Shrouds

Just a question. Is there a point in having side shrouds on air cooled bikes? I know they are needed on water cooled motorcycles to channel air to the radiator. I have the Qlink XF200 and it has them...along with (what it seems) every bike coming out of China. Are they for looks or are they needed to channel air to the heads? If they are for looks, it would seem that it would be a whole lot better not to have them on a sumo/road bike to cut down on wind resistance. I suppose that I can see the benifit with an on/off road bike. Because of the slower speeds there would be a greater need to channel as much air as possible to the heads and resistance isn't much of a factor.

You mean the "wings" attached to the gas tank?. I've wondered about them as well, specially as I've just broke the fixing tabs on one of them when the bike slipped off its sidestand and I tried to stop it falling to the ground. The wing hit my knee and promptly broke off.
I don't think they have any beneficial effect on engine cooling, being just there for effect and to look as if there's a liquid cooled engine in there.

This is similar to those 4-stroke Chinese bikes that have their exhausts made to look as if they're 2-stroke expansion chambers...effect.

I could be wrong but, consider the supermoto model is not really designed for slow running in trials, and there are millions of other single cylinder air-cooled bikes running around without this item, and managing perfectly well.

I would take them off if it weren't for the ugly sculpting of the gas tank and the fixing points to accomodate them that would be left behind.

Your point about their air resistance is very valid. I do think they would cut down performance.

Sorry to hear about your mishap forchetto.

I was reading a post at chinariders and someone made the comment about that they were there just to make it look like they were water cooled. I did find a little bit of a benifit Friday. I rode my bike to work and it started raining on the way home. It seemed that the shrouds kept some of the rain off of my knees. I noticed a few weeks ago that my seat seemed warmer in certain spots. I attibuted this to my body heat but now I think that the shrouds (or wings) are directing the heat from the motor out toward the rear tire and some of it is getting up to the seat. Not sure how I can test this other than take them off and see if there is a difference.

I agree, forchetto, that the bike would look weird with them off. We would have to cut off the mounting tabs and repaint (which might be ok given the flat black paint) or re-sticker. The only other option is getting a different tank....