Mudslide Miller
Well-known member
Sorry about the cluster F post. Once again my pic posting skills are not there.
The following is true for Windoze and Firefox. Other platforms may look and work different.Thank you for that! I just tried to paste 2 IMG codes & that is the mess that posted.
In the upper right corner of the photo page, click once in the Direct Copy box, it will change color indicating the contents were copied.
Go to the Forum and click on the green picture box in the tool barand paste the copied URL in the pop-up box, click OK, done.
I fixed up your post above, the best I could, because you raise some valid points worthy of discussion.Fred,I installed a pair of Krista's (which are 4 1/2" in diameter, including the U-bracket & 2 side mount bolts) with a pair of the SW Motech mirror extenders that you show above on a pair of Gerald aircraft aluminum brackets.
Unfortunately because of the heavy weight of the Kristas, these lights were bouncing up & down like the wings on a 747. The brackets that Gerald has will not support the weight of these lights with any sturdiness. I took the mirror extenders back off & just tried the brackets by themselves but I had to rebend them to get them to form to the fairing. I put the thin padding underneath them that Gerald had provided hoping that the brackets resting on the fairing would give them extra stability. It improved the shaking lights but did not eliminate it by any means.
So I would be interested to see when you get your finished product done if you have a good solid mount for both light & mirror. I would not recommend the mirror extenders from Motech for the reason you mentioned in your 1st post (that they provide little extra clearance from stock) but more so that they will make your mirrors vibrate & blur quite a bit at speed & on bumpy roads. There is some play in just the stock mounting of their mirrors to begin with. Finding a way to extend them without making the stability worse is certainly a challenge.<
My other question would be whether or not the Krista's would be too wide to mount on your brackets w/o hitting the fairing.
I'll look forward to your finished product but obviously they may not work for the wider lights I have.
Would a material such as phenolic serve the purpose of being stiff enough to hold the mirrors and such, but still snap off in the event of a tipover? Or maybe some grooves machined into the aluminum spacers to allow a clean break in the event of a tipover?There is one more concern that I have about these mirrors and brackets and that is related to the stock pivoting mechanism. The pivot occurs completely parallel to the ground. So, as has been proven recently, if (or when) you have a tip over the mirror does not pivot up the way that the stock 1st gen mirrors and FZ1 mirrors do, and this can result in a broken sub-frame from just a zero mph drop.
I suspect that thinning the bracket to the point that it will break away may also allow it to flex, regardless of the material because the direction we would want it to break in is also the direction it has to support everything.Would a material such as phenolic serve the purpose of being stiff enough to hold the mirrors and such, but still snap off in the event of a tipover? Or maybe some grooves machined into the aluminum spacers to allow a clean break in the event of a tipover?There is one more concern that I have about these mirrors and brackets and that is related to the stock pivoting mechanism. The pivot occurs completely parallel to the ground. So, as has been proven recently, if (or when) you have a tip over the mirror does not pivot up the way that the stock 1st gen mirrors and FZ1 mirrors do, and this can result in a broken sub-frame from just a zero mph drop.
It's smart to make the mirrors the widest point of the bike, for all the reasons you said. Plus, hitting a mirror is way cheaper than smearing the sidecase off against the side of an 18-Wheeler.Yes, for sure the mirrors with these spacers will be wider than the bags. I pointed that out in the first post.
Many of us have fat elbows!Nice work, Fred!
I understand the desire to have a place to mount lights up by the mirrors, but I guess I'm in the minority with seeing my elbows in the stock mirrors. I don't have this issue...instead, I see only a little of arm in the inside corner of the mirrors but a good 85% of the glass is showing me what is behind. Why do some seem to have this issue more than others?
So your 2014ES has the FZ1 mirrors and they fit (with the rubber spacer you described)? That's good news, as I had them on my 2003 and loved the additional visibility. I too am tired of looking at my elbows and worrying about what's directly behind me. I'm 6'4" and 250 lbs, and so take up a lot of spaceInteresting reading!! I have FZ1 mirrors on the 14 and had them on the 07. Not only was I unhappy seeing my elbows, I never felt safe as the blind side could not be covered. The FZ1's provide multiple advantages. I can adjust them outward to cover the left and right side while clearly seeing what is directly behind me. The added width is in my opinion a positive as I know if the mirrors will clear I have no worries about the bags. I lane split here in CA when traffic comes to a near standstill and the FZ1S are not a problem. As for the spacer issue, I used 1/8" rubber belt material and it puts the mirror base flush with the fairing. The mirrors are totally firm. No vibration at any speed. If I add any aux lights they will be mounted on the lower forks. I do not ride at night so my only concern is being seen, not how far I can see at night.
I swapped out my Gerauld brackets for a set of Clearwater brackets & they practically eliminated all the bounce I had. Very good quality brackets but the angle of them was a little disappointing. The bottom is nicely perpendicular to the ground but they angle forward about 110 degrees instead of 90 degrees to the bike. Gerauld has dimensions down pat & they are perfectly sculped to the contour of the nose panel & finish mounting at a 90 degree angle; they just need to be thicker stock to handle the weight of the Kristas. So I have my solid mount for the lights, just need to deal with my elbows in the mirrors. I haven't weighed & measured the Kristas yet, Fred, but I'll try to soon & let you know.
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