Owners Bikes P.19

Vetter Owner's Bikes Page 19

Posted Oct 26, 2010

Ulf Engborg is a writer for BigTwin Magazine, Stockholm, Sweden. He snapped this handsome pic of a Liberator at a bike meet in Sweden. Ulf wrote that he "met a guy with an old Electra Glide in pretty good shape and equipped with your Liberator fairing. At that time I hadn't seen this fairing before but I was stunned because it was so special and it really gave the bike a different look.

I am just about to write an article about this bike and the owner. He couldn't give me any details about the fairing but I felt I had to find some more information about it. So when I googled on "Liberator fairing" your web site came up. Now, when I read the story about the Liberator with Elvis having one, the short life time with the fire ending it I would like to give the Liberator story a lot of room in my 4-page article."

I finally got some new Bridgestones on this puppy and feel a lot safer about riding it. The front tire was a Continental and just might have been from the factory - rayon, bias-ply "Gemacht in Deutchland"; the rubber was hard as rock. I've been riding it around town and a little on the highway - 70 feels pretty much like 45 except when the wind is really gusting. I am joining a group of "Road Bikers" this weekend for a 400+ mile ride to Hudson WY for a steak dinner (supposed to be world-famous - never been there myself) and will be staying overnight in Lander. This will be my first long ride in a VERY long time; hope I don't get saddle-sore.

Dave

I purchased this bike last year with most of the Vetter equipment in place. I cleaned it up and added/removed some equipment and made some changes to make the installation/removal of the fairings easier and faster. My wife and I like to do some long trips and there is no better way to do it on this Gold Wing than behind your Vetter fairing with saddlebags. Last October my friend, with his late model Yamaha FJR1300, and I completed an Iron butt ride of 1300 miles in 36 hours. At times it got a little cold but the wind protection was great and the ride was comfortable.

The bike is ridden on a regular basis and has about 50K miles on it. I normally ride around town with just the saddle bags on but with the wiring harness changes I've made, switching over to the full fairing and trunk takes little time. Mike

Classic Vetter - equipped GL

Windjammer SS #24-213882 Trunk #36-246261 Bags #29-73311

Buddy says: "I've attached a few photos of my '78 Goldwing. I bought this brand new in '78 from my local dealer, and ride it as often as possible. I originally had the fairing on my '76 Kaw KZ750 ,bought a new bracket and mounted on my wing. I added the trunk and bags a few years later. My wife bought a '78 CX 500 the same time and had a SS colored matched from the dealer. She sold hers a few years back, but I kept mine. The full picture of my Goldwing is from last season, I'm getting ready to bring it out this year. I also attached a early pic of the dash, it has a Vetter sound system mounted on it. Take Care, Buddy & Sherry O'Leary

Michael MacQuarries' 1978 Honda Goldwing with 14K miles.

I don't show you enough detailled shots like this

I got this bike in 1992, second owner.
I had the carbs rebuilt, added an electronic ignition, then took it across the country about 4500 miles over 3 weeks, camping off the back of the bike. I had my then girlfriend with me, and we went to Sturgis, then on through Yellowstone, Jackson hole, Cody, Estes Park, Boulder, Denver, Moab, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Arches, Canyon lands, Las Vegas, and on down to San Diego. I got ill and trucked the bike back to Chicago. After about a decade, I re-purchased the bike from the person I sold it to, then started to unravel the mysteries. It had different carbs, and was missing the electronic ignition. The Vetter Fairing was beat up, and the seat cover was sun damaged.

Vetter Windjammer 5

I discovered that the bike had a mixture of 75 and 76 carbs on it, which kept it from running correctly. I purchased 78 carbs off the Internet, boiled and rebuilt them, I got a new seat cover, then realized that I should restore this bike. I had the heads polished and cleaned, new valve seats and valves, and a new electronic ignition. I recently rebuilt and synchronized the carbs, and took it for the first test ride. I now live in Las Vegas, and got a flat on the test ride, in the middle of nowhere (60 miles from civilization in the middle of the Mojave Desert Mountains. Luckily there were a bunch of cowboys near me shooting in the desert (guns), and after I heard the gunfire, I tracked them down and asked them for help, which they provided.

Bike is now fixed, and I decided to restore this bike, which only has 13.5K miles on it (original).
I have found many original parts on-line, including turn signals and non-fairing parts, so I can run it both ways(full dresser and naked). I am really excited about the restoration, including the Vetter restoration, as it is retro and original to the era. The originality of the Vetter is important to me, as it makes the bike look like the era, which is important to me. I stopped for gas outside Vegas, and 4 Harley riders stopped over to chat about my bike. Now that it is running great, I can't wait to turn it into a show bike.

We love the vintage pics:

Herb and Rona Gaudreau's 1981 Yamaha XV920RH

As you can see, equipped with the Windjammer SS fairing and Krauser panniers. When I got the crate damaged motorcycle, in late 1981, the tank was dented, the headlight smashed, the side covers and rear shock missing. I removed the fairing and luggage from a Suzuki four that I was selling and fabricated fairing and luggage mounts for the Yamaha.

I hope that you find the picture interesting.

Herb Gaudreau

Rona in Germany, late summer of 1989

The resurrection of #63-157801

I did all the work myself including the paint work which is done in Dupont Acrylic Enamel as is the rest of the bike (which I painted 10years ago), I have had it for over 10 years but it needed major work to get it looking good again. So I started by taking scans, pictures and rubbings of all the graphics. Then I had to source the bits and pieces to fix it up, mostly off Ebay. Then I had to repair two cracks in the fairing, both on the left side, one from the pocket out to the left (picture attached) and one from the front of the pocket leading up towards the front. They were both reinforced with ABS cut from a donor fairing and Hotcha glued into place. So it was completely disassembled and painted and reassembled. I installed the optional horn kit and have a Cycle Sound radio enclosure for it that I just haven’t quite got on it yet. I added reflectors on the sides of the fairing off an 80 Honda GL1100 (the rear bags are off a GL1100 as well). I had to reshape the bezel to fit the Windjammer contour. I sourced some NOS parts for it, the radio front door and the lowers (which just happen to be lucky and be black, so I didn’t even have to paint them). I shortened the graphics and did away with the red stripe as I have no red on my bike. I applied new Vetter wording and stripe on the mask and Windjammer wording and stripes on the sides. I used the older SS chrome headlight ring. I have a black NOS one but thought the chrome one suited the bike better.

Now I just need to mount the radio and make new brackets for my driving lights and I’ll be all set. I do have one question though, when I trailer the bike I used to always strap it from the handle bars down to the trailer at an angle. I can’t do that with the fairing in place. I’m sure at some point you must have had to trailer a bike with the fairing on it. Do you still go from the handle bars but straight down through the fairing? If that’s the case I would put another set off the front crash bars to stop it from wiggling during transport. I was wondering if I am right with that or is there a better way?.......next project……restore the Vetter Windjammer V with lowers that’s on my wife’s Honda CM400A. I have begun collecting the bits for this project.

Anyway again thank you very much for your help and guidance during this project. I hope you like the pictures. Lorne Scott

Hello Craig,

I was on the web site and noticed they were documenting the Kawasaki Vetter fairings you made for Kawasaki.

I have one that is number K32-101101. It is red in color and was on a KZ1000 Kawasaki. It is in supurb condition.
I love the knob that raises and lowers the headlight. You are welcome to post my info on any sites you wish, along with the picture.
Thanks!

Tom Darling Onsted, MI.

K32-101101: The lowest serial number of the fairings Vetter made for Kawasaki between 1977 and 1981

Page posted Oct 26, 2010

updated Oct 29, 2010