Will consider selling: the famous WISIL Missile full-fair HPV

Hi all... I just wanted to put this out there, in case there are any
riders looking for a seriously good ride along with an likely intensive
project.

I bought the WISIL Missile a few years ago from the club. It had been a
race-winner for years. I've raced it myself several times and have
greatly enjoyed commuting and riding it in all its many configurations.


It's a dual-suspension lowracer, built in the early 1990's. It has a
full fiberglass fairing body with complete canopy. It also has a "head
out" canopy that can easily be used instead of the completely enclosed
fairing. It takes about 5 minutes to switch between them. It can also
easily be ridden "naked" with no fairing. It's a great bike. It is very
stable in crosswinds. It's quite compact for a streamliner. I can
readily cruise at 25 unfaired, 28 head-out, 32 full-canopy---with 40mph
easy to do for stretches on the flats. (It includes various accessories
such as a quality remote-steering handlebar set-up option for the
head-out canopy.)

The big snag is that it is overall quite ratty and beat up. It's
scratched on the body and windows (but I can still see out fine) and
the various window tapings are wrinkled, causing drag. The seat has
some cobbling on it, but works fine. The only major glitch is that the
nosepiece fits fine but not in the correct matching position. I haven't
spent much time figuring out what is making it misalign. It wasn't
crashed and isn't bent. It should be a reasonable fix. Altogether the
rattiness factor has to be giving probably a good 3mph hurt on average
speed. (A tidy, tight bike goes MUCH better as a streamliner.)Still, it
works good and is VERY fast.

I'd be looking at $1K for a price. I thought I'd put the word out, in
case there was someone really hankering after a great base for a
fixer-upper project. Really, it mostly "only" needs tidying, new paint,
retaping. Probably a new seat is a great idea.

I don't want to sell it, but if someone really wanted it, I'd consider
it. I just don't have the fast, small-cargo riding mission very
often---and I don't race much anymore either. I just don't have the
time these days, it seems. So if someone could put it to better use
than me, I'd consider selling. I'm in mid-Michigan.

I recently cut the rearward tape on the side-windows and added internal
velcro---to make them openable for signaling when riding on the open
road. The new feature works great---you push your hand thru a
side-window to signal (the velcro gives way readily) and it reseals
automatically when you pull your arm back in. It also has a neat trunk
space for a bag of groceries.

But I also hate to say goodbye to it and want to try start using it
again, for awhile anyway. It is a great, rare, full-featured,
highly-versatile HPV. But I thought I'd put the word out anyway...

--Jeff Potter

email me at "jeff at outyourbackdoor dot com"