5 Tips for Buying Motorcycle Fairing Kits

The first thing to consider when buying new motorcycle fairing kits is your budget. Ultimately, your budget determines the quality of the fairings your purchase. I recommend that if you are going to replace your fairings, have an idea of how much you want to spend on your fairings. The highest quality fairings will be expensive, but you are paying for quality. But remember that there are also good quality fairings available at lower prices. Try to stick within your budget, but be realistic. For example, if you can get your fairings repaired and resprayed by a reputable body shop for a lower price, then your budget is probably too high.

My second tip when looking for motorcycle fairings is the material they are made from. Low cost fairings will generally be made from low quality materials. The best materials for making fairings are glass fibre, carbon fibre, or ABS. The most common is ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene). This is a polymer that is usually injection moulded to form the fairings; this makes fairings that are lighter and low cost, but still strong. Glass fibre is generally from older model bikes as it is heavier, but more durable than ABS, and more expensive as it usually has to be ‘layed up’ by hand. Carbon fibre fairings are the newest on the market, they are the lightest and the strongest, however they are very expensive and prone to shattering, these are generally used on race bikes due to their low weight.

Thirdly, you need to consider the condition of your existing fairings, do they all need replacing? Or do just one or two need fixing up? It may be cheaper to find single fairings to replace that are the same colour (if you have factory colours) Alternatively, it may also be cheaper to repair the fairing yourself and then get your local body shop to spray it. If you do require a full kit, make sure you get the one for your bike, it may be possible to use kits for previous/later models, but you may need to confirm this with the manufacturer.

My fourth tip is reputation. Ensure when looking for fairing kits that you buy them from a reputable manufacturer. Read reviews available, and don’t get put off by people that moan about the postage time, that’s more than likely, not the manufacturers fault! Find out what the paint finish is like, whether they are easy to install. Also find out whether you need a new fixing kit to go with your fairings, or can you use all your original ones. Remember it’s a lot easier to buy a fairing kit that is PRE-DRILLED! It will save you a lot of time and headache when you come to install your new fairings.

My final tip is: take your time! Look around, don’t go rushing into buying the cheapest fairings from eBay that will take a year to get delivered from China. Also, make sure that you get the look that you want, if one or two of the decals put you off, the colour isn’t quite right or you want to change them then ask! Most companies make to order so will be more than happy to change some elements for you. Also some companies may also be willing to design a whole new fairing set, exactly the way you want! So don’t be afraid to ask! But also don’t get upset when they say no, they’re not obliged to change anything for you.