dumped my bike in wet grass, anyone here know anything about fixing plastics?

[chalk]

Just dumped my bike in my front yard coming back from a ride. I have to ride over a patch of grass and turn right to get the bike into my basement and well; guess the grass was wet from this morning's rain, and I leaned somewhat (although I don't remember leaning at all, after this I realize it doesn't take much on wet grass!) . Here's some pics, the cracking is really small (it ate a bunch of dirt and grass and the plastic gave way) and was wondering what the best way to go about repairing this would be...rather do it myself as money is tight these days.

left front plastic







left fairing





left fairing behind



aaaand my gear shifter for laughs (I'll probably end up buying a new one of these if bending it in a vice doesn't work)

[ducducgooseit]

[coondog]

the cracks are horrific only to you. leave them be as 3 years of sun and color-rite don't match. i would epoxy it from the inside to keep the length in check is all. if you try color-rite, blue tape literally everything but the crack as the paint usually shows up more than the crack. lucky lad.

[phr3ek]

some plastifix or some epoxy should fill in the fairing cracks

i dont see anything wrong with your shifter
seems like you can still shift

[k-os]

If you drill a small hole at the end of where the crack is it can also help keep the crack from lengthening.

[kkim]

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42690

[chalk]

Thanks everybody for the replies, I think for such a small crack the ABS cement solution will work just fine.
(will post results)

[wtfh4xx]

Heat the shift lever with a torch before attempting to bend it back or it will snap.
Also, zipties make cool bandaids for fairings
Just make lil X patterns like stitches.

[CZroe]

Leave 'em be. I rode like that for ages after I cracked my upper and RH Lower in exactly the same places (opposite side), but from a cable lock that I threaded through the forks and tire and around the side before driving off with it still threaded through the next morning (DOH!). It never got worse and no one ever noticed without me pointing it out. Putting ABS cement on the back will help it stay aligned when you remove the fairings for service.

[alex.s]

i like the abs cement idea... if you're looking for a more rigorous repair you can plastic-weld abs then sand it down and repaint it... but honestly abs cement on the back with some bondo on the front to fill any crack gap, then sanding and repainting would be more than enough... if it was mine i wouldn't bother fixing those tiny cracks.... hell i probably wouldn't even fix that shifter :-P

[CZroe]

If you need to straighten the fairing stay, I used an adjustable wrench to grab the mount and bend it back. My technique was to thread the bolt back through the mount and adjust it so that the wrench is touching the top and bottom of the bolt (head and threaded tip). I got it looking perfectly straight until I took the upper (front) fairing off and looked on the front of the same stay, so remove them both first.

[ninja250]

Use a tiny drill bit at the end of the cracks first to prevent them from becoming larger cracks.

PS nice shifter taco! #2

[n4mwd]

Just curious how fast you were going to do all that? And also, what kind of tires do you use?

For the cracks, I second the suggestion to drill a hole at the end of the crack. This helps prevent worsening damage from vibrations. You can use ABS cement on the back to help stabilize it.

For broken fairings, surgery is required if you want it done right. Surgery consists of preparing a molded jig to hold it in place, grind out the crack so its about 1/8" wide, fill with JB Weld, sand and paint. Not for the squeamish.

[DaBlue1]

This may be a little late, but here are a couple of threads and video of some very successful plastic repair jobs.

http://www.ninja250forum.com/index.p...93.0;msg=30976
http://www.ninja250forum.com/index.p...6&topic=4143.0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOg6H4ZxZRQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqkFC...eature=related

[akima]

Originally Posted by chalk

aaaand my gear shifter for laughs (I'll probably end up buying a new one of these if bending it in a vice doesn't work)

My shifter bent in exactly the same way last Wednesday. See the last pic in my post.

Someone bent it half-way back, so it was possible to [awkwardly] shift so I could ride home after it happened. I then took it to the local motorcycle garage. The mechanic heated it up and bent it the rest of the way. It still looks a bit twisted, but it works just fine.

Good luck with yours.