What's it like to fit?
Mechanic Mark White has dealt with an awful lot of aftermarket fairings...
“I was actually very impressed how this fairing went onto the bike. A few years ago, fitting an aftermarket plastic fairing on a bike was a nightmare as they required so much fettling, cutting and trimming but the only drilling I did on this one was to remove a bit of paint here and there. However, it hasn’t all been plain sailing.
“Due to the thickness of the fairing and the amount of paint on it, pushing the indicator stalk rubbers through to mount them was a real fight and some screw holes needed opening up. That said, the holes all matched up perfectly and I was really impressed how snugly the headlight unit sat within the nose cowl.
“The spray quality of the paint has certainly improved; gone are the bad old days of ‘orange peel’ finish and it is impressive what you are getting for your money. There are a few areas that let it down, such as the points where two colours meet as the masking hasn’t been good enough to give a precise defined line and there are a couple of lacquer runs. The paint and lacquer have been sprayed into every nook and cranny, which again wasn’t always the case. For the money, it would be hard to complain too much but it is annoying that the red used isn’t correct to Yamaha’s red.
“I’m not very impressed by the mis-coloured pillion seat cover and the decals, which are very poor, and it is annoying that the mudguard, inner panels and V-piece haven’t been painted but you could have spotted that and asked them to do it when ordering. I’d also have specified no decals as, not only are they incorrect, they are lacquered over very thinly and I can see that lacquer peeling quite easily as it has sharp edges that will catch when you clean the bike. And where are the two panels that sit below the tank? If you bought this kit, you would then have to get these panels colourmatched to the (wrong) red used by the firm.
“Overall, I’d say about two hours of careful titivating and you could easily have this whole kit fitted and your bike given a fresh new look. For the money, I can’t get over just how good the paint finish and level of quality is.
"Chinese-made fairings have come on a long way in recent years and I wouldn’t be unhappy fitting one to a bike. My advice would be to contact the company and describe exactly what you want to overcome a few of the irritations.”