Post Stoneleigh Repairs - Cycle Wings

The wings on a seven are a constant headache, there are two common failure points, the first is the metal bracket which runs from the upright and holts the cycle wings in place. Due to bumps in the road, wind and air turbulence, stones and other objects being thrown up from the tires, rain and other debris vibrating the wing, the wing-stay is prone to metal fatigue. The common failure point is at the base where it joins the upright, and at the bend at the top.

The second failure point is is the joint between the wing which is fiberglass, and the stay which is metal. I opted to glue my wings to the wing stay, in doing so I drilled holes in the wing stay to provide space for the glue (PU Adhesive) to key to, I also made the fiberglass as rough as possible, however this started to fail.

Both sides have failed in the same way, the rear most glue has separated from the outside working inwards, the drivers side failed first. I noticed it as it was bouncing around on the way back to cambridge, I did my best to reduce the movement using some cable ties, and inspected the passenger side to notice it was also coming off although not quite separated.



The simplest option would have been to apply more glue, but obviously over time this shall just fail again. I could drill it, however that has its own issues, you create a stress raiser that over time shall crack and fail. Instead I decided to reinforce the joint. I cut and drilled some plates from aluminum that match the profile of the inside of the wing, I then mounted these with PU over the metal wing-stay, subsequently there is a much larger surface area for the glue to adhere to. Should this fail in the future, it will be relatively easy for me to bolt the wing to the wing stay through the aluminum. I'm hoping the copious amounts of glue will also dampen some of the vibration (Much like a metalastic bush) and increase the lifetime of the rest of the wing stay. The issue is of course that repairing it now that there is no feasible way of separating the two parts is going to be very difficult.



I removed the black plastic U-trim, i originally liked it, as it gave a nice line to the edge of the car, but its started to fade a little so I'll run without for now.



Finished by covering in adhesive and clamping in place until it set.



After a quick polish to remove my muddy finger prints, its looking pretty good.