Faired Bikes

says...

The original poster asked when faired bikes became the norm. I don't
class any of the 50s and 60s examples yet quoted as being the norm.
They were low volume sellers in the big scheme of things.

 

TOG ripped me a new one when I stated that the norm for today was Harley
look-alikes, and he was most likely right.

So, what is the norm? Faired bikes? Naked V-Twins? Not the old vertical
side-by-sides, surely.

It would be interesting to find out how the UKRM faithful have adapted
to the modern world by listing their bikes, new and old, faired and
elsewise.

All my best,
doc

 

you could, of course, click the link and go to the new one. 'course, the
bike pages are not there yet - they are in fact still on the old site, but
not linked. Adding /boxer to the above URL will find it though.

 

not to mention a velo venom of some kind.

 

doc says...

Stand at the roadside and work it out for yourself.

 

Hmmmm. How do you s'pose I got that silly Harley look-alike idea in the
first place?

Best,
doc

 

doc says...

You live in Brighton

 

LOL!

Best,
doc

 

I did. But it's a bit silly having the old one in your sig, no?

I noticed that.

oh yes!

 

Are you telling me that faired bikes were "the norm" at any point
before the 1980s?

 

Thus spake Naqerj unto the assembled multitudes:

In the case of the Ariel Leader, that was about as far from the norm as you
could get. Pig-ugly at best, but without the screen it looked utterly
ghastly. I should know, I had one, a well-worn ex-police hack. It damn
near turned me to stone every time I looked at it. It was pretty reliable
though; far more so than the Lambretta SX200 (over the side with it...) for
which I'd swapped it. Eventually sold it for a fiver. Cor, if I'd known
then what I know now.

 

Dunno 'bout that. Of the faired bikes of the period, I reckon it looks
the best because it looks as if it's meant to be a faired bike. The
others look like what they were, normal bikes with fairings tacked on as
an afterthought.

 

No, not the norm. Yes, there were several of them about then, but there
were far more 'proper' bikes around. After all, Ariel even had to
produce a "de-faired" Leader: the Arrow.

 

http://www.madmotors.com/public/xx-misc/benhonda.jpg

 

Thus spake Naqerj unto the assembled multitudes:

Pity they didn't change that horrid front mudguard at the same time. It
looked like the front end of a baleen whale with its gob open.

 

BMW kicked off the cockpit fairing thing with the R90/S in the
mid-1970s, and then of course with the fully faired R100RS.

Jap bikes..... yes, it was the early GPZs and also the Suzuki GSX
series: the GSX750 got a half fairing to begin with and a full fairing
in 1984, pre-dating the GSXR750 by at least a year.

The first power-valve 350 and the XJ900 both had little cockpit
fairings and both wobbled like feck because of them.

 

doc wrote:

Mine are in my usual (ie: non-Google) sig. In order of capacity: 2001
Triumph Trophy 1200, 1997 Ducati 750SS, 1978 Honda CB750F2, 1977 Honda
CB400 Four, 1980 Honda CD200, 1981 Yamaha DT175MX, 1972 Honda CB125S,
1985 Yamaha DT50MX. So yes, only the modern(ish) bikes are faired.