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Why are the trackbodies fiberglass?
- Thread starter Concac
- Start date
BigEvilDoer
Well-known member
Simple.
Plastic shatters into itsy bits pieces when you crash.
Fiberglass cracks and wears and eventually holes.
Try fixing plastic bodywork, then try fixing fibreglass and see which is easier.
Plastic shatters into itsy bits pieces when you crash.
Fiberglass cracks and wears and eventually holes.
Try fixing plastic bodywork, then try fixing fibreglass and see which is easier.
I thought the fiberglass is more proned to crack .... Like car bumpers....
I guess the bike fairing is not built like car bumpers
Fiberglass may get cosmetic cracking in the surface but it tends to generally stay together. There is a fighting chance of the part remaining more-or-less serviceable for the weekend and a reasonable chance of the part being repairable using relatively straightforward tools and procedures.
Moulded ABS plastic tends to explode into a million bits when crashed on and be very difficult to repair.
Normal fiberglass fairings are quite a bit thinner and lighter than the moulded ABS OEM parts.
Fiberglass replica parts can be fabricated using relatively ordinary hand tools. You could do it at home if you were so inclined. It is a slow, manual process but the tools needed are relatively cheap. (Low capital investment but high labour cost per part)
Large ABS parts require a several-thousand-tonne injection moulding machine and an enormous set of carefully-machined steel dies with an investment of a few million bucks up front but will knock out a part every minute. (Very high capital investment but low labour cost per part)
If you are an OEM manufacturer planning to make quantities in the tens or hundreds of thousands, it's worth that few million bucks capital investment for the ABS injection moulding equipment. Spending the couple hours of labour to make hand-laid fiberglass is not even worthy of discussion, that process cannot compete when big production quantities are involved.
If you are a small aftermarket parts manufacturer then it's more cost effective to spend the labour time by using the hand-laid fiberglass method because you would never recover the huge capital investment cost for an injection moulding machine and the building and the infrastructure to support it.
Moulded ABS plastic tends to explode into a million bits when crashed on and be very difficult to repair.
Normal fiberglass fairings are quite a bit thinner and lighter than the moulded ABS OEM parts.
Fiberglass replica parts can be fabricated using relatively ordinary hand tools. You could do it at home if you were so inclined. It is a slow, manual process but the tools needed are relatively cheap. (Low capital investment but high labour cost per part)
Large ABS parts require a several-thousand-tonne injection moulding machine and an enormous set of carefully-machined steel dies with an investment of a few million bucks up front but will knock out a part every minute. (Very high capital investment but low labour cost per part)
If you are an OEM manufacturer planning to make quantities in the tens or hundreds of thousands, it's worth that few million bucks capital investment for the ABS injection moulding equipment. Spending the couple hours of labour to make hand-laid fiberglass is not even worthy of discussion, that process cannot compete when big production quantities are involved.
If you are a small aftermarket parts manufacturer then it's more cost effective to spend the labour time by using the hand-laid fiberglass method because you would never recover the huge capital investment cost for an injection moulding machine and the building and the infrastructure to support it.
Thank you so much for the info. Very useful.
How are hot bodies race body? Through my search they seem to have good price on a full set.
Budget is tight if i convert street bike. I will sell every stock parts that i can to help abit
Hot bodies are junk.
N3WMAN
Well-known member
Hot Bodies are generally not very well regarded for fit and finish.
Roomie
Banned
My rear hugger is hotbodies. While the color is perfect and finish looks nice it's been warped since day 1 and finally a couple weeks ago it cracked at one of the mounts on me. It's replacement will not be from hotbodies. I wouldn't even entertain their track fairings.
Squidskinz (a.k.a. James Perreault) is your best bet locally, if you have a bike that he has the moulds for.
Reason: If/when you crash, he can repair the damage at very reasonable cost - by putting what's left of the parts back in the mould and filling in the gaps. But he'll only do it for parts that you originally bought from him.
Reason: If/when you crash, he can repair the damage at very reasonable cost - by putting what's left of the parts back in the mould and filling in the gaps. But he'll only do it for parts that you originally bought from him.
smudger
Well-known member
I'm with Brian, try Squidskins, see if he has the moulds for your bike.
