SP1000 Fairing Questions

[AZRider]

I just finished my project of mounting a SP1000 fairing on my 1998 CaliEV based “1100S.”

At highway speeds, it feels a little unstable, not something I recall from the 1984 SP that I owned briefly twenty plus years ago. When I first test-mounted the fairing, I had it tilted almost 5 degrees forward, and the instability was much worse.

Am I forgetting that they are prone to feeling “light” in the front above 65 mph



?

I don’t have a steering damper, should I just add one?

Gustafson (spelling?) offers a 4” shorter windshield, does anyone have experience with this? (I kinda like the idea of a sportier looking windshield if it doesn’t give up too much protection)

Thoughts on trying a Goldwing-style windshield vent? I have an old SP windshield that I can cut without feeling bad about it.

Other ideas?

[chuck peterson]

Awesome looking bike!

My reptile brain is whispering..’tire pressure?’

Then it says ‘steering head bearings?’

Good luck!

[Tkelly]

Beautiful!Why not try your idea of cutting down the old windscreen and see if that makes a difference?Chucks ideas are good too.

[Tony F]

I always found my '79 SP to be rock solid stable at any speed so long as the steering head and swinging arm bearings were correctly set up and the suspension was in good condition (decent damping, and a fork brace also a requirement but it looks like you have that covered), but the most important was the rear tyre. It doesn't track so well with flatter profile tyres or tyres worn flat in the centre. Pick a more sports oriented tyre. Something without a straight line centre groove seems to hold a good profile longer.

The screen you have fitted seems high, is it the taller screen fitted to the SPNT?

Oh and I removed the steering damper in 1980 as the shaft had rusted and never felt the need to replace it.

[AZRider]

Good suggestions so far!
Just checked tire pressures and they are good.
Jacked up the bike and the steering feels good: smooth and tight enough to not flop to either side without just enough drag to slow it a bit. Grabbed the forks and yanked in all axes, no play.
While up, checked wheel bearings and swingarm bearings by the spin and shake tests. Wheels spin nicely except for a tiny bit of drag from one of the front rotors at one spot, zero side to side play when trying to move the wheel in incorrect axes. Swingarm pivots are tight and no side play when pushing/pulling. Didn’t remove the shocks, though.

The shield is the one sold by both Teo Lamers and MGCycle, it’s a match for the scratched up original. Judging by paint scheme, this fairing came from an SP2. 

Just realized I don’t have the thick rubber piece that kept air from coming up into the fairing around the fork legs. That might be significant. I’m going to try to make something out of tape as a test. I will post an update when I do.

[chuck peterson]

If the swing arm has ever been out? Check both pins to see if they’re equally adjusted in out with (none or little?) slack…that also lines up the driveshaft to the trans output

Lots going on there, especially if the threads are rusty and crusty

Rubber cushions on the shocks? Sticky or mashed can let them move around..

[guzzisteve]

If your front end feels light at speed it IS because the fairing was designed to use with the lowers that have the wedge shaped air deflector in front of cylinders. It keeps load on front end. This IS how it was designed to work together from factory. Take away the wedge and it works different. I would look for the wedge's from a Lemans to add.

[bmc5733946]

He has the lowers on. There is a reason that, virtually every bike Guzzi made with a fairing, or that could be reasonably expected to have one mounted, came with a steering damper or was at least provided with mounts for same. The quality of some of the supplied dampers is another, separate issue.
YMMV

Brian

[guzzisteve]

If an EV frame they are notorious for letting in water on steering head, mostly lower bearing. Steering dampener from Guzzi is a joke but I've never needed much if all in order on bike. I didn't see he had lowers on, got to look better. That combo should be rock solid at speed.

[Matteo]

My jackal did the same when I added a large touring shield and replaced the front fender with a small fiberglass job. It was rock solid before.

[spmoto]

unikey vietnamese keyboard


This is my old SP with the Gustaffson " sport bubble" wind shield. I also installe a strip of Seang edging to the shield which helped with wind noise. I don't see it on their web site anymore so you may have to call and ask for it. I liked it a lot. It looked sportier and was very stable at speed. I also got rid of the full lowers and replaced them with the airfoil wedge from a Le Mans III. My stock dampener was pooched years ago and I found no need to replace it.

Steve M

[Chuck in Indiana]

That combo should be rock solid at speed.

This. My '80 was hands off at 80 for miles out west.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

is the SP faring and the LMII/CX100 faring the same?

[guzzisteve]

is the SP faring and the LMII/CX100 faring the same?

No, not same

[Cdn850T5NT]

unikey vietnamese keyboard


This is my old SP with the Gustaffson " sport bubble" wind shield. I also installe a strip of Seang edging to the shield which helped with wind noise. I don't see it on their web site anymore so you may have to call and ask for it. I liked it a lot. It looked sportier and was very stable at speed. I also got rid of the full lowers and replaced them with the airfoil wedge from a Le Mans III. My stock dampener was pooched years ago and I found no need to replace it.

Steve M

I think you meant "saeng" - {Sargent (sp?) Engineering}. Or Saunders Engineering (?).

[AZRider]

As an experiment, I removed the main fairing and the bike went back to rock steady at speed.

Then I started comparing pictures of original SP’s to my bike and I saw that I had the fairing higher and more forward than the original bikes. So I started experimenting.

I eventually got rid of the OEM headlight and dashboard brackets, put the headlight about an inch lower and an inch back. Then I tried several different mounting positions and discovered that tilting the fairing back improved the handling. Digging deeper and using a laser level showed that my original mounting had the fairing tilted about 5 degrees forward.

I wound up having to re-make all of my brackets, relocate the dashboard and handlebars, and now the bike is steady at speed.

The photo shows how I used the laser level and the fairing stripe to check level. I decided to level the stripe with the bike on the center stand so that it would have about a degree of tilt back when on the wheels.

Thanks for your input!!

[guzzista]

I had a  a SP1000 fairing on my Cali1100 for a while . Stock upper 2 brackets  bolted right in the 8mm bosses on the upper triple clamps.
 T3 headlamp, Tommaselli rubber mount headlight ears, and a bespoke  L bracket to the lower triple clamp. No instability felt at speed , but due to the flat track type bars and greater rider to fairing distance , the turbulence was noticeable as opposed to  much calmer on the SP1000 I ride.. Maybe  the factory fairing / lowers and handlebar setup as built and wind tunnel tested at the factory is the best setup?