How much difference, and what difference do fairings make?

[Wonko The Sane]

When it comes to bikes owned / ridden I'm like a catholic school girl who got married two years ago just after finishing 6th form…

The Varadero 125 was like the boyfriend I got off with and the ZZR600 the chap I've married and got into bed with - although I tend to think of my bikes as girls…

Did a few motorway hops on the Vara and done some longer runs on the ZZR, the fairing on the ZZR of course keeping some of the wind off and keeping some of the wind chill off through winter,

but how much difference does it really make?

would I notice the lack of them if I did my commute on a Street Tripple for example (mix of motorway and a bit of normal roads and lots of filtering)

Would I miss them on longer motorway runs?
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[Carvel]

[MarJay]

[Beehive Bedlam]

I rode from Yorkshire to Derbyshire once on my naked Daelim VJ125 via the motorway to pump a young lady with my five star unleaded it was very fatiguing.

A similar commute on my Varadero wasn't half as tiring the fairing did a decent job keeping the rain off me as well.

Fairing/screen will be missed on long motorway commutes yes.

[Wednesday Biker]

From my foggy rose tinted memory ,I think you could do 10-15mph more on a faired bike in coldish weather before you felt as cold as on a naked.
A fairing does help but you adapt.

[Wednesday Biker]

From my foggy rose tinted memory ,I think you could do 10-15mph more on a faired bike in coldish weather before you felt as cold as on a naked.
A fairing does help but you adapt.

[mentalboy]

[Albigularis]

I didn't find the fairing on the GSXR1000 I had to protect any better than the Street Triple with flyscreen. I think it feels reduced because you're leaning into it more than anything else. A double bubble may have helped though.

The GS is a couch though. On any other bike I can only deal with my visor up until about 30mph then my eyes start watering, I can go over 100 with the visor on my helmet up due to the wind protection on that thing. It's great in that respect.
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Biking history so far-
Aprilia RS125 - Kawasaki ZXR400 - Triumph Street Triple R - Suzuki GSXR1000 L3 - BMW R1200GS - Kawasaki Z1000 - Kawasaki ZX10R C1H - Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring - Suzuki Hayabusa

[monkeybiker]

I prefer not to have the fairing. The wind blast adds to the experience and also helps keep my speed down so I get to live a bit longer.

The wind blast is not too bad without the fairing. I can easily do over 70mph for long periods. It's only when you start getting over 100mph that you get blown about.

Naked bikes look better too.

[1198]

[Vracktal]

My experience is it depends how tall you are. As an experiment I tried riding the unfaired (R1200R), faired sport (R1200S) and faired touring (R1200RS) version of my bike for a road ride and motorway jot back to back, and I found that as a 6'4" bloke:

On the naked, the wind blast is evenly distributed across my head, torso and waist, so I'm constantly being pushed back into the seat of the bike.

On the faired sport bike, the wind blast hits the fairings, is directed upwards and hits me in the helmet. This actually means with the fairings I feel like I'm getting more wind at the helmet level than with a naked. But, shorter people riding the same bike told me they haven't had this problem and that the wind blast skips over them. YMMV.

On the faired touring bike the screen is so big the wind blast was greatly reduced all across my body.
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[Slacker24seve...]

Prolonged periods at 90+ need a screen or neck muscles. Below that, not so much. Keeping some of the rain off you is a pretty big plus though!
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[Twofish]

Definitely. And not all fairings are equal.

I noticed a fairly big difference between my CBR and my F800. The CBR had a larger screen fitted too, but the F800 is designed to be a tourer so the fairings and screen work well to keep you warmer, drier and more out of the wind so you can spend much longer at speed on the motorway without:

a) your head feeling like it weighs 20st (unless you get bad turbulence )
b) your thighs feeling like the chicken drumsticks you've taken out of the freezer for tea
c) losing all feeling from your first knuckle down between the months of October and April.
d) your knees being the first point of contact for ALL of the rain in your vicinity.

I've ridden an ER6-N on dual carriageway for about 10 minutes at a time in December and it was a bit like going in to the ice room in a spa where you cool down from the hot rooms and put ice cubes on your sore bits. Refreshing, but I wouldn't do it by choice. Ever. Again. So when I bought my first bike bike it had a full fairing.

If I was just riding around town or short distances then a naked would be OK, or preferably half faired like a Fazer. But we do longer trips so nothing short of a full plastic surround will do for me!
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CBR600F -> F800GT
Still thinking about it.

[dydey90]

The fairing on my ER6 is next to useless above 80ish, but I believe they updated it slightly after my model (2011 shape).

I bought a faired bike because I had a long motorway commute but now it only takes me ten minutes to get to work, I'm thinking naked next time.
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This post is probably not serious and shouldn't be taken literally.
Past: CBR125,ER6f NINJA 650, ZZR600 Current: VFR750

[Copycat73]

motorway speeds on a naked bike feels like beein pushed off the back.
on a fully faired bike feels like you could get off and
"push the thing faster"

as always its horses for courses ....
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[johnsmith222]

[pinkyfloyd]

I swapped from a faired to unfaired bike. The difference is pretty noticeable. I started to get uncomfortable at around 120 (private road) on the naked bike it was around 80 before it got uncomfy. Adding a screen gives me another 10mph or so but it is a big difference than riding a faired bike. Head on buffeting is something that takes a bit of getting used too.
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[temeluchus]

Compare any naked to a touring bike with a fairing designed to be weather protection first and foremost the difference is frankly night and day. A well designed touring fairing will leave you with next to no windblast at all. Sportstourer fairings are a compromise, sportsbike fairings are more for aerodynamics and fashion than the rider.

In terms of winter, I'd quite happily ride something like a BMW K100LT, Pan European etc long distances. As for a Naked, I'd rather avoid having to go very far knowing the physical pain that would result.
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[temeluchus]

[deadwolf]

[Copycat73]

[grr666]

[monkeybiker]

[temeluchus]