Cosmetic damage, fairing...

[djkav]

Hi, I had an unfortunate acident and low sided my lovely new GSX65F. I've scuffed up the right side faring Thats the major part.

Its mostly the metallic silver part but its took off the paint to the black. Is it easy to get them spray touched up, or would it be better to get a new fairing panel?

Thx.

 

[Ghosteh]

Have you got a picture of the damage? If there are no cracks etc, it may be easier just to get it resprayed and get new vinyl stickers put on it rather than buying a new panel. Sorry to hear about your off though dude .

 

[djkav]

Thx, im fine. I managed to stay on the bike and somehow soften the landing, and pic it back up. Structurally it looks and feels fine. Im glad to say that its come away very well for a low sided grounding.

What happened was I entered a roundabout and was committed to the turn at about 20-30mph. Its very windy and has blown some of the gutter debris into my path. I did my best to reduce my speed but the front went . I stayed on it and got my foot on the floor. As it continued to go down I put my knee down on to the floor before the bike hit.

The red areas are the main damaged zones. The green areas i'll simply just clean and spay over with some black heat paint.

The purple areas are the other additional damage. Slight scuffing of the exhaust and a bent rear brake peg (still works). I took the handle bar end off to straighten the screw, now I can't get it back on. The indicator case is cracked but im assuming its a simple thing to replace.

 

[Souleh]

Unlucky! Fairings could possibly be re-sprayed or just replaced (checked ebay/gumtree yet?)

The rest youll need to have a dig around for too
Also, check your oil level.. looks a bit low.

Hopefully youre not injured yourself

 

[djkav]

Unlucky! Fairings could possibly be re-sprayed or just replaced (checked ebay/gumtree yet?)

The rest youll need to have a dig around for too
Also, check your oil level.. looks a bit low.

Hopefully youre not injured yourself

Nah im fine without a scratch. The exhaust I can live with for now. I was planning to get an aftermarket one.

 

[Ghosteh]

Exhaust: You can probably find one on eBay if you want to replace it, but I'd just say get an aftermarket one, make the bike sound better .

Rear Brake: Can you straighten it out? Or is it likely to snap? Can pick em up on eBay cheep enough here. Who uses the rear brake anyway? Lol.

Engine Casings: Yeah, like you say, probably easier to just spray them black rather than looking for replacements.

Best thing you can do, is look for a quote for a re-spray, see how much it's likely to cost compared to a complete new faring, new fairings can be quite expensive. Doesn't look beyond repair though.

As for the engine oil, I'm guessing it's only showing as low because the bike is on it's sidestand?

 

[djkav]

Exhaust: You can probably find one on eBay if you want to replace it, but I'd just say get an aftermarket one, make the bike sound better .

Rear Brake: Can you straighten it out? Or is it likely to snap? Can pick em up on eBay cheep enough here. Who uses the rear brake anyway? Lol.

Engine Casings: Yeah, like you say, probably easier to just spray them black rather than looking for replacements.

Best thing you can do, is look for a quote for a re-spray, see how much it's likely to cost compared to a complete new faring, new fairings can be quite expensive. Doesn't look beyond repair though.

As for the engine oil, I'm guessing it's only showing as low because the bike is on it's sidestand?

Yeh its on its side stand, its only done 300miles still running it in In and out of hospital last few months. Its hard to get on and ride.

The brake lever is just bent at the foot grip. It doesnt look stressed or signs of craking.

Is changing the rear brake lever easy-ish?

Thanks for all your input so far

 

[Ghosteh]

Never changed one before, but I can't imagine it being that difficult. Best thing you could do is pick up a Haynes manual, that'll have everything you need in that. I always use one when I do work on my GSX-R.

As it's so new, and I don't know when the model changed last, it'll probably be cheaper to get a re-spray rather than looking for a new panel.

What issue are you having getting the bar end on as well?

Indicators is an easy thing to replace, so no real issue there, except for buying one. You could even look at getting after market ones too, smaller ones for example?

I remember when I binned my Bandit after only having it 6 weeks, I was gutted, but for me, it was an excuse to start moding it lol.

 

[helpimcrap]

cheaper to get it repaired. it's not difficult but look for one in a breakers first to balance up costs. Follow logic and it's easy to do but you'll have a lot of bits to take off and put back on so follow logic with it!

Fairing parts aren't cheap hence why more bikes get written off due to scratches - if the value is above half (i think?) it gets written off.
Think MCN did a report on a GSX-R 600 a few years ago. going thrpugh the suzuki parts catalogue and buying enough to build a brand new bike it would cost you over £25k v £6k for a prebuilt new one! lol

the rear brake lever - get it warmed up with a blow torch to make the metal softer then bend it back. take it off first though! lol. removing a brake pedal is a 5 minute job as remove the footpeg, the remove the circlip and it all come apart - remember to note how the bits come apart though!

for the exhaust - wet n dry(800 at first then 1200/2000) to get it smooth then try autosoling it. i've used that technique to polish bike wheels and it works.

i'm not too shoddy with bike mechanics - i like doing it. in 45 minutes yesterday i took a bike apart and took the forks out then stripped them down coz the seal was leaking. Theraputic. i'd have rebuilt them but noones got the damned parts! grrr

 

[Dogbreath]

Hmm, if the brake lever is alloy then personally I would replace it. You might be able to anneal the alloy and bend it back, but I don't really trust this kind of repair on such important parts.

The damage to the fairing can most certainly be repaired/resprayed, I wouldn't even consider a new fairing half for that little damage.

If you want to make the engine casings look half tidy then fill the ground down parts with a tough metal filled filler or epoxy and sand it down to the right shape when fully hard before respraying. If you just put paint straight on it the damage will still be quite visible.

For very reasonably priced cans that are well made and sound great have a look at Delkevic. For a cheap fix you can get polished stainless steel shrouds that fit over the end of the can to hide the damage but I'm struggling to remember where I saw them

 

[djkav]

Hmm, if the brake lever is alloy then personally I would replace it. You might be able to anneal the alloy and bend it back, but I don't really trust this kind of repair on such important parts.

The damage to the fairing can most certainly be repaired/resprayed, I wouldn't even consider a new fairing half for that little damage.

If you want to make the engine casings look half tidy then fill the ground down parts with a tough metal filled filler or epoxy and sand it down to the right shape when fully hard before respraying. If you just put paint straight on it the damage will still be quite visible.

For very reasonably priced cans that are well made and sound great have a look at Delkevic. For a cheap fix you can get polished stainless steel shrouds that fit over the end of the can to hide the damage but I'm struggling to remember where I saw them

Yeh I'll probably mask of the stickers and respray with the best match of silver I can get in spray can. Will i need to use a plastic primer after rubbing down. Don't know much about spraying fairings.

The can, I was going to get something like an oval stubby anyway. I'll probably try and rebuild the basic shape of the engine casing then paint it black. I reassembled the bar end after straightening the long screw. Thats ok now.

Just the fairing to sort.

Thx for all your ideas and comments. I'm glad its just slight cosmetic damage.