Crashed the VFR and now I need a new Fairing. Are the China EBAY kits decent quality?

Discussion in '5th Generation 1998-2001' started by ws6transam, Apr 25, 2017.

  1. ws6transam

    ws6transam New Member

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    Some skittish, unpredictable driver decided to panic brake at a railroad crossing, and I slid the bike under the back of her minivan after locking up the front tire on the hill leading down to the track. It was 29 degrees F and the tires are s.l.i.p.p.e.r.y. at those temps... The headlamp is busted, fairing is shattered, a footpeg mount got broken, but the rest of the bike is okay. The rail crossing lights had *just* started to flash, and she fooled me by driving past the open gates, then using her ABS to stop on the edge of the track. I stuffed it under her left tire, stood up, and saw the gates close behind us, trapping us between the track and the gates. About 45 seconds later the train rushed past about three feet from her front bumper. Police report has her 50% at fault for "obstructing the normal flow of traffic" and me at 50% fault for the normal "failure to maintain an adequate stopping distance". They had two witnesses who put the blame squarely on her panic stop.

    So now I need to spend the time piecing together the replacement parts. I need an upper fairing, headlamp, lower inner cowling, and the two side fairings. I've begun scanning EBAY for used parts and I've seen these all-in-one kits from China for about $400. Has anyone bought one of these kits, and can they tell me anything about the fit and finish of them? Should I get one, or should I just wait and buy some quality OEM takeoff panels from a parted-out yellow VFR?
     
  2. TOE CUTTER

    TOE CUTTER Mullet Man

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  3. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    I agree with Toe, OEM are a much better choice, although you'll be hard pressed to find them in pristine condition BUT you'd be surprised, sometimes you can but they will cost a bit more. Then again, sometimes folks don't know what they have or what they're worth so you can get lucky sometimes. That being said, if you're not comfortable with plastic repairing, check out YouTube, there are dozens of how-to videos on plastic welding and plastic repair products. Maybe use your broken up fairing as a test piece to practice with.
     
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  4. GatorGreg

    GatorGreg Honda Fanboy/LitiGator

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    Sorry to hear about your crash - I've been in similar situations where people decide to panic stop at the first sign of a yellow light and nearly cause a multi-car/bike pileup behind them.
     
  5. ws6transam

    ws6transam New Member

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    It was ironic that I crashed in front of the body shop where my motorcycle side panniers were due to be painted that very day - My Corbins were supposed to get paint matched and I had just gotten after the shop for procrastinating. So I walked in ten minutes after the crash and asked for my parts back. I guess I'll just have to have everything painted at the same time this time.
    IMG_20170322_092144157.jpg IMG_20170326_181758762.jpg
     
  6. GatorGreg

    GatorGreg Honda Fanboy/LitiGator

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    Haha that is ironic - still sucks though!

    [video=youtube;Jne9t8sHpUc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc[/video]
     
  7. skimad4x4

    skimad4x4 "Official" VFRWorld Greeter

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    I have only ever had a chance to look closely at one motorbike fitted with an aftermarket Chinese fairing kit. It looked OK at a distance but close up it was pretty awful. Bits not lining up, and panels of obviously slightly different paint colours and seemingly made of some wet lettuce quality material which flexed alarmingly.

    I would not bother with the Chinese kits if you can afford/find OEM panels from eBay or a recycling company. Don't forget OEM panels use decent material and even serious damage can be repaired by plastic welding (plenty of how to YouTube videos) and then repainted to match the rest of the bike (assuming you managed to collect up all the bits).

    Good luck


    SkiMad
     
  8. I0seb

    I0seb New Member

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    I'm also going to say don't bother with the Chinese kits, they are a total pain in the ass.

    Also just a heads up, the paint shop won't be able to exactly match the factory yellow so you will either have to find an OEM yellow panel of get the whole bike painted.
     
  9. TOE CUTTER

    TOE CUTTER Mullet Man

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    I know you don't want to hear this but the factory upper still listed as available when I looked it up this morning. Aboot $400.
     
  10. tinkerinWstuff

    tinkerinWstuff Administrator Staff Member

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    Haven't seen anyone match the Honda pearl exactly. Sherwin Williams was able to make me a batch that matched in the sunlight but was slightly off indoors.
     
  11. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    The advice on the aftermarket plastic is spot on. The $400.00 figure likely does not include shipping. From the pix unless the old fairing parts or even some of them may be repairable. Looks like the bike is well taken care of. This because any repairs, replacement of panels or even partial replacement using the aftermarket plastic, the whole bike should be repainted. Dozens of reasons why in the archives and any website with expertise on paint.
     
  12. 2up

    2up New Member

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    I went down and did research. Found no quality (injected) Chinese stuff and all the reviews say that the compression ones sit horribly. I needed the right n front one and new was going to be about $850. I then researched for places to repair and found one in California and one in Philadelphia. I was quoted $220 to repair each fairing plus the shipping would have cost me $100 round trip. I dropped them off two weeks ago and we'll pick them up soon.


    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
     
  13. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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  14. loosenoose

    loosenoose New Member

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    if you still need an upper, i'm selling one on ebay. everything's there, and i dont recall my asking price, but it's not a whole lot. one of the PO's did a terrible job at removing some stickers, so you will likely need to sand it. pm me if you are interested. i can send you pics and stuff
     
  15. Terry Smith

    Terry Smith Member

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    I have a different perspective on this; I lowsided my red 99 two years ago, and rashed up the nose, right side and the tail. I took a punt on some fairings from Auctmarts on eBay, based in China/Hong Kong. I sent them a piece of my fairing for a colour match (extra $25 charge IIRC).

    As others have stated, the parts are compression moulded, a little thinner than stock, and some of the holes did not line up perfectly, but they were pretty darn close. The paint match was really good, as was the finish, and the fit on the bike I'd rate at an A-, not absolutely perfect, but hard to spot; a 2-3mm gap where the nose and right side panels join is about it.

    The parts were well packed and promptly shipped to me. If I had to, I would do the same in a heartbeat. The parts have held up well since installation, the paint is a little more prone to chipping but looking good.

    [​IMG]
     
  16. smack doogle

    smack doogle New Member

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    Interesting, would you mind posting closer pics of the gaps between panels? My 5th gen met a deer in July and all plastic is either shattered or cracked (I stayed upright but the impact was so hard on the right that the left side bodywork cracked also).
     
  17. Terry Smith

    Terry Smith Member

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    Really just the joint between the right side and nose, and the nose and gauge surround have gaps. [​IMG][​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  18. smack doogle

    smack doogle New Member

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    Thanks for the pics. I see what your talking about. I think its acceptable if your planning on riding or tracking the VFR. Obviously for a show bike its no good but I don't know anyone showing the VFR like that either. Most are ridden and ridden hard and long.
     
  19. thtanner

    thtanner New Member

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    Not a fan of the Chinese plastics we've used. Got them from a well known vendor named BlissStar.

    I'll never go that route again for a street bike. Track bike? Sure.
     
  20. mwlehman

    mwlehman New Member

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    just because a shop does not have the paint code for the color formula they should still be able to match it, most if not all paint supply shops have a handheld machine to take a picture of paint and figure out a formula for the color and that should be close enough to start .. the bodyshop can add tints from there to change color..use spray out cards and do some test colors to come up with a good match
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2017
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