I must say, I LOVE e-bay. I can't even begin to list the things I've bought lately that put my beauty back on the road after 26 years sitting. But the real help came from THIS board. Yikes, what a lot of expert advice and source material from electrical diagrams to full shop manuals. Still the rant seems more general, more about the frigging cost of side covers. Even the after market covers cost an arm and a leg.... see the other threads.
My friend here that used to race bikes tells me to forget the cover and just use (gulp!!) duct tape. He's GOT to be kidding... but seriously... I don't think he is. I 'might' take a piece of plastic, cut it, paint it, and tape it in place as a stopgap. I dunno though, I'm thinking of making a foam mold and making a fiberglass custom cover. I'm getting that desperate.
I guess you haven't priced out the cost of fiberglass and the resin.
2 oz Glass cloth - $14 a yard plus tax. or, 2 oz glass mat $3.85 yard, but you should add a gel coat for a smooth finish- $15.35/pint.
Polyester laminating resin - $17 a quart. or, (General Purpose Epoxy resin kit $22.65/pint.)
If you want to mold the cover mounting pins, add casting resin - $24/qt. Or, you could use latex rubber mold builder - $13/pt
Don't forget the Paintable Mold Release: Stoner Rocket Release 12 oz. - $9.25
Add tax
http://www.tapplastics.com/index.php?On the plus side once you have the mold, you can make maybe 4 or 5 more of these covers and sell them to people like you for $10-$20 each. But, you'll have to add packing materials and boxes. Also, the quality better be perfect or you'll get returns and refund costs.
I'm thinking you'll end up with some old refrigerator plastic and duct tape, though. Or, decide those LPM cover aren't so expensive after all.
By the way, I don't really care what you paid for the bike, it's value is the amount you would sell it for. Will you take $75?
Cheers,