2nd/3rd Gen Mirror Spacers & LED Light Brackets

[08FJR4ME]

Plastic prototypes are in hand. I will try and do a mockup tonight and get pictures to post.

SLA: Stereolithography (SLA or SL; also known as optical fabrication, photo-solidification, solid free-form fabrication and solid imaging) is an additive manufacturing or 3D printing technology used for producing models, prototypes, patterns, and production parts up one layer at a time by curing a photo-reactive resin with a UV laser or another similar power source.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

I put my wooden prototypes on the bike again yesterday and rode around for about 5-6 hours. The rearward view is greatly improved over the stock mirror locations, but I am still not enamored with what it does to the looks of the bike. I'm sure the effect will be lessened some when / if I get around to hanging some lights under them, but you'll still have the potential sub-frame breakage issue to contend with.

I'm now toying with the idea of pursuing an FZ1 mirror retrofit and working on a means to extend the mirror's studs enough to mount the WynPro Anti-Vibe Brackets for the aux lights. I'm thinking that the end result would come out looking cleaner than the extended stock mirrors, and will have the side benefit of protecting the sub-frame some.

 

[08FJR4ME]

The membership charge to the drop club can be expensive.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I'm now toying with the idea of pursuing an FZ1 mirror retrofit and working on a means to extend the mirror's studs enough to mount the WynPro Anti-Vibe Brackets for the aux lights. I'm thinking that the end result would come out looking cleaner than the extended stock mirrors, and will have the side benefit of protecting the sub-frame some.

Any competent machine shop should be able to tack an extension onto them and chase the threads for you. Question is how much $$$ will they want to charge?

 

[Fred W]

Ideally whatever I come up with should be something I could put in a parts list, or we could put into a kit, so others could follow suit. I think a thread-able coupler and stud extension would be better, even if it means lopping some of the mirror stud's threads off to make room for it.

I've just ordered up a pair of OEM FZ1 mirrors and will mess around with them more when they come in. This doesn't mean I've given up on the "extender" idea, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have two irons in the fire.

 

[art miller]

Fred,

You are a real trooper. For the benefit of those who are interested in FZ1 mirrors, who did you buy them from? I bought them several years ago and can not find the receipt. I paid less than $40 each and I think it was a retail seller in Miami. Searching the web I had a hell of a time finding OEM FZ1 mirrors and what I did find were over priced.

Art

 

[Fred W]

Hey Art,

I'm (always) Just looking for the best possible solution for myself, and also looking to share my fortune with my forum buds.

The best price that I could find right now was from PartShark.com and it was at $57.60 a pop, but at least they threw in the shipping.

Last pair I bought was for a bunch less money back in 2007, back when Mike Kolstadt (or was it Gary McCoy?) worked at University Motors (go figure).

I think that considering the added safety of the rear-ward visibility, it is still probably a bargain, and we should all still wonder why we get stuck with these sucky mirrors from the factory. Skinny Japanese are no excuse in my books.

But I'll pony up whatever coin it takes to get it all "just right" and then quietly enjoy my bike for the next decade or so. If I could figure out a way to stop riding so much it might last me longer.

Brown Dog. Brown Dog to the courtesy phone.

 

[art miller]

Good info Fred. PartShark could very well be the best price now. It was a few years ago when I bought mine. PartShark has very good prices on OEM parts. I bought my red side panels from them for about half of what the stealers want. Plus free shpn and no sales tax!!

 

[Wesseld]

I'm now toying with the idea of pursuing an FZ1 mirror retrofit and working on a means to extend the mirror's studs enough to mount the WynPro Anti-Vibe Brackets for the aux lights.

Google "sex nut" or joint connector nut. It's the stuff that Ikea uses for knock down furniture. I bought mine at Ace Hardware from the box marked METRIC Joint Connector Bolts.

 

[Fred W]

I'm now toying with the idea of pursuing an FZ1 mirror retrofit and working on a means to extend the mirror's studs enough to mount the WynPro Anti-Vibe Brackets for the aux lights.

Google "sex nut" or joint connector nut. It's the stuff that Ikea uses for knock down furniture. I bought mine at Ace Hardware from the box marked METRIC Joint Connector Bolts.

Finally just did the google search. Searched on "joint connector nut". Figured your first suggestion might just bring up a bunch of pR0n sites.

That is an interesting idea. I'll have to try to source some of the correct size for the mirrors locally. I believe that they are 6mmx1.0 thread, right?

Were you able to get the outside diameter of the joint nut to fit inside the holes in the sub-frame? If so, this could be just the trick that allows the stock FZ1 mirror studs to work with the Ant-Vibe brackets!!

 

[Geezer]

Finally just did the google search. Searched on "joint connector nut". Figured your first suggestion might just bring up a bunch of pR0n sites.

You're missing out on a lot of fun being so careful with your searches.

On Google I got about what you expected, a bunch of stuff about sex nuts. On Bing I actually got mostly hardware related sites.

 

[BigOgre]

I'm now toying with the idea of pursuing an FZ1 mirror retrofit and working on a means to extend the mirror's studs enough to mount the WynPro Anti-Vibe Brackets for the aux lights.

Google "sex nut" or joint connector nut. It's the stuff that Ikea uses for knock down furniture. I bought mine at Ace Hardware from the box marked METRIC Joint Connector Bolts.

Finally just did the google search. Searched on "joint connector nut". Figured your first suggestion might just bring up a bunch of pR0n sites.

That is an interesting idea. I'll have to try to source some of the correct size for the mirrors locally. I believe that they are 6mmx1.0 thread, right?

Were you able to get the outside diameter of the joint nut to fit inside the holes in the sub-frame? If so, this could be just the trick that allows the stock FZ1 mirror studs to work with the Ant-Vibe brackets!!

