10.6.10

Looking into Mirrors

First up - pardon the pun.

I've spent a lot of time trying to get the front end of my bike to appear more streamlined. It was looking great, until I stuck my old WM mirrors on the thing and it looked stupid. Besides the mirrors being of questionable quality and having a solid level of rust on them, they spoil the lines of the bike.

So, I've turned into a bit of a mirror pervert. Bar end mirrors seem a bit cumbersome to me but I've found a lot of intersting options, most of which are based off the Napoleon style mirrors, except mounted off the top of the handlebars. This option seems quite popular in Japan, but I haven't seen too many of these on the roads in Australia. Many of these designs, and lots more, are available here:

http://www.okada-corp.com/en/ex_products/napoleon/mirror.html

It looks like WM and a few other Japanese suppliers take delivery of these guys goods. The company appears to be a importer/exporter like McLeods in Australia.

So of the above I'm looking at these:






And the more tradtional style, which is on the WM Mirror Page




There's also this, which is a Y's gear product, a genuine Yamaha mirror for the DSC4 - the V-Star 400.


Available at the bottom of this page - http://www.steve-kamechan.net/cgi-bin/shop/itemlist.asp?cno=215&rcnt=41&pcnt=3

I wonder if the arms will be too short for the SR? I'm leaning towards that one, even if it's around $50 each for these opposed to $30 each for the others. Y's gear stuff is very well made, and should last a bit longer than the others.

But if anybody has any opinions from a styling point of view, be sure to let me know!

7 comments:

  1. Hi Marlon,

    Been going through the same process as you it seems!
    I ended up with the Daytona BSC black billet mirrors in the end. They had a better viewing angle than the napoleon ones. I'll send you a pic if you want.

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  2. Hey mate! I googled that mirror and it looks great. Do you know if it comes in silver/chrome/alloy?

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  3. Hi Marlon,

    Yes it does come in matt silver/alloy. I've had 'em on for a couple of weeks now and I'm pretty happy with them. I love how they look - and they give a good view round my arms. They do vibrate a bit at higher speeds. Not sure if I can fix that - I'm going to try putting a rubber washer onto the allen bolts at the elbow.
    I ended up getting the 290mm closed Daytona shocks in the end and lowered the whole bike 35mm as well. Plus I got some Firestones on! I know - I know...
    In fact they feel much better than I though they would. You just have to get used to the little ridge when you lean over. I ride my bike every day to and from work and it's been very wet here in Sydney and they grip just fine. Here's a shot from The Deus Thump:
    http://img517.imageshack.us/i/54363339.jpg/

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  4. Here's some more pics:

    http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp311/markyp3/

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  5. Looks VERY mean mate! The firestones are an aesthetic choice I guess. And they certainly look bloody good. Suits your bike to a T. I might go the same direction as you then. My current mirrors only provide a view of my elbows. Who'd you order yours from?

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  6. Hey Marlon,

    I got mine from Adrian at Vanem - I got most of my parts from him. Quite pricey though $89 but they are well made.

    Nice vid of the dyno! I'm saving up for a trip to Carls to get mine done at some point too.

    Keep up the good work...

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  7. Thanks mate. I'll get in touch with Adrian - there's a bunch of stuff I've been looking at getting off him lately but I wasn't sure if he was still doing business? Looks like his site has been updated so I'll drop him a line. I'd recommend a trip to Carls. It's a nice ride out...

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