ok, I put in a couple of hours on this today. First the results:
I have to say, it looks rather better in person, in some of these shots it looks like the poor thing has gotten something on its face and it can't get it off. Or maybe like when my daughters were little and one would dress up in a suit jacket way too big with the shoulders out to "there".
Mounting it solidly was amazingly easy. The fairing mounts to two uprights that fit perfectly well on the mounts for my memphis shades windscreen. There is more than enough flexibility to rearrange the brackets to fit the fairing onto the uprights. You can see the HD bracket beside my memphis shades screen below. And next to it you see the HD bracket mounted to the forks.
I stopped at this point because I wanted to road test it but I think it needs to be moved around somewhat for appearance and function - I'll move it up an inch and tilt it back a bit more. Amazingly, it doesn't interfere with the speedo. It hides the signals obviously and it might need to be notched for the right hand mirror. I'll leave it on the bike for a couple of days and maybe play a bit more but it will have to come off as i get serious about getting ready for the seattle trip. I'm going to want my reliable memphis shades for that trip.
I learned quite a bit about these fairings in planning and doing this. There are three styles of HD fairing. This is the earliest type, used into the mid-80s - the windshield is completely separate from the fairing and mounts to those same uprights - there are no inner fairings although there are radio mounts. The next type used into the mid 90s mounts the windshield to the fairing and has optional inner fairings. The final type basically mounts the outer fairing to the inner.
I started with this type because I got one cheap but from what I now see the second type would be a better choice. I think they would mount the same way to the forks and I'd be more comfortable that the windscreen would still mount ok.
As I said I road tested it today around my neighborhood. Certainly no interference or wobbliness but pretty hard to judge usefulness without a screen. I'll probably try to make or source one in the next couple of weeks. What I'd be looking forward if it worked out would be improved weather protection and wind noise reduction by having the screen closer to the rider and the extended fairing.
Oh, and this would be quick detach by the way. Maybe I'll show up for the nor'east with darth fairing for the road then take him off like a superhero revealing my petite windvest for style!