I've never fitted race bodywork (or any bodywork) before but found Jame's stuff easy to fit with the deprssions for the mounting holes where they needed to be.
I crashed out at GBM on the 24th Aug & James messaged me the next day to say he'll put the bodywoprk back in the mould to repair it.
I've never fitted race bodywork (or any bodywork) before but found Jame's stuff easy to fit with the deprssions for the mounting holes where they needed to be.
I crashed out at GBM on the 24th Aug & James messaged me the next day to say he'll put the bodywoprk back in the mould to repair it.
I would have no problem buying another upper/lower from HB. It fit perfect and has taken two minor lowsides like a champ which were easily repaired. It's also very light and didn't take too much prep to paint. The tail however was a giant PITA to fit and still didn't end up all that great.
If your on a tight budget it's an option. I think bodywork is the only thing I skimped on when I built my bike. I think the paint is worth more then what it was applied to lol.
If your on a tight budget it's an option. I think bodywork is the only thing I skimped on when I built my bike. I think the paint is worth more then what it was applied to lol.
Reviving this thread to ask a question about track bodies/fairings.
If you have street plastics and the side panels are cracked/lightly damaged and the tail lightly rashed, front perfect, would you buy track fairings or just track with the street plastics?
Trying to figure out what to do next year. Thanks!
If you have street plastics and the side panels are cracked/lightly damaged and the tail lightly rashed, front perfect, would you buy track fairings or just track with the street plastics?
Trying to figure out what to do next year. Thanks!
N3WMAN
Well-known member
Nothing wrong with using the street plastics but one decent crash and they will be garbage. If you have some stock stuff in good condition you could sell it(or the whole set if you can find someone in need) and use the money from that to buy track fairings.
Ultimately the track fairings will take more abuse, and are easier to repair.
Ultimately the track fairings will take more abuse, and are easier to repair.
油井緋色;2352270 said:
I'm going against what everyone else is saying here, I find OEM fairings are better than the aftermarket track fairings in all fit, finish, and durability! This is true for all 2001-2003 GSXR600, 750, 1000s I have owned at least. Think of it, OEM is a product that had to pass quality and safety standards in fabrication and be road legal. I had a 2003 GSXR 750 that I rode both street and track, I totaled it once with a bent frame, and crashed 4 more times lowsides, highsides. Those fairings took a beating and were still holding up well until I sold the bike. I just replaced the street fairings on my track bike with squidskins and I was disappointed at what everyone else is saying about fiberglass. These fairings are very brittle, I had a couple of clips come off loose on the tail and it started to crack in a couple of places already from vibration, their flexibility sucks. And no they are not lighter than OEM! And you have to take the belly pan off every time you need to do an oil change, at least this is good in terms of track safety though cause if your bike leaks oil it will go in the belly pan first.
If I were you I'd just block the headlight hole with a plastic plate and ride on those fairings. You're better off investing that money on track time, gear, or tires...
This is what my last track bike looked like, and what I should've done with the current one too
I've seen fiberglass disintegrate into pieces beyond repair in some crashes, unless you're racing where you require numbers and a belly pan to pass safety I see no point in spending money to buy track fairings
I've always been able to fix crash damage myself with fiberglass fairings. Fiberglass repairs are relatively easy compared to plastic repairs. Typically SquidSkins stuff gets decent reviews but I've never used it so I can't comment on any personal experience.
My first set of bodywork was Flexiglass. It fit very well, I used it for a few seasons of trackdays and crashed it a few times and was able to fix it myself each time without much trouble. I've been using Armour Bodies since then and they fit even better. I had two sets of bodywork, both with two full seasons of track use (probably 12+ race weekends each). Both were showing some signs of stress cracking from wind and vibration but all the mounting points were still solid. That's the importance of good fitting bodywork, if you have to push/pull/twist it to get it to fit you're stressing that bodywork just to get it to bolt up... so its constantly being stressed. That's not a good recipe for durability.
How did you find something to cover your headlight perfectly like that?
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