Hacked off a mirror...

I've left a fair few of my tools at my girlfriends house, which is also a building site. What hasn't been stolen* is now underneath a metric ton of furniture and insulation and I couldn't get to them. So picked up a hacksaw and chopped off my mirror today.

It was rusted on so tight I couldn't undo it without the nut starting to slip. So I chopped it off to get a socket on it. Came off with a bit of a struggle, but at least I didn't have to drill it out. Only problem is... I don't really have a good replacement. The hunt continues.


*My bass amp and cabinet, which was kept at her house too, has gone missing. Grrr.

Looking into Mirrors - Part II

After a fair bit of procrastinating I've taken the plunge and gone with Mark's recommendation - Daytona BSC mirrors. So hopefully I'll able to see something other than my elbows.

It looks like they sit fairly low on the bike and Mark said they have good visibility, aside from when the speeds pick up and they vibrate. Not all that different from my current mirrors.

Take a look at them mounted on his annoyingly good looking SR here.

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!

Niggling Things

I -finally- got around to doing some stuff on the SR. I seem to have more money than time these days so I rarely get a chance to sit down and actually fix all the niggly things that come with owning a bike.

First up was hiding the stamped fuel tank seam. A cover is provided for part of it but I wanted the whole thing to be hidden. After a bit of asking around I went to Clark's rubber and bought some "Pinchweld" edging in the smallest size available.

It's got alloy strips in it so it can be bent and holds it's shape. $24 dollars and three minutes later, it's looking good!

Before:


After:


I'll need to take a better pic in the light, but it really has made quite a difference!

The other thing I did was put a new lever on. All of four minutes worth of work after putting up with it bent like this for the last four years.

It took me four years to get around to doing this? You'd better believe it. It's amazing how quickly you get used to it.

Two niggling things down - only a few more to go now! Hopefully most of these will be sorted in the next few weeks.

• Mount Bash Plate.
• Order new screws for sprocket cover.
• Make a number plate... er... plate?
• Put a crush washer on oil downtube drain bolt (I have a slight leak)
• Link oil breather to air filter - saves having two filters
• Make a new plate for the airbox gap.
• Find the damn mounting bolt and funny stepped washer for the fuel tank.
• Order and fit XR650 clutch/decomp perch.
• Find a way of mounting some small guards so my boots don't scratch the frame with the rearsets. Current bit of strategically placed fabric tape won't cut it.
  
  More Major things are:
  
  New Tyres
  Find some new Mirrors - probably going to be bar ends
  Fit fork Springs
  Round Master Cylinder
  Make it a little more ergonomically friendly.

I've already ordered some new Ohlins springs which should arrive in two weeks so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully they'll be matched nicely to the rear.