I was looking at making some mesh/screen inserts to place in the faux air ducts on my VTR. While I am sure I could slug it out and get it right eventually, I was wondering if there are some shortcuts I should perhaps be aware of that would help make it eeasier as well as improving the quality of the final product.

thanks in advance

 

If you can make a clean pair for me I'll buy 'em!

 

I'd remove the fairing and start bending the mesh a little at a time to givw it a cup shape and then slide it in from the inside and glue gun it in place at the top so it can't be seen. What I mean by the cup chape is taking a piece that's say an inch bigger than the actual hole and folding it 90 degrees inward.

 

I already have the mesh, having picked some up to make a guard for my new oil cooler. Having removed the inner panels on the fairing lets the daylight come through the phony vets, making it look cheap.

After posting, I went and had a look and think it won't be too hard to do, it'll just require removing the fairing to get in there and do it right. I will likely just stick it up against the inside (vents are not very deep so I can probably get away with it). Guess it gets added to the "to do" list...

 

Faux grills for Faux vents?
This may have come up before, but isn't it possible those vents play a part in directing air through the radiators?

 

Not from what I saw. Besides, MIke (8541Hawk) says he removed his years ago and has never had an overheating issue as a result (and he lives in SoCal, I am in Canada, lol). They are purely there for aesthetics from what I can tell. The should have been used for that, or as a type of ram-air for the aribox (as they were on the Moriwaki racebikes) but alas Honda chose to go for the poser points....

 

I have some scrap mesh like this. The holes are a little bigger than a quarter inch across. I'll mail you some if you want. It bends easily.

 

Appreciate the offer Greg. I'll try with the stuff I have now (relatively fine aluminum mesh so it should bend fairly easily).

 

Fake vents. Good job honda. Maybe we should open them up and let some air in. Maybe direct it somewhere with some duct work.

 

I thought of that but I don't really have the tools or the skills to do it properly (nor the funds to have someone with the skills do it for me)....

 

How bout some small flex hose with your screen wrapped over the one end, secured with a ziptie to hold it on, mount the hose against the inside of the hole and direct to your engine/rad/air box or other where it might be functional, or just use the flex hose as something to hold you mesh over the faux vent hole?

 

What a great idea!!!!!!






As you can see I have them in the radiator openings as well. These were a lot harder to do than the vents next to the headlight. They are a more complex shape than they look, and I had to space the fairing mounts to get a bit more clearance between them and the radiators.

The front vents are easy enough. I used an ally mesh and after it was shaped I painted it and glued it in with silicone. It was quite soft, so I could just shape it by hand.

Pretty easy job. Most of my time was spent on the radaiator grills.

 

Thanks Shayne. Your masterpiece did inspire me I must confess. I will stick to the vents, however. I don't think I have the patience for the rad ones.

cheers

 

Those front ports, according to Honda, are for; "Front fairing ports feed air to the cockpit to lighten handling at higher speeds and provide cooling airflow to the rider." Who wants to bet on the actual benefits?

 

Shayne, awesome bike. you got my vote. How long have you had that Vortex sprocket on there? I only put a few thousand and noticed it was wearing. unbelievable! Got it off and replaced with AFAM high tensil. Vortex was the softest sprocket I ever had. Take a close look at those teeth. Screens look awesome as does the rest of your bike. You're efforts show.

 

My bike only does limited mileage, so wear has not shown up so far. I went for the PFTE coated sprocket, which is supposed to last longer anyway.

I know others that have used them and they reported no problems with wear. Maybe you got a bad one. Having said that, I would not expect an ally sprocket to last as long as a steel one.

 

I don't know about the coating, but my old Vortex looks exactly like yours. Maybe the difference. I'm not terribly hard on the chains/sprockets. The AFAM I have now is great so far. I expect faster wear on alum, but not 3000 miles fast. We'll see>