Chip Beck Spec Road Comet Faring Mod.

[ChipBeck_imp]

Gentlemen,

Many of our members have installed the same Road Comet faring that I have on my CB11. It is a fine looking accessory that is well-made and easy to install but there is one thing about it that bugs me. Because the headlight does not seal directly to the faring itself and because some clearance is necessary to allow for headlight adjustment, there is some light bleed through to the inside of the faring that is visible to the rider at night. Certainly not the end of the world but an aggravation nonetheless.

Over a couple weeks I studied many different solutions, discarding most of them because they involved modifying either the faring or the bike. I knew that if I looked at it long enough a solution would come to me and it did. While prepping my GT for last week’s national rally, I put a roll of 2 inch wide extreme duty black “Racers Tape” in with my cleaning kit. Racers Tape is used to protect vulnerable areas of a car from stone chip damage during track and high-speed road events. It is available online at racerstape.com. Racers Tape is very similar to duct tape but it is made to be used on painted automobile surfaces, providing outstanding adhesion and protection while allowing for clean easy removal even after it has been on a car for many months. Bingo! This is the perfect material to make a gasket out of to seal that headlamp to my Road Comet faring.

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Items you will need to duplicate this “Chip Beck Spec” mod are few. A clean flat working surface about 3 feet long, a roll of extreme duty black Racers Tape, a yardstick or tape measure, and a pair of scissors. Tear off a 32 inch long piece of racers tape and lay it adhesive side up on a flat surface. Using two small pieces of racers tape, tape the bottom 1 inch to your working surface as shown in the photo, pulling the tape tight before taping it down.

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Then carefully and precisely fold the top 1 inch down, pressing the adhesive sides together so you end up with a 1 inch wide black band. Trim it so that it is 28 inches long.

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Now take another 32 inch long piece of racers tape and lay it adhesive side up. Tape its entire 2 inch width down to your surface, again stretching it tight before taping it down.

[url=http://s288.photobucket.com/user/chipbeck/media/Com9.jpg.html]

Now, carefully and precisely lay your 1 wide black band down on the top 1 inch of the tape you have secured to your working surface. Press it down so that it is securely affixed. When you are done attaching its entire length, trim the result to 28 inches long.

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You have now created a removable Road Comet headlight gasket that can be affixed and removed easily. The adhesive on that tape will never mar the surface of your headlamp nor will it harden.

Affix this gasket to your headlamp such that its rearmost edge is 3/8 of an inch behind the chrome band of your headlamp. The result should look like that in the photo below. When you reattach your Road Comet faring make sure that its entire fiberglass lip is inside that black gasket. The result is invisible from the front or from the rider’s seat but now when you turn on the headlight at night you will observe nothing but black darkness inside that faring. Now, all is right with the world.

All the best.

Chip
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[the Ferret]

Nice mod Chip.

[GaryRudolph_imp]

Nice idea, just getting ready to do my install, so perfect timing!

[meowguy_imp]

Gorilla Duct Tape is a product that man on earth simply cannot live without. I put it right up there next fire in importance. I am a big fan.

[oldgoat01_imp]

Light leakage from the Comet? Gee never noticed that before

I assume the tape is their 2" standard duty black tape, right?

As someone who is ADD ADHD (diagnosed by my wife and since she is a school teacher she is an expert in identifying that trait), I can't tell you how much I appreciate having someone who is OCD do these instructions (a closeup on how to use a pair of scissors to cut the tape!... all these years I have been using the wrong end...LOL. All kidding aside, I do appreciate the detail. The only issue is with my ADHD, I'll probably inadvertently skip a couple of steps along the way)

Thanks

[ChipBeck_imp]

Gorilla Duct Tape is a product that man on earth simply cannot live without. I put it right up there next fire in importance. I am a big fan.

Gentlemen,

Gorilla tape would certainly work and it's good strong stuff. The reason I suggest racers tape is because it comes off cleanly and it's adhesive won't harden in time like standard duct tape or Gorilla tape. On the racerstape.com web site I chose the extreme duty black tape instead of the standard black tape because it's slightly thicker. All the best.

Chip

[oldgoat01_imp]

Light leakage from the Comet? Gee never noticed that before

I assume the tape is their 2" standard duty black tape, right?

As someone who is ADD ADHD (diagnosed by my wife and since she is a school teacher she is an expert in identifying that trait), I can't tell you how much I appreciate having someone who is OCD do these instructions (a closeup on how to use a pair of scissors to cut the tape!... all these years I have been using the wrong end...LOL. All kidding aside, I do appreciate the detail. The only issue is with my ADHD, I'll probably inadvertently skip a couple of steps along the way)

Thanks

[rboe]

While I have never used racers tape I have used Gorilla tape and would be reluctant to use it in this application for the reasons Chip listed.


Chip; My first choice would be black foam tape found at hardware stores for sealing gaps. But I would want to apply it to the inside of the fairing which means the fairing needs enough surface to attach the foam tape. Your photos don't show enough of the fairing to see if that solution would work.

I wonder how close to Gaffer's tape this racers tape is.

So folks don't have to buy a whole roll of tape you should offer up a kit via mail order......

[ChipBeck_imp]

While I have never used racers tape I have used Gorilla tape and would be reluctant to use it in this application for the reasons Chip listed.


Chip; My first choice would be black foam tape found at hardware stores for sealing gaps. But I would want to apply it to the inside of the fairing which means the fairing needs enough surface to attach the foam tape. Your photos don't show enough of the fairing to see if that solution would work.

I wonder how close to Gaffer's tape this racers tape is.

So folks don't have to buy a whole roll of tape you should offer up a kit via mail order......

I considered foam tape but the headlight actually sits slightly behind the faring so that would not work. I went through a ton of solutions and trial & error. My objective was not to seal the gap but to eleminate the light bleed to the inside of the faring which was bothersome at night. The part of the seal that touches the faring must not have any adhesive on it for reasons hard to explain but that are apparent when you do this mod. Cheers.

Chip

[rboe]

I'm a believer in having some air be fed behind the windscreen, such as it is, to help with buffeting. Your solution allows that much easier than foam tape.

I'm in the market (at some point) for a bikini fairing, just not sure which one of the three million available to get. I like the looks of many.