H2Olawer, pray tell!

[QBS]

Please give us all the details you care to regarding the Quicksilver install.  How is the protection?, How difficult was the install?, What install challenges did you encounter?, If you were starting out from scratch but knowing what you do now what would you do differently?

This fairing seems to me to be perfect for the V.  I'm considering doing a touring project V and this fairing would be at the heart of it.  Cheers.

[Rick G]

Hi Mr. Q,  did you get my email?   If not , send me your phone number , through the Forum messaGge system , I have some cell time I can burn .thanks Rick

[h2olawyer]

The Quicksilver works great on the Vision so far.  I was going to buy one back in '84 when I originally bought the bike.  I don't remember the price back then but I decided to settle for the Yamaha 'shark' style fairing instead.  That fairing offers decent body protection but the air coming off the top of the windscreen hits just under my helmet and buffets my head around too much on long trips and my neck gets really tired.

Anyway, I found a NOS Quicksilver on ebay earlier this summer - silver, close to the same color as my V.  I wrote in a post about a ride through southern Wyoming that my seat cover had finally given out and Rick posted that he had a seat cover he was willing to sell.  When I responded to his post - either by instant message or e-mail, I told him of my Quicksilver buy and he told me I was in luck as he had a mounting bracket for the Quicksilver that was on the Vision he put into a creek earlier this summer and sold it to me along with the seat cover and some other Quicksilver parts.

Rick made the bracket and it is very similar to the factory one.  The forks do interfere a little bit just before total lock on each direction and the plastic fork cover on the lower triple tree doesn't quite clear but with a little grinding and heat / hammer, I can easily cure those problems.  It is rideable now and there isn't much season left here so I'm going to wait until I put it away for the year before I 'alter' it as needed.

Rick sent me the instructions for the factory bracket and the fairing came with an original owner's manual.  I sent copies of those, along with measurements back to Rick last week so he can fabricate another one.  I assume  it's for you?  It is pretty solid - just some very minor vibration I will try to figure out how to stabilize and let you all know how that turns out sometime next spring.

With the instructions, which include the wiring hookups, the installation is very easy.  It only took me a couple hours from start to finish and that included removing the old fairing, the headlight stay, cutting some thin neoprene strips to go between the fairing and bracket and other rubber to protect the frame where the stays attach with hose clamps - that is how the factory mount attaches as well.  The bolt sizes are all listed in the bracket instructions so hardware shopping was a breeze.  It calls for 'Aztec' washers but standard flat washers over thin neoprene accomplishes the same thing.

The windshield that came with the fairing is not the stock one and is about three inches shorter that the ones available from Slipstreamer.  (They also make one 2" longer than stock but Rick says they bend back too far at higher speeds.)  The difference from my old fairing is dramatic.  I barely get any breeze on my hands and the air deflects to the top of my helmet now.  It is taking some getting used to - there's a lot more bulk in front of me than I'm used to.  Just after I got it installed, I went for a ride through my neighborhood.  Left my helmet (first time for everything) at home and wore a ball cap.  It stayed on my head up to 30mph and would have stayed on at higher speeds if I'd gone any faster.  I'm too old to be wearing that type of hat backwards.

For now, I plan on keeping the 'shark' fairing as well.  I think it looks better than the Quicksilver - which does look great, just not quite a sleek as the 'shark'.  Overall I'd highly recommend putting a Quicksilver on a Vision.  It doesnt give the protection of the '83 with its lowers but you don't need to find the lower handlebar risers and it doesn't even come close to my case guards.

Hope my long winded response helps!  I'll be happy to answer any other particular questions anyone has regarding the Quicksilver.