Panels to hide side of engine?

M

michaelbikin

Member
I saw this post where a guy just briefly mentioned about how a guy made panels to go on the side of his bike frame to cover the engine and everything to make it look neater... I am not going to quote it or give you a link because he just said what it typed above. But, how do I do this? I haven't been able to find any links or anything, but I would like my bike to look more like a motorcycle, or just to cover up the middle of the bike with something so everything cannot be seen.

Thanks, this is just an idea I have been wondering about for a while.
 
I've got customers that unhook fuel line & spark wire to cover motor with a big bag to get it on the bus sometimes.
 
I'd suspect any advantage of looking neater would be grossly offset by overheating issues as these motors are air cooled. Better to dress up the engine IMHO.
 
Here's an idea. Find a motorcycle you like. Take pictures of both sides of the engine, blow them up and glue them to some cardboard then attach the cardboard to the sides of your motorized bicycle. Now it looks like a motorcycle and you've concealed the bike engine. Two birds with one stone. :)

Don't cover the engine. It needs air flowing over and around it to cool!

Tom
 
Yeah, my first thought was cooling as well. But i have seen air cooled street bikes that have fairings around the engine. You just need to make sure there is good ducting involved and it should be fine. Heck, it may even cool better with the concentrated air flow.

As for how you do it, that's all up to you. I'd start with some posterboard and make a template first. Then, once you have the size and shape you want, cut it out of some sheet aluminum and get some metal straps to secure it to your frame. You dont want to rivet or screw it directly in to the frame, as that will weaken it.

Take a picture of the bike with a plain white backdrop, and print the picture. Draw with a pencil on it to see how tou want it to look before doing anything. You might not like it and decide it's not what you want. But i can think of a couple instances where it would look pretty cool...

Just remember, duct that airflow or you'll burn it up!
 
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A rule of thumb. The outlet of an engine fairing, cover, etc, should be twice the size of the inlet. This allows for the slowing of the air flow and the heat expansion of the surrounding (cooled) air. Not my opinion but good aviation engineering practice which would apply to any air cooled internal combustion engine.

Tom
 
many years ago when freeway required a 175cc or bigger bike, a kid with new 80cc bike put cardboard fins on 2 coffee cans, painted them black, and attached one to each side of motor to ride on freeway
 
crassius said:
many years ago when freeway required a 175cc or bigger bike, a kid with new 80cc bike put cardboard fins on 2 coffee cans, painted them black, and attached one to each side of motor to ride on freeway
Click to expand...
Did the coffee cans help him keep up with traffic?

Tom
 
he was fast enough, but the old law (from the 50s) went by engine size rather than the newer horsepower ratings available in the 70s
 
It's a google image search pic I found. I typed in "motorized bicycle fairing" and some pictures came up. Although, one was titled "laser boobs", and it was really weird...
 
If you really want to try this you could get some aluminum ducting sheet and rivet it to the bike. I made a small heat shield out of the material to keep the heat away from my air filter on the carb.
 
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