Fairing One
Finished black fairing with clear windshield

A custom headlight fairing, measured, modeled, prototyped, printed, and hand-finished for one motorcycle.

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01 / 05

From Constraint to Form

Nothing would have fit without it. Every contact point was mapped and verified against the real bike before a single large part was committed to print.

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Swappable Windshields

The mount stays fixed, while each windshield is easily swappable: it drops into the slot, locks under the bolt caps, and lifts out on demand.

Segmented for<br>3D Printing
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Segmented for
3D Printing

The fairing was divided into printable sections and reinforced with connectors for alignment and strength.

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Gyroid Infill

Inside the print, a continuous 25% lattice distributes force through curved, multi-directional paths.

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From CAD to Cut

The final windshield was laser cut from acrylic, turning the digital profile into a precise transparent part for the fairing.

Finished Product

Fairing One, installed

Built for a 1978 Yamaha DT250.

1978 Yamaha DT250 with custom headlight fairing installed
Full bike on a tree-lined street
Side profile view
Mounting hardware detail
Front view of the fairing
Design Development

A process for turning an idea into a build

This fairing began as a product that could not be bought: a custom update for a discontinued vintage motorcycle with no existing replacement or template to follow. The process behind it is much larger than the part itself, showing how fixed constraints can give an idea structure while creative decisions turn those limits into something unique, functional, and manufacturable. In that way, the project became a bridge between old and new, giving a vintage machine new life through contemporary design and modern fabrication.

01
Context

Understand the original object

The design began by studying the motorcycle and original Yamaha designs from the same era. Its proportions, exposed mechanics, and visual language shaped how something new could be added without erasing its identity.

02
Constraints

Turn the bike into fixed points

Measurements, clearances, and physical reference points defined what the fairing had to work around, then became scaled references in Rhino for resolving the final shape.

03
Interfaces

Solve the connections first

The mount, headlight, dash, and surrounding clearances became the critical systems that had to function before the outer form could matter.

04
Prototype

Testing limitations

Cardboard models, laser-cut profiles, and 3D printed parts were used to check fit, proportion, centerline, and assembly before committing to the final version.

05
Fabricate

Make the design manufacturable

The fairing had to be split, oriented, printed, joined, and reinforced so the digital model could become a physical structure. Manufacturing constraints were not separate from design; they changed how the part was shaped, supported, and assembled.

06
Refine

Assemble the pieces into a product

The final stage was about making the object feel complete: correcting fit, cleaning seams, strengthening weak points, and finishing the surface so it worked as one piece.

Development Log

How the fairing reached its final form

The development log below follows the fairing from reference studies and measurements into 3D modeling, prototyping, print decisions, assembly, and finishing.

Reference fairing — inspiration
Reference study
Full bike measurements
Light side view measurements
Rhino scaled reference
Dash rendered
Windshield holder rendered
Headlight and mount
Cardboard prototype
Cardboard prototype v2
Headlight reference
Dash reference
Skeleton rendered
Full rendered
Exploded view
3D printing
Printed 3D
Laser cutting
3D print and glass
Assembled 3D print
Assembled full part
Inside connectors
Caulk
Caulk sanded
Caulk sanded side
First layer paint
Paint second layer
Buttons and glass
Install
In class presentation
Interactive Model

Take a closer look

Interactive · FairingONE
building model…
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Tech Specs

The build details

Overall size
19 × 12.2 × 6.7 in
Main Body
3D-printed black PLA Basic with 6 wall loops and gyroid internal infill
Windshield
Laser-cut clear 1/4-inch acrylic sheet
Mounting
Single-point bracket to frame
Print Production
4 build plates using 1.28 kg of total filament
Digital Tools
Rhino 8 for CAD modeling
Bambu Studio for 3D print preparation
LightBurn for laser cutting
Reflection

What I took away

These Hard Lessons Learned came from turning an idea into a physical part, showing how small assumptions, fit issues, and build constraints changed the direction of the design.

I began the project with general measurements and used scaled reference images to define much of the Rhino model. Even though I prototyped before making the final part, I made the mistake of fully developing the design before going back to verify the critical spacing. Once those early assumptions carried through the model, small errors multiplied into major fit issues and nearly put the entire project at risk.
I spent about a week studying visual language and refining what I thought the fairing should look like before I fully understood how it would actually be made. Once fabrication started, the real constraints of spacing, mounting, clearance, and alignment took over. The final shape came less from early aesthetic planning and more from learning what the part physically needed to do.
When I first ran into the problem of resisting the wind-induced moment, a two-mount system felt like the only practical way to solve it. As the build developed, that solution became difficult to align, harder to install, and less realistic within the space I had. Moving to a single mount let me focus on one accurate connection, reduce the installation to two bolts, and turn the mounting solution into a defining feature of the final design.
I originally focused on making the enclosed dash fit around the gauges and ignition key. The mistake was not thinking far enough ahead about how that shape would affect the full fairing installation. The design became better once I stopped treating the dash as its own part and started designing around the complete assembly.
Because the fairing was too large to print as one piece, I had to split the model and choose how each section would be printed. Each decision affected something else: surface quality, strength, support material, or assembly. I learned that 3D printing is not just making a part fit the machine, but choosing where to prioritize strength, finish, and practicality.
My Story

Behind the build

My name is Matthew Ryckman, and I created FairingOne because my 1978 Yamaha DT250 became more than just my first motorcycle. In Southern California, it introduced me to a community of riders, mechanics, and strangers who saw the bike and were pulled back into a time that had long passed. To them, the sound of a two-stroke and the sight of that old Yamaha brought back something simple, familiar, and almost forgotten. In a way, they got to see that dream live on through me. That connection made me want to build something that brought my own story into the bike's history. Through mechanical engineering, fabrication, and design, I set out to create a custom fairing that respected the DT250's original identity while bringing it into the present through the modern tools used to create it. This website is the refined version of that story, but not the whole story. For those interested in the full process, my original handwritten design notes are included below.

Matthew Ryckman with the DT250
The Build

One part. One process. A hundred lessons

Fairing One was a one-off passion project, but the lessons behind it are repeatable. Built independently through mistakes, revisions, and hands-on problem solving, it taught me how to work more efficiently and make better design decisions. If this is what I could create on my own, it shows the potential of what I could do with the right team, tools, mentors, and process.

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