fairings
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Cruiser
Joined: May 2007
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fairings
Will the newer style fairing fit on an older bike? I have a 88 flhs and see the newer fairings listed all the time, but never an older one. I want it for the extra protection and maybe a radio.
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 45,429
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From: Bedford UK
RE: fairings
In short, no! It would require a lot of determination to fit one in my view.
I bought a modern fairing with all its instruments radio and everything, intending to fit it to my 1990 FLHS. There are various problems. The modern fairing depends upon the dashboard for strength - it provides the structure to which everything including the screen andbatwing is fastened. The batwing itself is not very strong and cannot be used by itself. All the instruments are mounted into the dashboard, for which you will need suitable electrical harnesses, a longer speedo cable, even for my bike a newmain electrical harness. It meant rewiring almost the entire bike and I decided that was too much effort and expense to do. I gave up!
With patience I did eventually find an early 80s batwing, even here in the UK. They are made of glassfibre, strong and self-supporting, with just four bonded on mounting bolts. Harley did for a while make thesteel brackets to fit oneto my bike, but I made up my own, copying my original screen mounts but incorporating the fairing and screen brackets. On these earlier fairings the screen is not mounted to the fairing but the steel supports.
With all the customised bikes out there I reckon there are sheds full of Glide fairings waiting to be discovered! I am sure there must be one with your name on it!
I bought a modern fairing with all its instruments radio and everything, intending to fit it to my 1990 FLHS. There are various problems. The modern fairing depends upon the dashboard for strength - it provides the structure to which everything including the screen andbatwing is fastened. The batwing itself is not very strong and cannot be used by itself. All the instruments are mounted into the dashboard, for which you will need suitable electrical harnesses, a longer speedo cable, even for my bike a newmain electrical harness. It meant rewiring almost the entire bike and I decided that was too much effort and expense to do. I gave up!
With patience I did eventually find an early 80s batwing, even here in the UK. They are made of glassfibre, strong and self-supporting, with just four bonded on mounting bolts. Harley did for a while make thesteel brackets to fit oneto my bike, but I made up my own, copying my original screen mounts but incorporating the fairing and screen brackets. On these earlier fairings the screen is not mounted to the fairing but the steel supports.
With all the customised bikes out there I reckon there are sheds full of Glide fairings waiting to be discovered! I am sure there must be one with your name on it!
Cruiser
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 216
Likes: 2
RE: fairings
If you have the drive you can make anything fit with enough money, however with your FLHS I would recommend an FLT fairing. It is a bolt on, and all your gauges at the top of your forks would not have to be moved. You can usually find a few on Ebay. Converting to a newer FLHT setup would involve all new gauges, wiring mods, etc. Can be done though, but the FLT dual headlight fairing is much easier, if you like the way it looks. I'm in the minority in that I like the looks and functionality of them.
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vegasjones
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Oct 16, 2011 07:18 AM
