K11 Owners Group

[garydi]

94 k11lt has some cracks on the exterior outside upper fairing. Going to remove the upper, repair the back side of the fairing where support broke with jb weld. What product works with the abs fairing and will hold for the exterior front side repair? I'm thinking the regular bondo product will crack in the future. You guys have any suggestions or threads I can go to?
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k1100lt 94 46000 miles
harley elec glide classic 08
honda v750s sabre 82

[RAL88]

When I first got my bike the fairing mount was cracked off. I used fiberglass and matting and made sure that I sanded off the paint completely where I was going to fiberglass. It is still holding with no problems. I think that the fiberglass actually soaked into the material that the fairing is made out of which made it stronger.
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Rich

"If it ain't broke, take it apart and make it work better"
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'96' K1100LT-SE
'97' R850GS-R

[goldust]

first of all the fairing is made of fiberglass, the process and material is similar to the corvette.
it has been my experience( and i have repaired mine) that you should use fiber glass mat and fiberglass resin. any other product will just be a waste of time.

[Off the grid]

My experience is that with the rigors the fairing faces it is very difficult to find a product that will stand the test of time with all the buffeting/road jarring/etc that a bike goes through.
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Bane of your existence since July 2006
2007 Triumph Tiger ABS. "Sabertooth"
2009 Husqvarna TE610. "The dirty Italian mistress"

[Flying Duck]

The fairing is not really fiberglass but something else. I forget the proper name for it.

Here's what I'd do:

Prep the internal area first. Clean it and then rough it up with sand paper, a Dremel or whatever. Fiberglass will cling best to a clean roughened surface.

Use a thin coat of JB Weld or whatever to get it positoned exactly where it should be. Let that cure.

Apply a layer of fiberglass. Have it also go a couple of inches out from the mount. Let that cure and then apply another layer of fiberglass. Maybe even a third.

The reason you want to go out a ways from the mount is that there may be some internal cracks/fatigue spreading out from the mount that you can't see. If these are allowed to grow in the future from vibration then you'll soon have paint cracking. In fact, the fiberglassing won't guarantee this won't happen but will reduce the chance that it does.

For the exterior: Sand, fill, sand, paint. I'm not an expert on this part as I usually leave that up to the painter.
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93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE

[sdaniel]

Mine was pretty badly damaged when I purchased the bike. The material look fibrous to me so I went with layers of Gorilla glue to build strength in it. One of the mounting posts was actually broken off. It has held well over 3K miles and no further cracks.


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1993 K1100LT

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

[garydi]

Just removed the upper fairing last night. Surprise surprise, not only a broken frame bracket which I knew about but a broken fairing mount also on the left side, as well as a broken and JB welded mirror mount.

I'll fix per all your suggestions above. I've already JB welded the side panel attachment arms and they are working great. Man, that upper windshield motor and plate is heavy! No wonder there is so much flopping around up there.

Since I am planning on replacing the steering head bearings during my tear down, have any of you that replaced the broken fairing brace considered adding two more 10mm bolts to the four that hold the fairing brace? I'm thinking of tapping into the frame and drilling and tapping two more bolts then cleaning out the frame before I replace the steering head bearings.
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k1100lt 94 46000 miles
harley elec glide classic 08
honda v750s sabre 82

[RJTrucker]

All the farings are the same from 83 to 97 on the LT and RT K100 and K1100. They are cheap enough to find and replace with one that is not cracked. If you are going to go thru the trouble of paint why have it crack down the road and do it again. Worst part of getting another fairing is the shipping cost. I replaced mine when it went over in a wind storm. I had a fairing from a 1985 RT and matched them up and same exact mold was used for both. I think in the long run it would be cheaper to replace it while the parts are still avaliable used and cheap.

Ron
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Ron
1993 K11LT
1985 K100RS with over 100K on it
1985 K100RS Luftmiester Turbo Work in progress (any help is appreciated)
1974 R90/6

[Saltcreek]

[sdaniel]