In the early ’70s he created and marketed the Windjammer Fairing which was the dominate fairing for years until Honda knocked off Craig’s design. Craig was an inventor and designer whose secret was that the Windjammer was a one-size-fits-all fairing. The secret was that Vetter made high-quality and easy-to-fit bolt-on bracket and attachment hardware for most bikes. Once the brackets were attached, the fairing bolted right on to the installed brackets and looked like it came from the factory that way. Mention Windjammer Fairing to any older biker and he’ll probably say, “Yeah, I had one back then.” I did on one of my Beemers and loved it. Many, many thousands were bought by all kinds of bikers riding many different marques.

Craig also created probably the first true factory custom back in 1973, the Triumph Hurricane X75 which was actually based on a pretty similar 750cc BSA Rocket 3 triple. It seems that Triumph wanted to make a bike that they thought would be more popular with Americans than the standard Triumph offerings. To me, the Hurricane was a modernistic, futuristic design and personally, I never liked it. I liked the stock designs that came from Britain, but I’m a traditionalist. To this day I like bikes that can be related to their roots. It seems to be very similar to Harley people who love a traditional looking Harley.

Anyhow, Craig is now obsessed with streamlining and pushing two-wheeled vehicles into unheard of fuel mileage. Craig’s ride that he showed up on is a Honda Helix scooter that has gotten over 100 mpg at speeds that are frowned upon by the law. The other bikes ridden by his friends were a Suzuki from British Columbia and a Kawasaki from California with incredible streamlining. He has a following of a few devotees and they compete with him and each other to squeeze another few feet out of each ounce of gasoline.

Check out my YouTube interview with Craig. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojf9GkSfPN4

For more information on Craig Vetter about what he’s done and what he’s up to now, please visit his website (www.craigvetter.com).