Patent ID: 8177250

Claim:
In a motorcycle having a body frame including a front fork steerably supported by a head pipe at a front end of the body frame, a fuel tank operatively attached to an upper portion of the body frame behind the head pipe, and a front wheel rotatably attached to the front fork, the improvement comprising a body cover structure comprising: an upper cover member arranged at a position above the front wheel, said upper cover member being operatively attached to the front end of the body frame, the upper cover member comprising a bottom plate having a rear edge portion formed with a concave arcuate shape which is coaxial with a central axis of the head pipe; a mud guard extending between said bottom plate and said front fork, said mud guard being attached to said front fork so as to be movable therewith, the mud guard having a front edge portion formed with a convex arcuate shape which is coaxial with the central axis of the head pipe; and a pair of right and left cowls provided for covering at least a portion of the fuel tank from each left and right side, respectively; wherein the mud guard and the bottom plate cooperate to substantially shield an operator of the vehicle from mud splashed up by the front wheel during operation of the motorcycle, while maintaining an interval between the front edge portion of the mud guard and the rear edge portion of the bottom plate during steering of the motorcycle, due to the corresponding coaxial shapes thereof: wherein the upper cover member is formed with a rear portion on each side thereof configured and arranged to cover at least part of the fuel tank from each side; and wherein each of the cowls comprises an overhanging portion including a ridge line portion linearly ranging to a lower edge of the upper cover member in a side view, said cowls being detachably connected to the upper cover member with a part of each cowl overlapped with a rear portion of the upper cover member, wherein the overhanging portion extends outside of the upper cover member in a vehicle-width direction.