Click here to see me take all my clothes off

Going to pick up this fairing on Sunday



Bought from Ebay a few weeks back for the princely sum of £7.50

Anyway, it's up near Market Harborough and I'm going up on the bike on Sunday to fit it then ride back.....I'll be taking some tools, a couple of bungees just in case and a roll of duct tape, but the guy who I bought it from seems a nice chap and has tools etc to, so I'm hopingt there won't be any major problems with the idea.

Anyway.....this obviously means I have to ride up with the brick naked, so today I whipped of its clothes.

From this:



The OEM RS fairing came off with a LOT of screws, some 10mm bolts and a bit of wiggling.......I did take some pics but they are on the internal memory of the camera

A bit of bodgery with a lump of angled steel to support the light unit (ugly as fekk but functional) and then two more small brackets to mount a pair of spare mini indicators I had lying around......Oh, and the H4 lamp is shit, so I bunged my little LED lamps back on too



I used some 40mm M6 bolts and some spacer nuts so I even have some tilt adjustment for the headlamp





Job complete for tonight.....indicators work, lights work and it's all secure...fekking cold hands on the ride home but I actually enjoyed it feeling like a naked bike.....

Tomorrow I'll raid one of the other bikes and borrow some mirrors (fortunately, the 'c' bars that Neil keeps reminding me I have come with holes for mirrors , although they aren't threaded, but I reckon I can do something )



I'm looking forwards to fitting the barn door fairing for winter, but I've also enjoyed taking my clothes off today and now I know how it all goes on, I know that come springtime, I will be able to strip off again and have a naked bike to commute on

More to come on Sunday

Bloody hell no naked carrots shucks...
Fanny any problems getting it together and you need a lift home with the 'wreck'!!! I have a van which needs a run sometime soon so won't mind helping you out

flatdog said:

Fanny any problems getting it together and you need a lift home with the 'wreck'!!! I have a van which needs a run sometime soon so won't mind helping you out

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Thanks for that...much appreciated

I reckon with assorted bungees and nuts n bolts, gaffa tape and a bit of creativity, even if I can't get it properly mounted on with everything sorted (and I see no reason why it won't be done properly on Sunday, Insh'allah, I should at least be able to bodge it up enough to make it back, but it's nice to know there's a fallback option

And if it all goes tits up and you're stranded in a foreign county.. you know where there's a spare bed ( no settee's now all the rug rat's have gone )

Bryn said:

And if it all goes tits up and you're stranded in a foreign county.. you know where there's a spare bed ( no settee's now all the rug rat's have gone )

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Thanks Bryn

Thinking back, I should have called you actually.......the chap I bought it from didn't want to package it up so I could send a courier for it, but it's not that far from you and now you're an old retired gentleman of leisure, wrapping my fairing up in cardboard and sticky tape would have kept you off the streets for an hour or two

Fanum said:

Thanks Bryn

Thinking back, I should have called you actually.......the chap I bought it from didn't want to package it up so I could send a courier for it, but it's not that far from you and now you're an old retired gentleman of leisure, wrapping my fairing up in cardboard and sticky tape would have kept you off the streets for an hour or two

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Wrapping stuff I've not had long and posting it is one of my specialities

Quick question for any K owners......the rubber gaiters that plug the RS fairing gaps around the fork stanchions.....they are one piece plastic rubber gaiters and I didn't want to cut them off in case I need them with the 'new' fairing......I didnt have time to drop the forks to get them out, so I've cable tied them up to the cross-brace behind the headlamp for now.

Am I likely to need them or do you think I can cut them off ?

its an interesting idea.

you certainly think 'outside the box'

Fanum said:

Am I likely to need them or do you think I can cut them off ?

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I'm dictating this to someone with a stronger constitution than mine because I'm afraid of what I may see.

You don't need them unless you want to put the RS fairing back to standard sometime in the future. Given that 8-Valve K100's are worthless and given that your propensity to modify everything in sight precludes you ever putting it back to factory spec, cut them off (some people think that they just impede the steering and get rid of them anyway).

MikeP said:

I'm dictating this to someone with a stronger constitution than mine because I'm afraid of what I may see.

You don't need them unless you want to put the RS fairing back to standard sometime in the future. Given that 8-Valve K100's are worthless and given that your propensity to modify everything in sight precludes you ever putting it back to factory spec, cut them off (some people think that they just impede the steering and get rid of them anyway).

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Thanks Mike

Factory spec......wossat then?

A bike is a blank canvas, waiting for the owner to paint on it and make it into their own.

Just got back from picking up the fairing and it's fahaaaarking massive!!!

In superb condition though, with two lockable cubbies complete with a key, and I got the indimacators and front light as well for a few quid more.

Too dark now....will take piccies tomorrow

On Sunday we realised we could pick up a few other items from North of the M25, so we ended up going up to pick up the fairing in PandaPower......and a bloody good job too, as fitting the fairing has been a lot more of a faff than expected

It bolted on easily......first, I removed the RS headlamp subframe (4 M6 bolts) then bolted on the new fairing subframe.....then the two RS side brackets came off from on top of the engine block and were replaced with the two new ones.

Offering up the fairing (lighter than expected) it just slipped on wit a bit of a wiggle, and I bolted the front up first.

