10-26-2015, 01:32 PM
(10-26-2015, 07:18 AM)Rboe_imp Wrote: From the looks of it, Craig Vetter will never be the same. He also sold his Vetter business years ago, he would have to come up with a fresh design and frankly; the market for it is too small. Most bikes come with tupperware or in two versions, naked and tarted up - from the factory.
We stand a better chance of Honda coming out with a Hondaline fairing for it.
I did a little websearch.
He has a website up chronicling the development of the Vetter fairing. Seems that once the orders were rolling in in large numbers, he sold his nascent company in 1978. The new owners, which kept the Vetter name, let quality slip...went bankrupt...sold it to the Bell helmet company.
Bell was interested in updated designs from Craig Vetter but in the end they were more interested in their core business, helmets. They decided to close out - by that time the Gold Wing, the Silver Wing, and BMW and some others had Vetter knockoffs. He must have figured the gig was up.
http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/Vetter_..._made.html
I had a GL500 Silver Wing a few years ago; gave it away for lack of parts or willing shops...but in full-dress mode, it had a dead-ringer Vetter knockoff fairing. Which was ASTOUNDING in effectiveness. I had to run that old bike on a marathon run from Huron, South Dakota to Escanaba, Michigan. Lots of worries over the bad brakes - and deer; but I made it. It's telling that I wasn't worn down from noise and wind - there were little of either. They should try and retro THAT one.
But the Windjammer...it's probably not as good as I remember; but it's got to be better than a lot of bikes I've had since.