Repairing Your Broken Fairing/Windshield Tabs

Trust me, if you have a 2nd Gen, you DO have broken tabs on the inner fairing where the ends of the windshield bracket SHOULD be attached! Even if your bike is quite new, they are broken. Here is a picture of what the tabs should look like - I'm holding the broken back piece to show how it would look if it was actually there:

I'm sure Yamahaha would replace the inner fairing under warranty for this, but frankly, I don't want them to rip my bike apart to do it when the new ones will just break in the first week anyway. The relatively easy solution is to make a brace that will run from the bottom screw on the speaker to the screw in the windshield bracket. When positioned correctly, this will clamp the windshield bracket against the tiny bit of the tab that remains and stop all motion.

To start with, you will need a couple of metal straps - they cannot be too thick, but must be more sturdy than hardware tape. I found this bracket in the framing section of the hardware store and just cut the two pieces off:

Put one end on the speaker screw and then cut the bracket to the exact length that will just fit under the top lip of the inner fairing. You will have to use a pair of pliers to twist and curve the strap to fit flush against the rubber grommet that holds the nut. The correct position for the windshield bracket is to have the metal piece behind the fairing tabs, and the front lip of the rubber grommet on the outside of the tab. Here are a couple of pictures of how it should be positioned:

In other words, if the tab was still in one piece, it would slide over the groove in the rubber grommet on the outside of the metal windshield bracket. You will need to make sure the windshield bracket is properly positioned on the remaining piece of the tab before you can mark the correct position for the screw hole in the new brace. Here are pictures of the brace before I cut it to length, the finished brace before mounting, and then a couple of different shots of the brace all fastened in place.

Once you have those new braces in place they work like clamps and everything is rock solid.