This has probably been addressed before but I'd like to know experiences buying platic kits from those listings all over eBay - nearly all of which originate in China. In the pictures they look like pretty nice kits. Aside from the fact that not all pieces may fit exactly like OEM, etc I'm concerned about receiving the kit in a timely manner, ACTUALLY receiving it, etc - you know, all the concerns about buying stuff out of the country. I'm told it really isn't a huge deal - people do it all the time.

 

Just pay through paypal and if you don't receive it in up to 45 days file a claim and get your money back.

I haven't heard of anyone not receiving their fairings.

 

They're pretty good about shipping them and there's one site with a warehouse in Nevada they ship out of. Do a search on here for fairings and you'll see lots of info on it. This topic comes up a lot.
Also depending on your model there's a new sponsor here that's doing a free giveaway you may want to enter. Look at the top of the page for the link.

 

I bought one from a guy on ebay, HitHotWin. And we actually could have e-mail conversations. English was poor but we got through it.

Him and most will do custom paint too, so if you like most of their design but want to change a bit of it, slap a pic of it into a paint program and roughly color what you want different and no problems.

Shipping on most all of them are about 200 to 250 and take about 4-6 weeks to arrive, so please be patient.

To make it fit you must be good with your hands, and creatitive. I will tell you now, they will not fit, you have to modify each piece in a way- drill holes bigger, drill a new hole etc, but dont be lazy and resort to zip ties. I broke a tab or two on mine, and they are easy enough to fix with fast set plastic adhisive and 24 hours to make sure it is set (even though it says 10min, use 24hours) All in all it takes a few good days to put together real nice. Maybe 10 hours or somthing, but I did mine when I got the urge and was in the mood to do it right (it was winter so I was in no hurry)

The molded tank cover SUCKS. Dont even bother!!! Get your current tank painted to match it. I sanded mine (not to the steel, just to remove all the clear) and brought it to a shop, it was like 70 bucks or somthing to paint and looks perfect! ...I actualyl bought a smokin joes tank of ebay for 30 bucks and was absoulty perfect lol, the sanded it cause I didnt want to ruin my stock tank. So 100 bucks in total for a matching PROPER tank.

Now, would I recomend these plastics??? Sorta- I have my stock set in perfect condition, all fairings and even the tank are wraped and hanging in my garage ready to go back on whenever I want. BUT, I dont put them on...

I was concerened when I orded the kit that it would not fit or would be a sh*tty mess so I made sure my stock kit was always kept perfect ready to go back on if the china kit failed my aproval (espcially the tank, once if I painted my stock tank there was no going back thats why I bought a cheap used on to work on)

Like I said, I didnt put the stock back on because I love the way the china kit looks. I think I have a rare opportunity to be absolutely unbiased on the china plastics cause I can chose either or, I didnt have to buy the kit cause I had no plastics on my bike or because I droped it and plastics were damaged, I just wanted to see them, and if I didnt like, I could always go back to stock but I dont. THEY LOOK GREAT, BUT ONLY IF YOU TAKE YOUR TIME TO DO IT RIGHT. (Ands thats a lot of time to take)

Long story short: They wont fit, and you need to paint your tank. If your good with your hands and have a passion to do it right , they gonna look great. However if you take short cuts i.e. zip ties and rush- dont bother.

Here are some older pics, Ive done some sticker work since to the white engine access panels to make them not as white. ebay sells automotive stickers/decals soooo cheap.

 

I am guessing yours were press molded as they are difficult to install and take alot of tinkering.
If you get injection molded they fit almost perfect (A couple tabs needed sanding as they were a tad to wide and a couple paint drips in the hole needed to be drilled out = 15mins of extra work) and I got my OEM off and my new aftermarket fairings on in about 2 hours.

 

I got a ebay kit to replace the oems since they were in really sorry shape from the last owners. I did have the expected fitment issues, but some pieces were even shaped a bit off. I didnt even bother with the rear pieces, I reused my oems since the china pieces could not be made to work. But after some coaxing i got everything on. overall im pleased, i would have preferred new oems but that was WAY over my budget. I got out of them what I wanted at least. I had no issues with shipping, they actually showed up after 3 weeks.
One thing to remember is half your cost will be in shipping, so if there is an issue they wont refund that cost and you will have to pay to send it back, in short once you buy them, they are yours since returning them is not worth the money. As stated above if you take your time they can look good.

 

>>>One thing to remember is half your cost will be in shipping<<<

What a lot of these suppliers are doing is advertising 'free shipping', and pricing the whole kit ar around $550 or so. Also, they say the mark the package "gift" or "sample" to avoid customs fees.

On another note, anyone know if you can get a fuel tank cover for 1998 F3? Seems most of the kits for the 98' don't have tank covers.

 

I have a fuel tank cover off mine, black. I can sell it to you. (I painted my tank so i did not use it) It will fit 98. Make me an offer, Im using it as a paper weight right now.

 

Can I ask you who the seller was for the fairings you bought?

 

mine were at customs for a bit, they tore the box open after 3 days and inspected everything. Even called china to check if it was all in line.

The guy e-mailed me and told me everything, just to be patient. You probably in the same boat.

I also got one of my fairings tabs broken and a corner snaped (i fixed, its easy enough) but I suspect customs did it because it is packed so well when it leaves china, its amlost imposible to put back once you open it.