Tour Easy Zzipper Fairing Wrappers: “Bubble Wrap”

Tour Easy Zzipper Fairing Wrappers
Tour Easy Zzipper Fairing Wrappers

We spent four days biking along the Pine Creek Valley rail trail with a Rails-to-Trails Conservancy group ride on our Tour Easy recumbent bikes. Because a crushed-stone path creates a lot of noise that the fairings direct right into our ears and because we weren’t going very fast, we left the fairings at home. As a result, the bikes were wonderfully quiet.

Some years ago, Mary sewed up “bubble wraps” to store our fairings on those rare occasions when they’re not on the bikes. She had some red flannel left over from another project and a hank of cheery Christmas-themed edging, so they turned out to be rather conspicuous.

The trick is to get the size right when the fairing is rolled up. With the fairing in its natural bubble shape, the wrap is rather limp, so you need pockets on both ends to hold the wrap in place. The toes are, she admits, an affectation, but didn’t take much figuring to get right. The width is just slightly more than the fairing’s flat width; you find that by rolling it up and measuring the roll.

She actually made a paper template first to sort out all the curves, then transferred that to the flannel for final cutting.

Tuck in the fairing’s head & toes, roll it up toes first, tie the (attached) strap in a neat bow, and it’s done!

We have three fairings and they roll up together, each in its own wrap, into one tidy, albeit rather heavy, package.