Don Vesco Rabid Transit rides again!

[rboe]

So I picked up 736's Rabid Transit fairing but some work had to be done. Not sure exactly how old the fairing is; rough guess is between 40 & 50 years old. So the wiring harness was non-existant and needed to be recreated. That went fairly seamlessly.

However; they used a nylon rivet nut for all the fasteners to thread into and I only found them from suppliers in India and New Zealand. Or was it Oz? Metric only (not a deal breaker) so I went with metal Rivnuts. A bit of a blunder as they expected this sheet metal vs. thick fibreglass. Oops.

There was also the little matter of the holes being way too big for the given rivnut size I needed. Another Oops.

Oh well, riveted them to some sheet metal then epoxied that to the inside of the fairing and Bob was my uncle.

First test ride found the mirrors to be useless (seemed to be a given so no surprise) but the fairing had a very nasty vibration. Much greater in amplitude than the motor. So I got some Sorbathane washers and redid the mount where it attaches to the fairing - not vibration free but orders of magnitude better than before and livable.

Got some Emgo mirrors intended for a Honda CBR600 - I think - and mounted them up. They stick out a bit more and are vibration free to at least 80mph. Woot!

The lowers needed some work to make them clear the case savers. Busy work - and done.

It came with three instruments in the dash but I pulled them out - if I used them I needed them out to wire them since he had cut the wires and were not using them. I have some EMT metal plugs in there now but I intend to wire up a voltage meter/USB charger in one so I can plug in my Android phone I use as a GPS.

I messed up the supplied wind screen so I have ordered a smoked one to replace it. I also ordered some windscreen vents from Craig Vetter. I need to address this low pressure zone right behind the fairing.

Couple more tweaks I'd like to do along the way as the mood moves me. But for now it's about 90% done.
A better angle to show how it looks on a red bike (not too shabby I think) and to show what the original mirrors looked like. Very sexy looking, but they did not show me stuff in back I need to see.

[clearviewx]

Looks good from the side.

[apex1_imp]

I had a 1975 Moto Guzzi 850T with a Rabid Transit fairing that I bought in 1982. I always loved that fairing.

[misterprofessionality]

hot dang! so good to see that thing still on the road. Now who will buy the third and final component of 736's very special former bike? i feel like we should form a club and reunite once a year and form Voltron with our bikes or something.

[rboe]

After watching the youtube series on the making of Draco (warning - HUGE time sink) I'm very tempted to make a carbon fiber version of Rabid Transit.

[Cormanus]

Nice work, Rboe. It looks great.

[the Ferret]

Looking cool there Rboe

[rboe]

Thanks gentlemen.

There is some tweaking to do yet. Air comes crashing down on my torso at most speeds. However; around 75 it starts to flow higher (unless I tuck - but I don't ride in a tuck - too dang tall to do that!!).

A buddy has/had a Pacifico fairing I was hoping to test too; takes the same mount. But now he can't find it. sigh.

I noticed that with the lowers I was feeling heat from the engine on my legs. That was a first.

Also need to noodle out to mount the phone (I use an android phone as a mini tablet and runs my GPS app). And I need to find my USB plugs with voltage readout. It was around last week!!

[Ride Forever_imp]

So I picked up 736's Rabid Transit fairing but some work had to be done. Not sure exactly how old the fairing is; rough guess is between 40 & 50 years old. So the wiring harness was non-existant and needed to be recreated. That went fairly seamlessly.

However; they used a nylon rivet nut for all the fasteners to thread into and I only found them from suppliers in India and New Zealand. Or was it Oz? Metric only (not a deal breaker) so I went with metal Rivnuts. A bit of a blunder as they expected this sheet metal vs. thick fibreglass. Oops.

There was also the little matter of the holes being way too big for the given rivnut size I needed. Another Oops.

Oh well, riveted them to some sheet metal then epoxied that to the inside of the fairing and Bob was my uncle.

First test ride found the mirrors to be useless (seemed to be a given so no surprise) but the fairing had a very nasty vibration. Much greater in amplitude than the motor. So I got some Sorbathane washers and redid the mount where it attaches to the fairing - not vibration free but orders of magnitude better than before and livable.

Got some Emgo mirrors intended for a Honda CBR600 - I think - and mounted them up. They stick out a bit more and are vibration free to at least 80mph. Woot!

The lowers needed some work to make them clear the case savers. Busy work - and done.

It came with three instruments in the dash but I pulled them out - if I used them I needed them out to wire them since he had cut the wires and were not using them. I have some EMT metal plugs in there now but I intend to wire up a voltage meter/USB charger in one so I can plug in my Android phone I use as a GPS.

I messed up the supplied wind screen so I have ordered a smoked one to replace it. I also ordered some windscreen vents from Craig Vetter. I need to address this low pressure zone right behind the fairing.

Couple more tweaks I'd like to do along the way as the mood moves me. But for now it's about 90% done.
A better angle to show how it looks on a red bike (not too shabby I think) and to show what the original mirrors looked like. Very sexy looking, but they did not show me stuff in back I need to see.

I had a Rabid Transit on my 1978 XS11 when new.....It was a great fairing. I would like to find one now and see how it would work on my 2014 CB1100. If you know of any I would be interested.