Putting Windjammers on newer bikes

[Craig Vetter]

This is a common question. In fact, this is from this morning:
"I have a 1999 Yamaha road star 1600, the opening on your fairing won’t go around the fork tubes as they are too wide... "
He wants to put a Windjammer on his bike.

This is my answer:
"The Windjammer was designed around bikes the size of the Kawasaki 500.
The last genuine Vetter mounting brackets were for 1982 sized bikes.

It was never intended for a bike like yours.

If you cut away enough of your Windjammer to get on in the right place on your Yamaha, you will have probably removed most of the inside of the fairing. All structural strength will have been lost. As you are able to move the fairing back, you will see that the tank is way too big. When you cut away the inside to clear the tank, you will have nothing left of the inside.

I don't think it is going to work.

You might consider the Liberator which was designed for the Harley Big Twin, a bike with the proportions of your bike.

People put Liberators on the Triumph Rocket 3 today with great success.

Craig"

 

[limpy45]

Craig, how much modification is needed to mount a Liberator on a Rocket III? I would like to put one on my son's Rocket III. I know where there are several that just might even be NIB. Wouldn't that be cool.

 

[Craig Vetter]

Interesting that you should ask. This has already been done with very satisfactory results. Take a look at how Frank Buckman did it

As we speak, one of my Brit friends is preparing to do the same thing

 

[Larry Fine]

Craig, if you don't mind rendering your opinion on this:

I just acquired a WJ5 that came with a mount for a 1982 CB750K:

My bike is a 1996 CB750SC, aka a Nighthawk 750. The bracket's four "shoes" are angled correctly to match my frame, and the oil cooler fits through the "window" of the bracket. But, the engine apparently sits higher in the frame than the older models, and the two center exhaust pipes prevent the lower shoes from reaching the frame.

When comparing the frame bends below the steering neck, between exhaust pipes 1 and 2, and between pipes 3 and 4, on the older frames, the bends are several inches above the pipes, but on the newer frames, the bends are just above the pipes.

So, my question is whether I can cut out the tubes between the lower shoes, and rely on the bike's frame to maintain the spacing and strength between the lower bracket parts, more or less turning the bracket above into one configured like the one below:

 

[TwoLazy]

I see that this is a couple of years old, however, some thoughts for you to consider. There reproductions of Harley's big bike fairing (with the twin headlights) out there. The use a mounting system similar (in concept) to the Phantom mounting system. this might be worth looking into if money is a secondary concern. If the frame mounted fairing clears the Harley tank, I don't see why it won't clear the Yamaha's tank.