Easiest track fairings to install?

SO I am completely addicted to the track and after talking to my coach I will probably be moving to intermediate within the next two track days. (I was being evaluated this session but pulled a Marquez style off road at the bottom of VIR's roller coaster LOL).

Bottom line is I need track fairings, but I also daily drive my bike during the week. Bad practice, but I'm getting ready to move to Japan and buying a dedicated track bike isn't in the cards right now. I head sharksinz were a nightmare to install and I need something I can reasonably swap over in a night. How are Catalyst fairings???

I have catalyst, and they're fine for race/ track only, but make no accommodation for any of the street aesthetic pieces (eg what would normally be called air funnel covers). In my experience there is rarely such a thing as easy to install track fairings. Unless all you are doing is putting non OEM plastics on, and leaving the balance of your street HW on the bike (lights, horn, etc), it's s couple hours' work each time

Good luck!
B

I have sharkskinz fairings and they're great. However switching over a bike to track fairings in a night isn't exactly fun lol

If you're looking for something quick and easy I may go the Ducati Performance route. They come with the plugs to keep error codes from popping up on the display and mount the same way the OEM fairings do so you will have as little to remove as possible.

Hope this helps, good luck at the track!

Thanks for the quick reply guys.

Maybe I can find a crashed set of street fairings. I don't really care about the error codes, I barely look at my dash anyway. I'll look into the DP ones.

OK I'm going to ask the horrible question...

Godfather fairings off ebay has anyone used them? I assume they are .... and a pain the the ass, but thought I would ask.

I have Catalyst fairings also, and a full swap from track to street probably takes me about 1-2 hours. Since these don't have a real belly pan, they're very easy to swap. Swapping track fairings with belly pans that require you to remove the slip-ons, forget it.

I'd also suggest buying the motoholders subframe for a track set, that way you can just swap subframes thats only takes 4 bolts to remove, instead of having to take the whole tail and lights apart.

It looks like catalyst may be a god option if the Ducati race fairings are indeed back ordered for a few months.

If you just want to preserve your OEM street body work and are going to leave all of the lights etc on, you may want to consider some cheap aftermarket plastics, such as these: Ducati 1199 Panigale Bodywork Motorcycle Fairings

Styler said:

If you just want to preserve your OEM street body work and are going to leave all of the lights etc on, you may want to consider some cheap aftermarket plastics, such as these: Ducati 1199 Panigale Bodywork Motorcycle Fairings

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the cheap chinese plastics disintegrate if you crash so better off spending a couple of extra $$ IMHO

better go with this one the:

Ducati Panigale Race Bodywork: 971800X1A

BTW, the 899 should be identical, so there's a discount.

i have the tail kit, it's nice, comes with the taillight replacement and the plug, so no error code.

also, this kit will let you use your side stand, not like fiberglass fairings, where it has to be removed or will not fold down.

Cmon Phil.
You know the answer to his question is without a doubt "Sharkskinz!" My man! Who else could use a set of 748R Sharkskinz bodywork on an R, and a SV650 and still have it look so damn great after being painted, crashed, repainted 3 more times - sold to a crazy German racer who won every race, crashed it a little and STILL looks awesome after so many years?

AKonuchi - IMHO from years of personal experience I can honestly say that Sharkskinz is the most durable, resilient and easy to mount as they come my friend! And if you'd like an award winning track paint job on ANY bodywork you decide upon please search the forum for Sean Lezotte owner of Connecticut Cycle Refinishing! (Dead serious my man) - all bodywork sarcasm aside many members here can attest to this matter and you won't feel an empty wallet afterward by any means either!

Sorry gents if I went off topic. Bad PTSD day here for me guys.