I replaced all the nuts and bolts with new M8 stainless kit with new washers too.....MikeP will be proud of me

1st problem.....damage to the fibreglass where the left hand mirror mounts:



Beingdouble skinned, it was going to be a problem getting a large enough plate on the inside of the damage, and we don't have FG glue/resin/whatever here.

So, out comes the marker pen and a bit of scrap plate:



Then out comes the angle grinder and then the grinding wheel......



Note the precision marking


I then bolted that plate to the mirror casing, and from the inside of the mirror bolted the assemble to the fairing panel.



The next problem was the total lack of any brackets to mount the new 8" circular headlamp into the cowling

Out came the cardboard and the scissors



Straight lines? Fuck'em, what have straight lines ever done for me



Then.......another bit of scrap plate, this time 2mm galv steel



BWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA......POWER TOOLS!!!!!!





Now for the large technical impact adjuster.



Hmmmm.......messy but functional, and solid too........

And yes, I did go back, take them out, square off all the edges and filed everything smooth



After a fair bit of ferking about, I cut slots into the plates and got the headlamp in........a gentle tap to seat it and PINGFUCK!!!



The little steel cap inside the H4 unit that reflects the light back came adrift inside the glass housing

An hour of fiddling about saw me managing to take the outer ring from the back of the lamp unit off, then with a long pair of bent pliers, managed to seat the lug from one leg of the cap stand into its slot, then the end that had snapped off pulled up to the other slot.......a quick dab of the welder spotted on the tag again and it's secure....

And it's on!!




Big 'Innit



There are some large gaps down the inside of the fairing....I'm going to ride it for a few days and see what effect they have, but I reckon black foam tubes that you stick around copper water pipes will do the job there.

My immediate problem is mirrors....I don't have any
The GS mirrors , adapted to fit the hole, are too long and collide with the barn door screen, so tomorrow I'll be taking a look at that....for tonight, I've gaffa taped a rear view mirror to the corner of the fairing

Winter, bring it on!!

Bodgetastic Bill.

I'm interested to hear how efficient you find the fairing.

MikeP said:

Bodgetastic Bill.

I'm interested to hear how efficient you find the fairing.

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If there was a night to test it on for the first time, it's tonight...It's lashing it down and blowing a fekking hoolie outside

If I get home, I'll let you know.......if not, expect me to be flying over your house in a few hours

Bill, how can I put this delicately?; You are jolly decent chap, generous to a fault, but you are a mechanical savage.

Mr K said:

Bill, how can I put this delicately?; You are jolly decent chap, generous to a fault, but you are a mechanical savage.

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Function over form

Yes, those brackets are fugly and crude, but they are inside the fairing and thus invisible....they don't exist

The fairing is on, there's nothing showing that's bad and it's rock solid.....what more can you want

Fanum said:

Function over form

Yes, those brackets are fugly and crude, but they are inside the fairing and thus invisible....they don't exist

The fairing is on, there's nothing showing that's bad and it's rock solid.....what more can you want

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If you have to ask......

First impresions of the new fairing.....great

Got to the end of a long straight (private road obviously) at rather more than I would have been able to 'test' it at on the public highway and realised I hadn't put my visor down.

Not just the visor, but the whole front flip of the Schuberth

Normally I wear clear safety glasses for riding at night so I can pop up the visor and still keep my eyeballs in my face, but tonight, didn't have them on and had no discomfort at all.

Hands possibly not as well protected by this V the RS fairing, but it is colder and I'm still wearing BMW GS summer gloves.....no heated grips on this thing either, and still not too bad.

the light from the H4 8 inch round unit is 100% better than that from the rectangular original, but that's probably because it's an almost brand new halogen reflector rather than the 23 year old original, but I was very impressed by it.....I even managed to get it all pretty well lined up in the shed so I won't be doing any readjustments to it.

Negatives......several tiny rattles from the fairing....the main one coming from the right hand lockable cubby which I'll sort tomorrow with some rubber strip......another from within the cowling which I'm pretty sure is from at least 3 M6 bolts, a couple of washers and a pair of nylocks which I mislaid during the build.

Hands.....because there is no longer any wind pressure on my upper body and I'm tall, my hands are a little achy right now as my weight was back over the bars.....I'll get used to it though.

Biggest negative though is knee room for paddling the bike around (I have to reverse it around a car slightly uphill to park securely).....I reckon I'll get a few scratches on my shins before I get used to that.

Overall though, an immense improvement in wind protection.....can't say about rain 'cos it had stopped.

Visibility good......perfect height so I can peer over or through the screen, and it's an unmarked new screen so I can see the road clearly as well


Happy Bunny

Mr K said:

If you have to ask......

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Look at it this way Chris.....I could have spent another few hours or more marking the (now invisible) brackets up 100% accurately, making sure they were identical and symmetrical, no surplus meat on them , painting them and so on, or those hours having a few drinks and shouting at the local kids to fuck off with their American Halloween shit.

Which would YOU choose?

Fanum said:

Look at it this way Chris.....I could have spent another few hours or more marking the (now invisible) brackets up 100% accurately, making sure they were identical and symmetrical, no surplus meat on them , painting them and so on, or those hours having a few drinks and shouting at the local kids to fuck off with their American Halloween shit.

Which would YOU choose?

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You wouldn't believe me.