Rear view mirror help

Unleashed · L Plate Warrior Joined: 06 Apr 2018 Karma :

I've recently bought a Lexmoto Tekken 125 and need some replacement mirrors as the factory ones are as much use as a concrete crash helmet (can either see my shoulder brilliantly or pretty much everything apart from whats behind me.

Any suggestions on longer stalked mirrors would be a great help

MCN · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Jul 2015 Karma :

Motorcycles are not renowned for having good mirrors.
Unless a bigger tourer or commuter bike.

Angle them as best you can.

I can only see about 60% of shit behind me and I have to lift my elbow sometimes too.

'Heavy' people suffer more as their girth blocks the mirrors too.

Look for Mirror Extensions using Google. Is your Google not working? 😊

https://www.getgeared.co.uk/Motorcycle_Mirrors/Motorcycle_Mirrors_Adaptors?gclid=CjwKCAjwiPbWBRBtEiwAJakcpPIvm_ax7hBdqkpoiDlpFual-CkDYPt3KdgE3vp1FB-lF8iKpumCHBoCXaYQAvD_BwE
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

Rogerborg · nimbA Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :

OP is poor, he's not going to be paying £25 for a couple of teeny extenders that aren't even extenders. Tut Tut

£9 delivered, currently working fine on my Ninja: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400711023510

But first wind your current mirrors out, check the thread size, and that you don't have those trick Yamaha ones with one backwards thread.
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WD Forte · World Chat Champion Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Karma :

Angel grinder, welder, steel rod, go large
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MCN · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Jul 2015 Karma :

goto10 · World Chat Champion Joined: 16 Oct 2011 Karma :

TheCherryCore · Derestricted Danger Joined: 25 Jul 2016 Karma :

Lexmoto Venom's stock mirrors are good I have to admit. Much better than the ones I used to have on my kawasaki stocks when I had that.

grr666 · Super Spammer Joined: 16 Jun 2014 Karma :

Bar end mirrors FTW. Been riding with mine for a couple of days now and they have been a revelation. Also look pretty damn cool.
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NutsyUk · Nearly there... Joined: 22 Jun 2016 Karma :

Rogerborg · nimbA Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :

NutsyUk · Nearly there... Joined: 22 Jun 2016 Karma :

Teflon-Mike · tl;dr Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :

Welcome to my life-time.... it's a perenial problem.
In days of old, bikes did't have mirrors.... they weren't even a requirement of the C&U reg's until the '80's and there's still loop-holes for a bike not to have them.... WHICH it has to be said is NOT such a bad thing!!

When I did my 'Part 1', precursor to CBT umpety decades ago, there was actually a Bearded Brummy coppa who did a lot of the instructing, who wandered about, and arbiterily removed or angled to useless positions the students mirrors.. "LEARN TO LOOK!" Was his mantra....

And I have to confess, it is one that holds truth and more than a little validity, even into the modern era.

There is a niggle with modern trends for bikes to come factory fitted with mirrors, and for the majority of riders to not be fresh-faced teens who cut thier teeth on mopeds, but 'older' riders probably already with a car licence in thier pocket, and hence likely mirror-dependent, REALLY struggling with the rear-observations needed on a motorbike, and trying to do it all, on the mirrors, cos they are there, or that's what they are used to and NEVER looking over thier shoulder......

Hint.... crap mirrors on a learner bike COULD actually be doing you a favour, begging you DONT trust them, and DO learn to make good and useful obervations, NOT relying ion wobbly reflecta-glass..... and on a learner-bike, that's a double wammy, getting you in that habbit of doing decent rear obs and not becoming mirror dependent, whilst you are still learning.

Moving on.... I'm 6'2~" ish, and broad accross the shoulders; I only have something like a 36" chest size for a shirt, but I have to buy jackets in the 46" chest or larger range, to get my arms in and not have the wrists some-where round my elbows! This does not bode well for wing mirrors showing much more than my shoulders.... B-U-T

Little bike or small, they are rated by the size of fire-hole in the engine; but they generally have handle-bars of the same width, around 26" irrespective of that.

Handlebar mirrors are notorious; the bars themselves are stuck out on a limb, and you have a stalk, they ARE virtually garanteed to shake at some RPM. Frame/Fairing mounted mirrors wont move with the steering; they may be better mounted or isolated from engine vibration, and shake a tad less, but they also tend to be closer together, so whether you can actually see any more in them, and whether you can see anything useful in them remains debateable.

Over the years!?!?

This problem has crept up time over time over time. Me, personally, have tried getting smart and getting a bit more useful vision from whatever mirrors have been to hand, whether I have had to buy them or not; from drilling holes in the backs and filling them with sand or loading them with air-gun-pellets or strands of solder to change the resonant mass! Adding extenders or alternative brackets; shifting brake-clutch brackets further inboard or outboard up the handle-bar...

ULTIMATELY... the mirrors are STILL a problem... maybe more or less of one; maybe the shakes start at less used revs etc, and I have succeeded in making them 'maybe' a bit more useful....

BUT..... absolutely NO substitute for Learning to Look.. and just NOT becoming dependant on the bludy mirrors... learn to live as if they aren't there at all, even if they are.... they cant be relied on, so LEARN TO LOOK.

Do proper rear observations. Means actually moving head and looking behind BEFORE performing a manouver, and doing side glances during and after one... And habityualised, you see more, you see more that';s useful, and IF a mirror gets knocked or broke, or shakes.. you STILL see the hazard 'cos you aren't dependent on the unreliable mirror...

And that's it really..... following advice of bearded old bloke of old, JUST take the things of, so you HAVE to look, get in the habit of NOT relying on mirrors from the off... beyond that... they can be helpful, but if you never learn to look, there's always going to be a possible blind sot, no matter HOW good the mirrors you fit may or may not be.

Its a very very cheap, and very very easy 'fix' too......
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