So i've been warned off of fiberglass bodywork. "it dosn't tend to stay together to well" Now This gentleman has been out of racing for about a decade and sometimes forgets how much time has gone by. Has tech caught up and fiberglass is just fine? Also if it dosn't hold up as well.....Seems that under 400 shipped for the optimal is preety damn reasonable,right?
Don't know about Optimal, but who said fiberglass is bad? Cheap glass bodywork with cheap resin and one or two layers of matt cloth does not last as long as good high density woven cloth and good resin. Sharkskinz is glass and it is hella tough.
I think back in the day, it was that crappy blown fiberglass mat. That stuff is garbage. It does not hold together; does not crash well. But now that (most) everything is being made of fiberglass cloth, even the cheap stuff holds together at least reasonably well. Like afm said, the cheaper the resins used, the less durability. IMHO, if you're just doing trackdays, then any old glass fairings will work. . . unless you crash a lot, then I'd say spring for the better stuff. If you race, might as well get something that will last (better) through multiple crashes. Isnt Optimal the new face of Eracings? If so, I had some ERacings a while back. The finish on them was pretty poor, but they were really flexible and I thought they were pretty dang good for the whole $200 I spent on them. . . new. [BTW, the ones I got may have been seconds, which may be why the finish wasnt good] Still, for trackday fairings, I was pleased.
Optimal Thumbs up I just recieved my Optimal Body work from this forum member and it came fast, great finish, drills nice and the price was right. My .02:up:
Old Airtech shattered and spriderwebbed. Sharkskins blew them outta the water. Things seemed to become much more even (since the old days), but the cheap chinese imports are about as poor fitting as you can get. Cheap price and poor fit, or good fit and $$. Your pocket book and skill set will dictate what you like and what works for you. Heck, OEM and plastic welder works for me. (lighter weight bodywork wont make me any faster than a good bowel movement....)
I got a set of optimal bodywork for my gsxr. GREAT value, does its job, looks decent. No problems so far and its pretty flexible and durable for the most part.
2008 GSXR 600. I always bought sharkskinz back in the day after having used airtech which was also crap back then. I guess you can not have cheap and good. It is closer to good enough! Oh well I will crash soon enough and then I will get better set.
