Full fairing continues Suzuki's GS 500 success story

For image-conscious riders, Suzuki has restyled its ever-popular GS500 street-bike by adding a sleek, sporty looking full-fairing to create the GS500F. Sports styling aside, the fairing also provides wind protection and increased rider comfort. In order to meet the tough engineering requirements, as well as match the quality level of the other materials on the bike, Suzuki chose for the fairing material BASF's Terblend N, a high-performance glass-fibre-reinforced blend of ABS and PA from the company's specialty range of styrenic polymers.

"One particular advantage of the material is its high heat resistance", says Ernesto Martin, general manager at Ultrapolymers, BASF's sales partner in Spain. Such a property is necessary if the fairing is located adjacent to the exhaust pipe. It is here that temperatures of up to 400°C can occur—high enough to cause possible warpage problems with conventional plastics such as ABS. Parts moulded from Terblend N remain dimensionally stable thanks to the combination of amorphous ABS and semi-crystalline nylon.