Anchoring Baker Air Wings

[Pennyrick]

While we were riding yesterday my wife stopped to open up her air wings to allow more air flow as the temperatures were rising a bit. As usually happens the two-way tape holding the bottom of the wing to the Spyder came loose. That stuff holds them in place when the temps are high but once it gets down under 60 degrees it loses the bond.

Most of the time I just lay in another strip of two-way tape but today I decided to fix them more permanently.

I took off the panels from both sides of our RT's, removed the chrome Can Am decorations and drilled through the widest part. I decided to drill just one hole in each side to anchor the wind wings as I was worried about weakening the plastic chromed piece with more than one hole. I made sure iI used a large enough diameter bolt that could withstand the stress from the high wind.

I then drilled a matching hole in the wind wing support and attached both air wings permanently to the Spyder. Now when the panels are removed everything comes off in one assembly.

The photos show a chrome bolt holding the wing in place on my white Spyder and a black plastic bolt on my wife's Lava Bronze as they were the only pair of matching bolts I could find in my miscellaneous bolt box.

 

[STELLING MAN]

WIND WINGS

That sounds like a good Idea John, I'm going to be putting mine on before long and I might not fool with the double sided tape at all..

 

[DJFaninTN]

good idea although I've never had any problem with the tape myself

 

[Frank G]

Debated making a comment on this issue, but I do have a question and a comment. First of all I would like for anyone else with a failure to post it and maybe the Baker guy will chime in with his known failures with the tape.

I do have a set of Baker Air Wings on our 2012 RT and really like them. I use a lot of 3-M VHB double sided tape in the shop and have never had a failure with it. After 24 hours I can not separate it. (It takes some time for the bond to mature) The plastic part that Baker provides and the Chrome attachment point on the spyder are considered high energy surfaces and will provide an excellent bonding surface. There are several different 3-M VHB D/S tapes out there but they all should work within the environmental range of the spyder.

 

[Pennyrick]

Debated making a comment on this issue, but I do have a question and a comment. First of all I would like for anyone else with a failure to post it and maybe the Baker guy will chime in with his known failures with the tape.

I do have a set of Baker Air Wings on our 2012 RT and really like them. I use a lot of 3-M VHB double sided tape in the shop and have never had a failure with it. After 24 hours I can not separate it. (It takes some time for the bond to mature) The plastic part that Baker provides and the Chrome attachment point on the spyder are considered high energy surfaces and will provide an excellent bonding surface. There are several different 3-M VHB D/S tapes out there but they all should work within the environmental range of the spyder.

I agree that the 3M tape works well but only once. We have had Baker wings on both sets of our RT's so that means the left panels have been on and off the Spyders about 14-15 times so far just for oil changes with the right side on and off maybe 8-9 times.

Each time those panels come off the dealer tech separates the air wing from the plastic part on the Spyder and the tape will not rebond completely. (Yes, I have requested that they leave the two pieces together but it never happens).

Usually they decide to come apart when we are on a long ride or a trip and I end up doing a side of the road or motel parking lot fix with no time to scrape off the old bonding material before re-applying the 3M tape.

That is what happened on our New Year's day ride and I just secured it with duct tape until we got home. That is when I decided to bolt the darn things in place.

 

[Gray Ghost]

Each time those panels come off the dealer tech separates the air wing from the plastic part on the Spyder and the tape will not rebond completely. (Yes, I have requested that they leave the two pieces together but it never happens).

I keep a socket and a wrench in my bag and just remove the wings when/if I take it in to a dealer. I have never pulled the taped parts off the bike.

 

[Copperman]

I too used to keep a wrench and pliers with me all the time so I could take off my cover (with uppers and lowers) to check/change my oil. I can't believe a tech would separate the tape when taking the cover off. :yikes:

When I reinstalled the uppers on my '14 I used 3M "Super Strength" double sided tape. So far, it looks like it'll work fine.

Remember, when reinstalling them, the surface prep is very important so the tape will work as designed.

 

[Ben Burped]

Other option ?

Would it be possible to use BRP's push rivets and use two on each side? This would be easy for the rider or a dealer to access.

 

[Copperman]

I would think not...

Would it be possible to use BRP's push rivets and use two on each side? This would be easy for the rider or a dealer to access.

just because of the wind pressure on them. They would eventually fail.