VFR800 tatty plastics

[mattgirv]

Hey, bit of a long one with a few questions but bear with me.

After years of self-maintenance and all year riding, my 98 VFR has terrible plastics. A lot of the side mount holes have started to crack and the fairings are tatty generally. I'm noticing that it is getting harder and harder for everything to line up properly and it is becoming a real pain.

Also from what looks like a stonechip, my headlight has a crack in the plastic right in the middle. It doesn't affect the lights and the beam pattern is fine but I'm not sure how to stop the crack from spreading without replacing the whole unit. I only bought this one a year ago and can't really afford another one given the price they tend to go for.

I'm basically wondering whether anyone has any idea about dropping the fairings altogether. My main concern about doing this would be the radiators and pipes being completely exposed, along with various other electrics that run up the left hand side. If I could find away around that, I could just fit some dominator headlights or something and have done with the overly expensive VFR headlight unit and worn fairings. This would also make working on the bike a heck of a lot easier.

Cosmetically I would like to keep the fairings, the quick release bolts look interesting but I'd be worried about them getting stolen. Would it actually be less hassle to just patch the fairings up myself? And from a DIY perspective what would be the best way to go about it?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Ta
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Bikes: 1998 Honda VFR800Fi, 26,500 miles
1989 Honda CB-1, 38,000 miles

[Phoenix]

Can't see why your plastics are cracking, neither home maintenance or all weather riding should have any impact on that so i'm guessing it's a result of you overtightening all the fasteners. I'd remove one panel at a time and fibreglass over the the back of the lugs where they're splitting, then refit it to make sure it's all in line. If you do all the panels at once you may have a job refitting it all.

Get a headlight protector, can get clear ones and should stop the lens from cracking further if anything else hits it. You can usually separate the lens on headlight units, I can on my Fireblade so if you can get hold of just the lens that's another option. Takes about 10 minutes with a good hairdryer and a screwdriver.

[mattgirv]

It's worse on the left hand side, it was knocked off the stand once when I parked it in town and it got a few cracks from that which essentially have gotten gradually worse since.

And the cracking around the bolts was there to some extent when I bought it anyway, I find that if I don't have them up to the tightness they're at now, they'll just vibe themselves loose after a pretty short amount of time. I'm guessing that since they're cracked already, even tightening to normal amounts will cause it strain.

Yeah I'll pick up one of those headlight covers, they're just a film aren't they?

Honda in their wisdom decided with the VFR800(pre-VTEC at least) that the headlight should be one whole unit. The plastic front is actually physically stuck to the back and the only way to get it off would be to saw it. You'll never find the cover on its own either.. They tend to go in the region of £100 second hand. I think the Honda price is something ridiculous like £300.
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Bikes: 1998 Honda VFR800Fi, 26,500 miles
1989 Honda CB-1, 38,000 miles

[Phoenix]

Headlight protectors are a hard acrylic cover, about 4-5mm thick and stick on with heavy duty velcro type tabs so it's not a film but a proper cover, nothing will break your lens with one of those on.