Toying with the idea...

[afulldeck]

I'm toying with the idea of building a new fairing for my Norge. And I'm looking for ideas and input others might have about how I should or should not make this new beast. I'm intending this to be a winter project... so here is what I have been noodling for the last few days of what a new fairing should have:

a style closer to the look of the Stelvio---I don't like the lowers on the Norge.
a glove box
flog light switch
Power connectors
not to be the support for the head lights (lights need to be supported independent to the fairing.
angle the dashboard so that you can read the dash
Carbon fiber or fiberglass?


Thoughts?

 

[Rafael]

Sounds like a great project but a complex one. Do you have the equipment to form compound shapes in plastic?

A headlight support frame was used on the Quota allowing the removal of the fairing while the head light assemble remained on the frame. From the parts book it appears the Stelvio is the same. You may want to take the headlight assembly and support from the Stelvio and adapt it but I think the Stelvio headlights will be too clumsy looking for the sleek lines of the Norge. I've seen a pic of a Stelvio prototype drawing here: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=stel...tbnw=212&start=24&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:24 which, I think, looks great.

good luck

 

[slipknot]

I've always thought fairings should be designed to open like a car hood to expose electronics, etc. Much like Ducati fuel tanks. Carbon fiber, but painted to blend with the rest of the bike.

 

[afulldeck]

Sounds like a great project but a complex one. Do you have the equipment to form compound shapes in plastic?

Nope. I have nothing. Every new job I start, I have to begin from the beginning....

I was thinking that I could build the forms/plugs I wanted from plaster of paris and bondo or equivalent.

 

[afulldeck]

I've always thought fairings should be designed to open like a car hood to expose electronics, etc. Much like Ducati fuel tanks. Carbon fiber, but painted to blend with the rest of the bike.

I agree.

 

[Bisbonian]

There are a few guys over on ADVrider who have made their own fairings using carbon fiber, nothing as extensive as the Norge however.

Their projects are interesting and I always feel like I could do that as well, however their projects also normally end up looking distinctly home made. That being said I've seen some awesome build threads over there in which the person built their own bodywork that come out incredible.

Good luck, if you do it document it well as I'd be interested to see what you go through.

 

[Bootlegger]

You can make your plugs out of plaster but they are more easily formed by bonding rigid urethane foam blocks together. This material may then be machined, sawn, worked with hand tools and sanded to the shape you desire. I have done both and the foam is quicker and easier. Mistakes may also be filled with bondo. The finished surface will then be sealed with a resin or even paint. Then you can construct a glass/polyester mold over the plug or plugs and you will be able to wet layup, and perhaps vacuum bag, your fairing parts in the molds.

Let me advise you that you are contemplating a hell of a lot of work. You should have complete drawings of your project before you start so as to make the templates which will be necessary to shape the foam or plaster. Do you have access to a wind tunnel? Or a computer that will do most of the work of a wind tunnel? Do you have expierence in building a race car body or boat hull or aircraft from composite materials? All that would be helpfull.

I am not trying to discourage you, rather to make sure you understand the magnitude of the task. In fact, I would be quite willing to advise you on some of the technical aspects. I have some small expierence in this area.

 

[afulldeck]

Thanks bootlegger!

Let me take a step back. I find the Norge fairing irritating. Not in terms of the overall aesthetics or the functionality the wind relief, but every time I look at it---something breaks. The tabs and plastic supports just crack and break off---they are poorly designed. That said, I will continue to fix it and want to keep so if I ever need to sell the bike, I have the original fairing.

My idea was not to change from the basic design. In fact, I was hoping to use the upper fairing as the design plug. If you look at the Norge fairing I would like to cut it just below the turn signals. Something like this:



Sorry for the bad markup. I had to use paint because I don't have any sort of photoshop software.

Your idea of foam is an interesting one. All of this sounds like fun. Amount of work isn't an issue for me, I'll just take my time and when it gets done, it gets done. I like to teach myself a new skill every year or so. So any pointers would be greatly appreciated. (any books or web sites dedicated to this type of work?)

