OK..

I'm new to the street bike world as of a month ago and already have some questions about fairing parts. Spent years racing motocross and decided to call it quits after graduating college but I still have the urge to ride so I recently purchased a CBR 600 RR. I've always handled broken parts, maintenance, etc myself so I don't question where and what parts to buy. However, being new to this street bike world, I'm at a stand still with fixing things simply due to lack of knowledge.

So here's the scoop..Last week I was at an old roommates house with some friends grilling out and whatnot. I ended up parking the bike in a spot where I was told no one would be/needed to leave so I was under the assumption it was good. Well that evening after night fall a person there end up backing into my bike and knocking it over. Whomp Whomp. She offered to pay for it so no biggie there. But as I really started researching the parts that are busted I'm shocked at the repair costs from the bike simply falling over. The bike went down on the right side so the brake pedal is bent in and the front brake level is bent. The main damage are the fairings. The front right is cracked and the upper front nose fairing around the right headlight is shattered.

I priced the 3 fairing parts and to purchase them piece by piece is insane versus buying a whole new fairing kit. My biggest question is which is really the route to take (Kit VS Piece by Piece) and where is the best place online? Obviously buying the kit is cheaper in terms of being a bundle deal but it's $250-$300 more out of pocket. Also not sure about fitting if I don't buy the whole kit, OEM vs aftermarket, etc. Sorry to come off as a novice in regards to this sort of thing but being new to this, hopefully someone can help. Any advice is much appreciated.

 

If you only tipped over, do NOT buy a fairing package. They use a different plastic, it's much more firm and not as flexible as OEM. That's not good, because as you put on miles, the paint will crack, the tabs will crack, and break off, etc.

So, my advise to you would be to stick it out on ebay. People part out bikes all the time. And you might have to wait in order to find one in your color combo, but it's definitely worth it. Finding an OEM one that is in good condition is a million times better than buying a new fairing kit deal from China. It may take a while longer to find your year and color scheme, but it's well worth it.

I've used the chinese fairings, and while they're okay, they're nowhere near as good as OEM ones. And that's in every aspect (the actual plastic, the paint, the decals) - every bit of it is worse than OEM - hence why the OEM ones cost so much more. The decals will bubble, the paint will flake, and the fairings itself will crack.

And the same goes for your other parts. People buy adjustable rear sets, and then sell they're perfect, yet used, OEM ones on ebay afterwards. Its the most cost-effective way to do it.

I buy and sell parts. I build bikes, I repair them, etc - and I only use Ebay or CL

 

Will do. I read some reviews on the whole fairing kit idea and I pretty much read exactly what you said. I'll hunt on eBay and see what pops up. I appreciate the response.

As far as having frame sliders on the bike, would that really have helped in that situation Is that something to invest in?

 

to give you an idea, i bought a chinese tail cowl (cuz i wasnt sure i would like it, and $30 is better than $200) and it's probably been about 2 years. well here's what it looks like right now:



the paint looks like it has some kind of disease! i can handle replacing a cowl; sure glad i don't own an entire body kit with that problem.

 

If they're just cracked why not try repairing them yourself? theres tons of videos on how to do it on youtube. The front cowl for my tire was completely broken off and cracked all over, I just drilled tiny holes at the ends of the cracks and threw a layer or two of fiber glass on the back. sanded everything down and filled any scratches with bondo and just sanded it down really well then polished. I didnt even paint them and it looks really good... Okay it sounds like a lot of work but it cost me like 50 bucks to fix all the cracks in my fairings and cowls and they've held up amazingly well!
I would definetly give it a try, not sure how baddly shattered your nose is but unless its in dozens of tiny pieces this should work better than fine, though you'll probably have to paint it if its really bad.