** BTW - not true about them being difficult to mount. Every set I had always lined up perfectly with mounting holes and bike points. Also, another personal opinion is - VIR is the hottest track on the East Coast my man! Everything about it is top shelf and glad to hear you're rocking that roller coaster too OP! Greatest track everyone should try once in their track day lifetime for sure!!

i agree on the durability of the sharkzkinz...

but mounting track fairings is always a PITA compared to oem, so replacing with blank OEM will be the easiest, since everything can stay, just headlight, mirrors and taillights have to be installed for the commute. (not that this is an easy job, but easier maybe)

I bought the Godfather fairings because in my mind I wasn't in the mood to spend $1000+ on race bodywork when I could replace the current fairings with OEM units for $1400.

They are not perfect and will require significant sanding to lay down a good paint job. I was doing it during the winter so no big deal and just did it when I could. They are at the painter now. There were a couple of areas that weren't cut correctly basically leaving too much material so had to cut that off.

Experience a bit of shrinkage but not enough that I couldn't get things to line up. The biggest issue was just how some of the parts reshaped themselves in the box and and to be coaxed back into the right shape. This isn't necessarily a Godfather issue though.

Pretty thick and flexible. Not as thick as my Sharkskinz on the R1 but those are heavy, heavy.

Will probably make a few more adjustments after the painted units come back. I couple of places where the smaller tabs curled I'll probably just cut off.

Nothing was grossly manufactured to the point of being non-workable. If you just want to rough sand and rattle can then they are perfect for that and would be out the door in a day or two.

Takes a lot of hand work to get them to the quality paint stage.

Hey everyone thanks for the feedback. I'm looking into the Ducati Performance track fairings, but they seem to be back ordered everywhere. I am using all my resources to find some stashed away somewhere.

I am also looking at the sharkskinz. I'm not THAT worried about removing the head and taillights as I know my way around the bike really well. I just don't want to have to do anything with the exhaust or radiator housing to mount the fairings. The Super Stock exhaust didn't leave me a lot of working room.

Also yes VIR was an absolutely amazing experience and I can't wait to get back!

I second the VIR comment.

Armour Bodies make excellent fairings and my plan is to run a tripade led headlight on a gopro mount and a led strip for the tail light on the street once i convert mine over.

When I bought my 2007 1098S, I also purchased street and track bodywork.

I fitted it to the bike before I had it painted. Taking the Sharkskinz on and off is way easier than removing the OEM stuff.

On my 1299S, there was very limited choice of aftermarket bodywork available so I went with the OEM performance kit.

It's identical to the OEM stuff, but comes with all the fasteners, blank headlight and taillight units and all the fasteners and spacers.

For track use, having track bodywork is nice, but go to your dealer and price up the OEM headlight assembly. I believe for the 1299S, it's around $2800. That is not a part I want on the bike, unnecessarily, when doing a track day.

I can swap my 1299S from full street to track in about an hour, once you know how it all goes together.

My 1098 with Sharkskinz, they didn't have the street tail available when I took this picture (Circa 2007)


My 1098S is Sharkskinz track trim.



My 1299S is the Ducati performance bodywork with the headlight block off's

ChrisE said:

On my 1299S, there was very limited choice of aftermarket bodywork available so I went with the OEM performance kit.

It's identical to the OEM stuff, but comes with all the fasteners, blank headlight and taillight units and all the fasteners and spacers.

For track use, having track bodywork is nice, but go to your dealer and price up the OEM headlight assembly. I believe for the 1299S, it's around $2800. That is not a part I want on the bike, unnecessarily, when doing a track day.

I can swap my 1299S from full street to track in about an hour, once you know how it all goes together.

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But you can use the stock headlight/tail light with the oem performance kit right? so i don't have to unwrap my nice stock stuff when i switch back and forth, i can just remove it, install headlight and put the performance stuff back on for street riding?

Rinzlr said:

But you can use the stock headlight/tail light with the oem performance kit right? so i don't have to unwrap my nice stock stuff when i switch back and forth, i can just remove it, install headlight and put the performance stuff back on for street riding?

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Exactly, so it's a win win...

This is the OEM performance bodywork before I painted it.