So I have an MS batwing and bought their deflectors for extra wind coverage, but for the life of me I don't get what they were trying to accomplish with the weird design. Unless its actually supposed to look like an actual bat's wing.
Anyway I didn't like them so decided to make my own. I bought 2 of the 8"x10" pieces of Lexan from Home Depot/Lowes. Played around with different shapes using cardboard. Finally came up with a design I liked, which ended up making the MS batwing look more like a standard Harley fairing shape. I should point out that the Lexan seems thin, but its strong and bending it to the curve of the batwing gives it more strength.
I traced my design on the lexan leaving the protective plastic in place until I was done. Then cut out the design using a jigsaw with a fine metal blade. Then sanded the edge smooth with 200-300 grit sandpaper. Finally I used Rustoleum Plastic Flat Black to paint several coats on the BACK only of the lexan (I also slightly sanded the backside to give the paint some "grip"). This allows the front side to be stock lexan which makes a nice gloss finish without a chance of anything chipping the paint from the frontside.
Here's some pics...
Peeling the film...
Front side is glossy...
Made the bottom long enough to fit under the stock Batwing clamp. Well at least the edge which is enough to hold the Lexan. More support that way. Also, notice this side is where I painted the flat black.
Here you can see the difference to the MS deflector.
Left side of the pic is my custom deflector.
Right side of the pic is MS deflector with its weird shape.
Fully mounted and closed the gap to my VA lowers nicely.
Coverage is actually better than the MS deflectors, mine are lower, but not as wide.
But I think the lower blockage helps with buffeting more.
A dark picture but you can still see how they look from the side.
I like them, nice work; and it does resemble a harley fairing with those on there. Makes me wanna give mine another shot; wasn't completely happy with how mine turned out last summer.
Unless of course GrapeApe is willing to email or produce a PDF or something life size of his design so we could make our own...lol
But I like to toy around and see if I can create my own custom ones, half the fun of modding. But nothing ever wrong with taking a cue from someone who's perfected the art already.
Thanks for the comments. Not sure I want to try to make and sell them. Took me long enough to finish my own set and get them posted (between family and work that is, it doesn't take long to actually make them).
Also, I've only ridden with them a few times. Not sure how well they hold up in the long term. I worry the paint might crack eventually depending on how much they flex (which doesn't seem much so far). But I figure a touch up isn't that hard to do if needed.
What I really would like is to send my template to MS and get them to make a set with their materials. That would be sweet.
I'll see if I can get a template and scan it. Might be next week before I get a chance but I'll see what I can do. I don't have the original and I tweaked it after I cut anyway. I need to take one off and trace it to get a correct template.
Hi there!
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Thanks, Will
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