Plastic in the cold

Welcome to a freezing start to the new year.   This weather has implications for automotive plastic ( farings, bumpers, etc,etc ). Plastic looses its elastic propertes as the temperature drops making it hard and more brittle but this does depend on the plastic material used as to how much misuse it will take before it breaks.   The word Plastic means flexible and is used in the same way we use the word metal. It encompasses many types of material each with its own property. They are divided in to two main catagories Hard and Soft. Hard plastics like ABS are used in places that need to be ridged and light weight, most commonly used for motor bike farings, nose cones and seat panels just to name two. Soft materials like Polyprop are used where they are going to receive abuse like bumpers and mudguards that need to take the knocks from debris thrown up from the road.   With the weather as cold as it is, it means that any damage your plastic receives is going to be twice as bad. For instance if while you are in the garage where you store your bike you trip and fall against it and knock it over (it has happend) and  falls against the wall, in the warmer weather you may get away with a bit of marked paint work in this cold it will crack or break off.  

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