I've ridden in the rain a lot. I actually destroyed one of my favorite motorcycle helmets after one torrential downpour ride to work. And I've encountered rain enough times that I curse the heavens whenever I start feeling precipitation begin pelting my gear.
Now, there are loads of rain gear options available to you, as there are full rain suits to neat water-wicking helmets and boots. But none of them remove the experience of getting smacked by water droplets at 65mph. Nor are any of them fully waterproof, as rain seems to always find a way down your back and into your underroos.
The only surefire way of staying dry is, well, a car. But no one wants one of those. Not when motorcycles offer so much ease of use and capability. So what's one to do when they want the convenience of a bike and the elemental protection of a car?
Easy, build yourself a custom transparent canopy around a Yamaha YSF-R1. Except, it wasn't easy. Nor cheap. You'll also need to build a heat ceiling to mold the plastic. And if you went all in on the burritos the night before and fart in the canopy, you'll probably fog up the canopy completely and crash.
So...
The build is from YouTube channel Meanwhile in the Garage which is out of Belgium, and the guys responsible build some pretty fantastical machines. They're also unafraid of doing just about anything, including building their own heat-molded plastic oven out of an old camper shell. Or shaping their canopy motorcycle creation out of the same type of injection insulation you'd find at Home Depot.
That doesn't mean, however, that everything they do turns out right the first go around. The heat-lamp oven for the plastic canopy did not work at first and they scrapped a number of sheets of the very expensive plastic before they got it right.
The bike also fell over during one test of a failed canopy design. But they persisted.
They do eventually get the heated plastic to conform to their buck, but it takes some quick thinking and clever engineering. As for the end result, well, it works. It protects the rider from the rain and does a pretty good job at wicking the rain away from the windshield. But there's definitely some evidence of the windscreen fogging up during their test ride.
And that'd probably get worse if it was a warm summer rain or, you know, the burrito situation. You'd also still have to wear water-proof boots and pants, so...
It's certainly interesting engineering, but is it something you'd rock? Let us know in the comments below.
