Full Fairing On Bikes: Advantages And Disadvantages

A motorcycle’s performance depends on a variety of factors. While the engine output and other powertrain-related technologies have a key role in determining a motorcycle’s performance, there are other critical variables at play as well. Amongst these factors, aerodynamic efficiency, or the ability of a motorcycle to cut wind resistance and slip efficiently through the air is the most critical. To ensure that a motorcycle effectively counters drag, or air resistance, motorcycle manufacturers have been using fairings as an effective tool for quite some time now. A fairing is a combination of lightweight, shell-like panels, often surrounding the front and sides of a motorcycle. These aerodynamically tested panels are meant to make the motorcycle more streamlined, allowing it to achieve better acceleration and top speed for any given power figure and weight. While achieving better aerodynamic ability is central to a motorcycle fairing, there are several other advantages associated with this piece of kit. In this detailed article, we will list down all the pros and cons full fairings bring along when they are applied to a motorcycle. Let’s discuss them one by one.

Better aerodynamic performance

The first, and the most obvious reason for full fairing to exist on a motorcycle is to reduce air resistance as much as possible. In the world of performance machines, streamlining is very important. That is the reason why almost all the road racing motorcycles are equipped with a full fairing. The official unit for measuring a vehicle’s ability to slip through air is known as the coefficient of drag, or Cd. The lower this number, the better a motorcycle can cut through air. Manufacturers perform extensive wind tunnel testing over fairing designs to ensure the least drag. For example, the wind-tunnel honed TVS Apache RR 310 boasts a segment-leading drag coefficient of 0.26, which makes it one of the most aerodynamically efficient motorcycles in its class. In essence, a well-designed full fairing can enhance a motorcycle’s performance significantly, especially in high-speed scenarios.

Better fuel-efficiency

With lower air resistance, a motorcycle can go not just faster, but farther for any given amount of power spent. An efficiently designed full fairing can therefore help a motorcycle attain better fuel-efficiency than its non-faired (naked) or half-faired counterparts. With a streamlined full fairing, the powertrain has to apply lesser effort to push the motorcycle through the air-resistance, effectively helping the motorcycle achieve a better fuel-efficiency figure.

More rider comfort

A full fairing, often, is designed in a way that the windscreen forms an integral part of it. In some motorcycles, this windscreen is placed higher than others and is angled in such a manner that it deflects the wind away from the rider’s head and torso. This reduces wind buffeting, and allows for a relatively quiet and turbulence-free experience. In motorcycles where the rider has to crouch a little, this design is highly effective in negating the annoying wind blast and enhancing comfort for the rider.

More downforce and traction

In addition to allowing the motorcycle to slip through the air more effectively, a well-honed fairing also creates downforce that somewhat pushes the motorcycle down onto the road. When tested properly in a wind tunnel for straight, and leaned over positions, a fully faired motorcycle can offer significant advantages with enhanced traction in a straight line, or around bends, especially at high speeds. This allows for better control, more grip, and in case of track bikes, faster lap times.

Enhanced aesthetics

Fully faired motorcycles are typically associated with high performance, as most racing bikes are invariably fully faired. With their streamlined design, the front of these bikes looks sharper than their naked or half faired counterparts. The tail of these motorcycles is also often upswept making them look very sporty and visually appealing. The large surface area provided by full fairings also acts like a blank canvas for designers to paint creatively with attractive paint schemes or race livery. In a nutshell, fully faired motorcycles generally look good and have a very desirable, sporty air about them.

Now, while there are some very clear advantages of having full fairing on a motorcycle performance wise, these advantages don’t make themselves very evident unless you are traveling at high speeds. In fact, for most everyday uses, a full fairing may not be the best choice. Going for a fully faired motorcycle may even be disadvantageous in some cases.

Let’s have a look at some of the disadvantages associated with fully faired motorcycles:

They are expensive

Needless to say, all that extra paneling requires manufacturers to put in all that much extra material on the bike, which adds to cost. In case of wind tunnel tested, high performance machines, the design and development of these fairings can also cost a bomb to the manufacturers. The final cost of all of that effort and materials eventually has to be borne by the customer, which generally makes fully faired motorcycles more expensive than their naked counterparts.

Prone to damage

Motorcycle fairings are often made of lightweight material to keep the overall weight of the motorcycle low, so that it doesn’t affect performance by much. These materials are reasonably sturdy, and are fairly resistant to elements like wind and water. However, they aren’t exactly built to take impacts. Hence, if a truck ahead of you kicks a loose debris in the face of your fully faired motorcycle, chances are that it might cause a crack in the panel. Also, if your fully faired motorcycle tips over even while parked, the extruding panels run a chance of getting damaged. To cut a long story short, fully faired motorcycles are slightly more prone to damage as compared to their naked counterparts, and require to be handled more carefully.

Lower ground clearance

Fully faired motorcycles are sporty by design and are meant to ‘hug the road’ as they move, which means that generally their ground clearance is kept low in order to achieve a lower centre of gravity. In addition to that, fully-faired motorcycles often have their panels going quite low below the chassis area in the form of a belly cowl or underbody panels, which further hampers their ground clearance. What that means is, you have to use most fully faired motorcycles strictly on well paved surfaces. You also have to be careful while going over speed breakers, lest the lower parts of the fairing may break. If you require your motorcycle to tackle bad roads, or go soft-roading even occasionally, then a faired motorcycle is a strict no-no.

Reduced maneuverability

The faired panels of a motorcycle are often fixed, which means that they don’t turn along with the handlebar. This means that in some cases, with the tightly packaged fairing components, the movement of the handlebar and forks on fully faired motorcycles is restricted. This may lead to reduced maneuverability as the turning radius of such bikes is restricted.

To conclude, a fully faired motorcycle has some advantages when it comes to high-speed performance, though it isn’t always a better choice as compared to a half faired or naked motorcycle. While fully faired supersport motorcycles are best suited for track use and in high speed, well paved environments, naked or half faired motorcycles are more versatile.