# Fairing



## Canberra_EV (Sep 16, 2009)

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has attempted to make their own fairing for a bike? and if so how?

cheers!


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## Amberwolf (May 29, 2009)

Canberra_EV said:


> Just wondering if anyone has attempted to make their own fairing for a bike? and if so how?


Not yet, but I have plans to do it with some soda bottle plastic, hollow fiberglass tent poles, aluminum ski poles, maybe crutches, some aluminum strips. Sounds crazy, but I use recycled materials for it all. 

There's lots of info about fairings on WISIL and IHPVA sites, as well as a number of personal sites and blogs, too. Even if your bike is not a *bicycle* bike, the techniques are still applicable. 

For my fairing idea, the aluminum strips and crutches would be used for making the bulkhead-shapes to connect to the bike (or trike). It'd be a more or less canoe-shaped fairing, if I did the full fairing, completely transparent/translucent (depending on the color of the bottles).

Bend, pop-rivet (or screw together or even just zip-tie) the aluminum shape-frames to the bike/trike. Secure the tent poles (those flexible fiberglass sectional types) lengthwise from front to back, to the forms you just attached to the bike.

Cut out the cylindrical sections of the bottles, and sew or staple them together along their edges to make larger sheets of plastic. If you have some old copier or laser printer fusers, you can melt the edges together instead. Cut and shape the resulting sheets as needed to make the shape of the fairing you want.

Secure them in sections to the frame you made from the poles, and to each other.

Make sure you leave a way to get in and out. 

My first plan for it is only a front partial fairing and a canopy/windscreen, to keep the sun off me and help a little with aerodynamics. If it doesn't disintegrate too easily, I'll add bits until it's fully enclosed, with a little door to get in and out. 
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## Drew (Jul 26, 2009)

Why would you construct fairings from scratch? You can buy fibreglass fairings for not a whole lot of cash which is of a higher quality and lower cost than you can realistically do yourself.

If you're not using a standard base motorbike then probably the best idea would be to find a bike which either looks like you want your so look and/or is a similar size to your bike. If the fairing isn't designed for the bike then you'll probably have to rework the mounting tabs on both the bike and the fairing.


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## Amberwolf (May 29, 2009)

Unless the bike is simply not shaped in a way to accept existing fairings, or he wants a full fairing of a specific shape for any of a number of reasons.

Weight might also be a factor; fibreglass is light but there are lighter materials depending on the durability required. On a bicycle/velomobile coroplast is commonly used because it is durable and very light, cheap (often free if you're willing to scrounge the day after elections), and easy to work with.
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## Drew (Jul 26, 2009)

If you're looking for something light and small for a push bike or a small motorbike then a good way to go would be to look at race fairings for bikes like a CBR125 or a YZFR125. If you're after a reasonably high speed and don't have to pedal then its a good idea to use a seat unit from one as well, as the exit airflow is more important than the front airflow.


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## cycleguy (Oct 7, 2009)

If you insist on making your own fairing, here is how I do it. Purchase some pink foam insulation sheets from Home Depot, they come in 1 1/2 and 4 inch thicknesses. If you have a side profile drawn on a cad program of even a drawing, you can print it out in full scale, use that to trace and cut the foam sheets. Laminate them together to add width. You can then use a bread knife and course sand paper to quickly shape the foam to your satisfaction.

Once the foam is shaped, I use spray adhesive to glue on a layer of fiberglass cloth and then apply resin and let cure, followed by another two layers. A thin coating of body filler and sanding may be necessary to obtain a smooth finish.

Once satisfied with the surface finish, simply remove the foam from the inside. This is a messy job, but can be done fairly quick, a small hand held grinder works pretty good and course sandpaper to get down to the outer fiberglass layer.

You now have a finished piece. You can also choose to make a mold off your original plug if you want more than one piece.


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## Woodsmith (Jun 5, 2008)

Have a look at Project Sanderson.
A great set of photos showing this build:









I found it on the British Human Powered Club forum.


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## leew (Dec 30, 2009)

Have a look at Allert jacobs amazing fairing built for a motorbike. The bike is ICE but would work just as well on an electric bike.
http://www.velomobiel.nl/allert/Recumbent%20motorbike.htm

You may also be intrested in my coroplast fairing project, which you can find here:
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/lees-4-week-fairing.aspx


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