dat@ihu1g.UUCP (Thomas) (05/21/86)
Would someone please reprint the article that went around about fairings for the Honda VF700 Magna? Also, does anyone have any experience with the National Plexifairing? Dave Thomas AT&T Bell Laboratories ihnp4!ihu1g!dat
ehrhart@sri-spam.ARPA (Tim Ehrhart) (05/23/86)
In article <850@ihu1g.UUCP>, dat@ihu1g.UUCP (Thomas) writes: > > Also, does anyone have any experience with the National Plexifairing? > SUBJECTIVE: I had a National Plexifairing III an my old FT500 Ascot. I pretty much used it in the winter and when it rained. It was GREAT being able to put it on or take it off in about 2 minutes. Also great whenever you go on your weekend or week-long bike camping trips. You have the benefits of protection AND less wind fatigue and noise while riding from place to place with your bike loaded up. But as soon as I got to a campsite and unloaded all the gear off my bike, I PROMPTLY removed my windshield which facilitated allowing canyon carving on an unloaded & unfaired bike. Nothing like having your cake and eating it too. OBJECTIVE: Quality of the parts is very high, the manner in which they mount the braces to the windshield is in my estamation superior to the oft-used concept of drilling a hole in the plexiglass and attaching a the brace with a screw through a rubber grommet. This way vibrates like hell and can cause the shield to crack. National has attached a rubber socket to the windshield at the factory, so all you do it insert the brace (with a ball on the end) into the socket and your are ready to attach it to the braces on the handlebars and forks. Protection is excellent; covers top of knees to over top of helmet, and full hand coverage. Ah yes, all this protection comes at some cost though. It robbed power and gas mileage from my thumper (went from about 58 MPG unfaired to about 53 MPG faired) like hell, was really noticeable on my old bike because I didn't have any power to spare anyway. On larger or more powerful bikes you probably won't have such a drastic difference. I think all this loss came from the fact that the thing just wasn't all that aerodynamic (it couldn't have been to give all that protection.) I don't recall it having much problems with side-blasts either. Maybe other folks experienced it differently, but I don't think I was ever blown around much in open wind or as I was passing 18 wheelers. COSMETICS: I didn't find it looked all that great on the bike, but that wasn't its purpose. You definitely want to get the smoked glass version, looks MUCH better than just the clear version. All the mounting hardware is blacked out so it kinda blends into the bike. And when I didn't have the shield mounted (about 8 months out of the year) I just left the handlebar and fork mounting hardware on because I didn't feel it detracted from the looks. SUMMARY: Loved it for what I used it for, won't buy one for my new bike (1985 Nighthawk) though. But that's because I really don't like windshields, did it for cold and rain protection. (I ride 53 miles a day year round in SF bay area). But now I have a great rain suit that doesn't even leak without windshield. But that's another story. Now if I can just conquer the cold... Tim Ehrhart 415-859-5842