Step 11Attach the fairing to your frame, and gloat.
You now have a fully faired vehicle, which is protected from the weather and will protect you somewhat in crashes. Make sure your friends see it!
If you want to pimp it out further, you can spray paint the inside of the fairing (which will give you a water like finish on the outside), add solar cells to it (to power your vehicle), add lights of all kinds (now that you have a secure and waterproof attachment point), add signage, etc. To reduce heating in the summertime, you can add air ducts and a mister to build a miniature swamp cooler to keep you cool. I hope to get to more instructables for them later.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
















































Did you observe any improvement in aerodynamics? I doubt you took it to a wind tunnel, but does it at least feel more aero?
I Notice that you don't extend your fairing down to the ground. Why?
How heavy is your fairing, in total?
So the big picture is that I'm still involved in a bunch of mathematics relating to fairings (including some Navier-Stokes tie ins), but I have not solved what I need to solve yet because it is super nasty.
My fairing, sans the supports, weighs something like five pounds, and is probably ten pounds with all of the bracketry.
I should caution you that no fairing of this style does well in high winds (the problem I am working on solving), so be careful when you take it out. If you're looking for something that is okay in wind, I'd recommend leaving the side panels off (or at least cutting some holes in them), so that there's some place for the wind from the side to go.
The improvements in aerodynamics are pretty startling if you use the bike a lot, especially over flats.
I'll put up some of my simulation work at some point, I have to do all of this outside of work for patent reasons so it is going a little slow. I'd be happy to recommend some supports if you do go ahead and build it.