With modern bikes, you have a world of choices, Naked, Sports Touring, Super Sports, Cruiser, Adventure… The list goes on, with new derivatives being produced with what seems like every change in wind direction (Pun intended).Which leads on to the next point. Should your first bike have a fairing? Half Fairing? Fly Screen? Naked? Well this is a decision that may quite often be put down to looks rather than functionality. Some people simply don’t like the faired look on a bike, some don’t even like fly screens, so a fully faired bike is a huge no-no.There’s a lot to be said about aerodynamics, drag and streamlining, and there’s even evidence to suggest that getting this wrong means reduced cornering stability at high speed, hence why bike racing teams are now trialling the use of ‘wings’. Putting that aside for now, a lot of research goes into build a bike, and the manufacturers take all these factors into consideration, so your safety isn’t compromised because of ‘styling’. So here are (what seems to be) the top arguments online for comparison:
- Dropping a Faired bike can be expensive!
- Paint maintenance (cleaning, polishing, waxing) can be time consuming
- Naked bikes don’t shelter from wind at speed (can be colder and more tiresome to ride over distance)
- Faired bikes ‘weather protect’ valuable electrical components
For the most part the arguments are pretty thin, and the outlying issues can be dealt with relatively easily, so the point to be made here is this: It really is down to preference. What are your thoughts? What do you ride?
Let us know in the comments or on the Facebook page!