All though I did not have any broken fairing brackets YET I wanted to install braces to make sure it didn't happen so it was just preventive maintenance. It only took about half hour and a few dollars. I cut the "L" brackets to fit the existing factor brace and used my wheel grinder to round off the rough edges. Purchased a " L" bracket at ACE Hardware, four nuts and bolts with lock washers an nylon lock nuts. Drilled two holes for each side and used the existing hole that goes into the fairing. Very easy job to do.

 

great idea..........

 

Nice solution! I would suggest, from looking at your pics, that next time you're inside the fairing you might want to turn your nuts/bolts the other way around. It would make the one in the fairing easier to access. Nice job! I'm going to try and do the same thing to mine. Both of mine ARE broken, along with the left side bracket (I replaced the right side bracket about a month ago). Cheap azz chit, the factory stuff!

Ride safe!

 

Being a machinist sometimes comes in handy. I broke both of mine as well as the brackets that go to the speakers. Had to get new ones for that but had to fab some new bracket ends like you. Mine weren't that long though.

 

Good call, cheap simple insurance that will prevent the otherwise inevitable broken brackets.

 

Easy/cheap solution for fairing bracket fix...now that's the way to do it. I keep checking mine every winter riding break & so far/so good. Thanks for posting pics - great job!

 

I stumbled across this thread as a friend had this issue. Found this kit on eBay. Thought I would pass this along for those that are not machinists. $25 you can;t go wrong!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fairi...Q5fAccessories

 

Do the later models of touring bikes still have this issue?

 

Hopefully not. They redesigned the brackets sometime in '08 or '09.

 

My Brother's 09 brackets cracked, no significant structural gain in the updated version, they probably redesigned the mfr process to increase the strength of profit margin.