Greetings bent folks.
As part of our planning for our tour of North America I am wondering if it is worth adding a fairing to the front of our trikes, primarily to keep the tootsies warm (the rest will be a bonus :D) as we ride through the cooler parts like Alaska. I would like a practical solution such as being able to roll it up for flights and or travel without it on.
Anyone got any thoughts?
Regards
Andrew
http://www.where2pedalto.com

Papier mache. ;)

Seriously though, I don't know of any commerially available fabric fairings, anything I have seen has been a custom job. It would be difficult to safely and cheaply transport a large lexan fairing on a plane...

U might hav to customize your trike to mount an expensive, production lexan item to the front.
I hav built many fairings and nose fairings etc. I can tell u a detailed way to do it (list of materials, photos of each step etc) yet the finished product may be pretty permanent or at least semi-permanent (wouldnt hav the ability to fold up for example). And more alarming for u, u may have to weld fairing mounts to 4 areas of your frame.
I can c how you'd b turned off by it all :( . The good thing is it'd only weigh about 1-2kg thus not much weight there. Plus it'd add about 10km/h to your top speed and make for a less stressful ride in a headwind.

Sounds like you will need to devise a fabric fairing and the necessary outriggers and support apparatus that would be easy to R&R for packing purposes. Would not be quite as effective as lexan but a whole lot more portable and light weight, depending on support design. Fairings have to have some closure on the top and bottom in order for the fairing to adequately protect from cold, much more than is needed for wind protection. When I used mine it was about like sitting in behind a big DF rider, OIW when I sat in behind someone, then pulled out to the side I didn't notice any change in the wind resistance. Coroplast is a bit easier to deal with than lexan for the DIY fairing maker, large molds and heating apparatus for lexan can be done at home, but it takes some time and experimentation. Edge treatments and holes have to be taken care of or the lexan will tend to split/crack under the vibratory forces on a bike. For wind purposes fairings are not much use below 16-18mph, and don't contribute much til you are above 20-22mph. They are a drag on hills (lightest foot to bar lexan with mounts is going to be about 3#) Tourer with trailer or 30# in back is not going to get any air resistance reduction out of a fairing, and edy currents around a lexan fairing will mean it won't warm you up much. Full cloth fairing is another matter.
Steve

doesn't fast freddy have a roll-up fairing he's designed for his easy bikes? I believe it's made of carbon fiber.