 

[Bootlegger]

There are a lot of books out there but I am not familiar with any specifically. And the foam master is not my idea, it's in common use in aircraft for quick and dirty tooling, especially in the company from which I retired. Has pretty much replaced plaster, except for some high temp one-shot tooling. I asked about access to a computer because you don't want your Norge to fly with the new fairing. I worked with a guy that built and raced his own airplanes and he needed super-computer time for his wing airfoil. He just called up one of the super-computer companies and they said sure, and gave him time on the fastest computer in the world.
If you could get some time in a small wind tunnel near you, say in a local university, you could build a model and be pretty sure that it was a stable shape.

 

[Carl Allison]

I'm toying with the idea of building a new fairing for my Norge. And I'm looking for ideas and input others might have about how I should or should not make this new beast. I'm intending this to be a winter project... so here is what I have been noodling for the last few days of what a new fairing should have:

a style closer to the look of the Stelvio---I don't like the lowers on the Norge.
a glove box
flog light switch
Power connectors
not to be the support for the head lights (lights need to be supported independent to the fairing.
angle the dashboard so that you can read the dash
Carbon fiber or fiberglass?


Thoughts?

The fairing sub-frame on my Norge broke clean through so I had it welded, reinforced and tabs added to pickup the headlight nacelle mount points. I haven't seen any sign of the plastic fracturing around the new mount points but they do take a tremendous load off of the plastic in the sides of fairing that had supported the weight of the fairing and headlight assembly before. I think the Norge (2V) fairing is a piece of crap design engineering wise. Looks great, poor execution.

I was going to add a FLIR unit in the fairing nose piece but never got around to it. There is certainly a lot of things I could've spend $3K on besides the FLIR unit and additional hardware. If the Norge doesn't sell though, I have the parts and at least at this point, the fairing can support the extra pound or so mounted way forward in the fairing.


Fairing sub-rame diagram from parts manual


Fairing sub-frame with added tabs


Fairing sub-frame with added tabs

 

[afulldeck]

Carl, I don't know how many 2007 Norge's were sold, but its obvious to me that its been a huge miss with respects to this fairing. I wonder just how many folks have had the problems we have had...all of them are PITA.

Your idea of adding tabs was something I was seriously considering. I also was contemplating adding a support for the Speedometer etc to change the angle. Was it hard to figure out where the tabs need to be added with the fairing off the bike?

BTW, excuse my Canadian ignorance, but what the heck is FLIR unit?

 

[baloches]

My fairing support has cracked also, same place as yours, Carl. My Multistrada had also cracked its subframe. I just re-welded.
One tab on the fairing is broken, another is cracked. It's just so weak and thin.

Mine is all apart these days, thanks for the tip for mounting the headlamp. There is a tab at the bottom center of the fairing that I have used to bolt it to the subframe using a speednut. I'm sure this helps in supporting the fairing, but maybe it contributed to the cracked subframe by loading it in some way.

 

[Carl Allison]

Carl, I don't know how many 2007 Norge's were sold, but its obvious to me that its been a huge miss with respects to this fairing. I wonder just how many folks have had the problems we have had...all of them are PITA.

Your idea of adding tabs was something I was seriously considering. I also was contemplating adding a support for the Speedometer etc to change the angle. Was it hard to figure out where the tabs need to be added with the fairing off the bike?

BTW, excuse my Canadian ignorance, but what the heck is FLIR unit?

FLIR is for Forward Looking Infra-Red. Night vision based on heat detection rather than image intensification. I paid a hefty sum for a PathFindIR™ unit like those used on upscale BMW cars. The silly thing is export controlled and I even had to sign in with the Department of Homeland Security. It can see heat but doesn't react to light unless the light source is hot and within the 1000' or so of the detection range. If you go on YouTube and type in "pathfinder" you'll get lots of examples.

My original intention was to mount the FLIR unit in the headlight assembly. To that end, I purchased a salvage headlight assembly (it was fine) and a salvage Norge fairing nosepiece (not so good, mounts broken off). These are some shots of the headlight assembly after the front has been removed (which is a bit of a PITA).

This is about as far as I've gotten too. I've popped a 2" diameter hole in the salvage fairing piece and have an infra-red transmissive window to keep the fairing insides clean. Unfortunately, the broken nosepiece mounts mean I'll have to transfer that hole to the fairing on the bike and I'm extremely loathe to do that, so I've stopped for the time being. In fact, I have the Norge up for sale and if I'm successful in selling it, I'll have to decide whether to mount the FLIR in the family cage or make a housing that will allow me to use it on some of the other bikes.