Thinking out loud but I've seen those made from plastic also. Might that be a way to build in an additional "weak-spot"? (Remembering that the FZ1s also address the fold-in issue.)

 

[Fred W]

Okee dokey... Got my new (1st gen) FZ1 mirrors in today.

First thing that I noticed was that the FZ1 mirror's studs are considerably shorter than the stock 3rd Gen FJR mirror's are.

Stock 3rd Gen = 30mm and 1st Gen FZ1 = 22mm. That isn't going to make anything easier...

.

I had played around with the 30mm studs (before the FZ1's showed up) and it looked like they might actually be long enough to mount a WynPro AntiVibe Aux Light Bracker under the mirror and space it out far enough to clear the fairing, and still get full thread engagement on the nut. But with these shorter studs that goes right out the window.

Next I played around positioning my Wynpro AVB's on the third gen and the bend of the bracket which follows the contour of the front of earlier gens is all wrong, Here's a picture of the big problem. The mirror mounting point is recessed in the front faring on 3rd gens: And the recessed area is not uniformly deep, As you can see below it is shallow at the top (1-2 mm) and gets deeper (6-7 mm) at the lower end.

Continued...

 

[Fred W]

I went ahead and mounted up the FZ1 mirrors, and they went on just fine. Here are some photos to show what you are up against:

Here's the mirror base showing the embedded studs

And the upper end of the base has a square corner, this is part of a support web for the mirror pivot above.

Need to space the square part out so it doesn't hit the tapered edge of the recessed hole. I drilled some old brass toll tokens (obsolete since the advent of speed pass) and offset the hole slightly in what would be the upper washer spacer.

With the boot back in place

And here's the spacers position inside the recess. I just used a couple of 6mm bolts I had laying around to hold them in position for the photos. You can see below why you need to offset the hole for the upper washer (left in photo)

The single token is just enough to clear the shallower upper end of the recess.

You would need to stack 4 of these token / spacers to clear the lower edge. Luckily that is not needed for the FZ1 mirrors.

FZ1 mirrors mounted using the spacers

Just a single thread to spare after tightening up the flange nuts (mirror nuts are furthest to the right with the rubber nipple things next to them)

I think they look fine, but I guess I'm used to the look after having them on my 1st Gen for so long

More to the point, the rearward view is just as good as it was on my old 1st Gen. No more looking at the hand guards or my elbows when trying to see the cars approaching from behind.

And the added bonus is shown in photos here. Mirror in the normal position:

And where it folds to (if you drop it)

For my next trick, I'll be looking for a different place to mount my LEDrider LR4 lights. The mirror base mounting area may just be too complicated.

Dave (WynPro) still has the prototypes of the mirror extension brackets to test fit, but he has had a series of bad stuff to deal with between home and work, so we'll have to give him some slack on that. Those still may be a reasonable option for some folks, so stay tuned on how those come out.

 

[Bungie]

Uhm. Fred. Have you tried the Suzi hand-guards with the upper cowl in place? I noticed you don't have any sort of bar riser to move the bar back. Tried it on my 13 and found that it severly restricted the amount of turn input to the bar. In other words, the guards hit the cowl 'tits' way early.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Fred, why not just use a file to radius the squared corner on the FZ1 mirror base so that it fits the Gen3 fairing recess?

 

[Fred W]

Uhm. Fred. Have you tried the Suzi hand-guards with the upper cowl in place? I noticed you don't have any sort of bar riser to move the bar back. Tried it on my 13 and found that it severly restricted the amount of turn input to the bar. In other words, the guards hit the cowl 'tits' way early.

Yeah, I do actually have risers on there already. You are right... without some sort of risers the Strom guards are a no-go.

They are the Genmar type (clones). Simple spacers that come with longer bolts for the bars that I found on Amazon. They get the bars up just enough to have the hand guards clear the front cowling, with the added effect of blocking the inner third of the stock mirrors.

Fred, why not just use a file to radius the squared corner on the FZ1 mirror base so that it fits the Gen3 fairing recess?

I did consider that, but I would fear that this might weaken the support web for the mirror base somewhat. It was easy enough to just stick some washers underneath and did not hurt the appearance at all.

 

[bigjohnsd]

So have you given up on anti vibe light mounts or are we waiting for the sex change devices and a redo on the mounts?

 

[escapefjrtist]

Fred - Looking at your first pic, can't you just cut off the FZ1 studs and drill / tap and loctite in longer studs? Seems there's plenty of material to tap unless the pivot side of the mirror base is thinner. That way mirrors could be spaced off the fairing and use WynPro's most excellent brackets for the LR4s.

Thinking out loud...

--G

 

[Fred W]

I am sure there are ways to do that. But drilling through the mirror base wouldn't work on the upper stud (resides under the mirror's pivot)

Drilling the holes out (slightly) larger in the subframe, then using "Joint Connection Nuts" from the back side would be the quickest and easiest. The holes wouldn't be a problem in reversal as there is plenty of room for some washers under the flange nuts on the stock mirrors.

Joint Connection Nuts

Those come in the required M6 x 1.0 thread pitch and up to a 17mm length. That would give us the added length we need to mount spacers and brackets.

But the current version(s) of WynPro light brackets will not work. A new curved (or maybe completely flat?) bracket would be required that accommodates the 3rd Gen's complex faring shape.

And them there's the ~6mm spacer(s) that would go behind the WynPro bracket to space it out for the recessed area. The upper half of the bracket will be spaced away from the faring by 4-5 mm when the lower half is flush with it.

We will revisit this when Dave gets a bit more time to play around making brackets.