe]

I am sure it could look "neet". problem is, if I had it in my head to put all the effort into shaping metal, it would have to look a lot better than "neet". It would have to be fickin' awesome. chances of that are slim to nil.

but then again, it's just the idea of using metal that "disturbs" me. not only does it add significantly more weight to the bike, it can be down right dangerous if one comes off in a dump and takes you across the throat. it's probably going to be a lot more destructive to the rest of the bike it comes into contact with.

as much as I hate seeing one of my fairing crack and break to pieces, part of me can appreciate that it does.

with that said, why not build out of carbon fiber or fiberglass? not only will it be easier to shape and mold, but it is also a lot easier to duplicate if it does turn out cool and you want to make more.