Fairings for Classic BMW motorcycles
Sometime during the last ride of the season, the thought of installing a fairing will cross your mind. For the most part, fairings are widely available in a range of prices. Most of the riders we've seen on the /5 list have given away their fairings, but a few still swear by them.
Mounting a fairing is a decision that should not be taken lightly. Before you do so, make certain that your steering head bearings and front fork springs are up to factory specification. Make sure your forks don't leak oil and that you have the proper amount of 7.5 weight fork oil. Check to be sure that there is no excessive side-to-side free play in your wheels.
Fairings put additional loads on the front suspension. Part of the reason BMW increased the wheelbase on the /5 is because there are many instances of these bikes getting into tankslappers when heavily loaded and a fairing mounted. Or at least that's one story that's going around.
There are an assortment of fairings that were produced for /5s. You might find a new fairing that fits. Here are examples of older fairings.
The bike at the top-right of the page, owned by Robert White of Tampa, Fla., has a Wixom Ranger fairing. It mounts on the handlebars. Like most fairings, it's made of fiberglass and interferes with access to the key in the top of the headlight. Here's another view of Robert's /5.
This is a Luftmeister fairing mounted on Toby Cabot's 1970 R50/5. It rests on a subframe that clamps to the bike's frame. It has a built-in headlight and turn signals so it needs to be wired into the bike's electrical system.
Truth be told, the bike handles much better without it.
This fairing was probably made in England, according to the owner. It's handmade and is not quite symetrical. He said it functioned quite well. The owner moved the ignition switch to another location on the bike. The photo was taken in 1996 in Daytona Beach. The rider was from South Carolina.
This is a Heinrich fairing. Notice the lowers that help keep the legs warm. Georg Grote, the owner of this motorcycle, uses the fairing for winter riding in Ireland. He says these fairings are still available from Heinrich.
The Pop Dreyer fairings are relatively rare, but I understand they shield riders reasonably well and are as solid as rocks. This one is mounted on a /5 owned by Vern Zigler, who lives in Arizona.
Scott Griggs has a "cheapo generic brand fairing" on his /5. It is a Rifle or some generic brand that has two, flat metal mounting brackets bent to fit onto the headlight mounting bolts. It is pulled tight against the headlight ring and fastened down. Scott says it's surprisingly stable considering it only has two bolts holding it on. He only uses it for long trips to reduce the wind buffeting.
Brent Schapansky of Peace River, Alberta has a Hannigan fairing mounted on his /5. Here's a photo of the dashboard.
Bob Weber of Halifax, Nova Scotia has a Windjammer fairing on his 1973 R75/5 with a long wheelbase. He reports that he has had no handling problems with the fairing, which mounts on the bike's frame.
Here's a /5 with a Labritzke fairing. It's also been identified as a Habermann fairing by Bruce Davidson, who knows what he's talking about. It's a little larger than a R90s fairing.
Daniel Bixler has a fairing from a R90s mounted on his /5. There are a lot of similarities between the R90s and the /5 so fitting one of these fairings is relatively easy. The fairings are relatively expensive, though.
Check out the small fairing on Bill Leftwich's R75/5 Toaster. He received the bike as a birthday present from his son Brian.
This abomination is called a Bates Fairing. Sure it's practical because there is storage space between the windscreen and headlight, but it's ugly.