916 SPS fairings...imploded.
 

Hello all.

I am the proud new owner of a 1997 916 SPS out here in Dubai.

I recently took it the bike for its first spin round our local track (first time I've ridden it) and I never even got an entire lap in before the entire lower fairing, both sides, parted company with the bike and destroyed themselves on the back straight.

I'm guessing my speed would have been around 70mph. my plan was to literally have a couple of slow laps just to see how the bike ran before dropping it in for a service and belts at the local dealer, that was the only reason I had it with me. I have no intention of riding it on the road out here and its a project bike which I intend to get back to mint and perhaps do 3-4 track days a year.

The fairings were collected and returned to me in about 25 varying sized pieces and it looks like they have shattered. all the fairing fasteners were still in the frame and where they connect to the headlight/top fairing they have broken every mounting point. its almost as if the entire fairing has been pulled away from the bike, breaking every plastic mounting point in the process.

I had someone behind me at the time and its confirmed that I didn't hit anything as I suspected, they just fell off! My only suspicion is that the plastic has got brittle over the years, I know that this bike spent some of its life outside (not in direct sunlight) where it can reach 50C+.

Has anyone else heard of such a thing happening?

Unfortunately it seems to be quite common - not just with Ducati but with all bikes. It doesn't take much for wind to get behind the fairing and rip it out; a missing bolt, badly fitted fairing or a piece missing will do it. The air pressure at 70mph is a lot more than you realise (try riding with your visor up at 70mph!) so it really will just rip the lot off.

I've seen it happen both on the track (at around 50mph) when a guy about 20 yards in front lost the side panel on his 916 and it shot a good 30 feet into the air, and also on the road when a Yamaha R1/R6 came flying past me in the car with his side panel flapping in the wind almost bent double back on itself!

The 916 fairing is slightly vulnerable as it only has 2 real mounting points each side - the two that fix into the frame. The two bolts into the top fairing will give out easily if the top fairing is not fitted well (and they are prone to cracking) and the two bolts at the bottom are also under a lot of pressure. If you have a belly pan, this adds a lot of extra weight all hanging on those two bolts!

When I fitted the track fairing to my 748, it has a seperate belly-pan which I made a couple of brackets to hold in place without it hanging on the side fairings. This also means you can take the side panels off and leave the belly pan in place. All it takes is a few hours making up some brackets with bent bits of steel (or thick alu) and some inventive bolt placing.

I'm sure that the extra heat you experience doesn't help, and will decrease the life of the fairings and make them more prone cracking as well.

If it was me, and you're using it purely as a track bike, I'd get a set of cheap and lightweight fibreglass fairings, have them painted and make some extra brackets for the bottom or bellypan to help support the weight.

Cheers for the advice. The bike was purchased to look good in my livingroom and I got a set of race fairings with it (which still have to be picked up) which I intended to fit should I ever venture out on it.

I just expected the standard plastics to last longer than a lap on the bike....live and learn I guess!

I race a Triumph so race fairings (and repairing race fairings :D)are the norm for me,

if you are using dzus a lost fastener or two would be my guess from the belly pan. Happened to me, as said its fairly common. And expensive!

The standard plastic fairings on my 748 are still going strong, although it has started to crack on the top fairing in a couple of places, so I'm going to have to keep an eye on it now!
I use a set of GRP fairings on it for trackdays but I'm pretty sure they weigh more than the standard fairings, and a lot more than the previous tatty fibreglass ones I had, so they just didn't feel secure hence fitting the brackets to hold the bellypan.
I then did the same to the belly pan on my old race bike just to make it more secure, using some of the tapped holes in the engine cases to mount brackets from. Worked a treat!
I also ditched the dzus in favour of proper bolts and rubber well nuts as I'd lost a couple in the past. Now you know why the race teams tape them down!

i always tape over my fastners on my DD bike after having one side panel nearly detatch its self from the bike at silverstone back in 2010 due to loosing two fastners. its not happend since.

I had same thing on my 916 sps 2 dzus in belly pan not in properly gutted but you live and learn ;-)

It could be because the bike knows you're a traitor and usually ride a trumpet! :) and it knows that you are a Westhill loon slackline / wireline hand originally

So its fate? :D

Who's this then?