Hotbodies offers new windscreens
Two-piece molding allows
for consistent vision
By Dave McMahon
Senior Editor
When Hotbodies Racing introduced its new ZX10R windscreen at the Tucker Rocky Dealer Show in August, sport bike dealers took notice in the same manner that race teams have been doing so.
The task of perfecting the screen takes precision, according to Justus Standley, director of racing for the high performance composite manufacturer based in Poway, Calif.
“Even though it’s not the most complicated component we make in-house, there’s a lot that goes into it,” Standley said. “Imagine blowing a bubble and trying to get the exact same shape out of it all the time. You’re consistently trying to make a product where you don’t have mark-off on the tool, which gives you better clarity and better optical viewing area. That’s really important to our race teams.”
Hotbodies, which makes the screens for BMW, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, sponsors the Honda and Factory Kawasaki teams in World Superbike.
“It’s not one of those things where we have a lot of money and we pay to put our sticker on their bike,” Standley said. “They need consistent screens to help them. Cruising at 120 mph and you’re trying to hit your brake marker, you’ve got to see it consistently to make that mark. That was a big thing for us. A lot of those teams got rid of brands they had been working with for almost 10 or 15 years because they needed something better and more consistent for championships.”
Standley says Hotbodies benefits from riders who are anxious to give their bike a new look. The screens are highly flexible and scratch resistant.
“Windscreens are one of those items that are the first things you want to change on your bike,” he said. “It’s kind of interesting how automotive crosses into sport bike. You get tinted windows on the car, and all the sudden we had tinted screens on the bike.”
Hotbodies has opted for an industry-first two-piece mold rather than a single-piece for its latest screen design, the S1000RR for BMW.
“It’s more expensive to create two molds, but we get the defined part and more of the shape that we wouldn’t be able to get out of a single mold,” Standley said.
Short pipes
Hotbodies also introduced its 2011 ZX6R MGP exhaust at the show. Available in carbon fiber, the exhaust bolts on with no modifications.
“We wanted to minimize weight and get something that looked more like the MotoGP bikes,” Standley said. “It’s a small, simple design canister. It reduces cost because of materials. It fits so many genres. The race guy sees it as something that looks like the champ’s bike. The freestyle guys are already trying to chop their cans in half for clearance on 12 o’clock wheelies, but it also fits the custom guys because they’re trying to minimize and get rid of exhaust so people can see more of the chrome and lights.”