Handlebar ends mirrors: how well do they work?

[Jackstand Johnny]

I'm in the process of cleaning up my bike and I've been thinking about putting handlebar end mirros on to get rid of the antenna's that are on there now. For those who ride with them, how well do they work in comparison to the stock mirrors?

[w00derson]

Mine work great. I was worried about not being able to see that well, but I can see just fine. Picked them up for $45 on ebay.

[DoD#i]

Depends on the mirror, to some extent. Some are cheap POS and work like it. Some are over-priced cheap POS and still work like it.

Given half-decent mirrors of reasonable size, they can work much better than stock, since you'll have less shoulder in the picture (as they are lower), and they are also starting farther apart (on the style I prefer, you can have them be either sticking out, or above/below the grips - but either is wider than the stock mirror position.) I posted a link in some other bar-end thread you were in, so you've seen the picture - Napoleons seemed to be the closest thing presently available to what I had, and might even be what I had.

Note: I have not mounted a set on the GS - yet. But I did mount a set on my first bike when I replaced the cruiser-ish bar with a UJM-ish bar after my first crash - and loved them. Just gotta get the rest of an order lined up and apply my wallet crowbar to squeeze some money out, then see if I can adapt the mounts to the '90 screw-in bar-ends.

[AFMO]

I just did this mod, and so far I'm happy with it.  Here's what I did with third eye mountain bike mirrors, for $28 at REI.  I'd rather lose a $12 mirror if I drop the thing rather than a $100 CRG.  The mirrors come with a collapsing mechanism that holds tightly to the inside of the bars, so you have two options on the GS.  First, you can figure out how to break the welds and remove the threaded piece on the inside of the bars, or second, you can modify the third eye mirrors to fit.  I chose to modify the mirrors, which gives me the option of going back to stock if needed.  Anyway, it was a simple process.  I bought some 6mm screws , took the mirrors apart, and replaced the screw that goes through the collapsing rubber pieces.  As you can see, the mirror comes with two of the rubber pieces, and when tightened, the square washer compresses them to fit.  I got rid of the square washer, left one rubber piece, and screwed it right into the bar end.  It did, however, take some fiddling with.  I had to drill out the hole to fit the 6mm bolt, and then scrape out a little plastic so that the head of the screw was inset enough to clear the pivot of the mirror.  Anyway, it turned out well, especially for $28 and a 15 minutes of work.

http://media.rei.com/media/686043Lrg.jpg

My bike now...only picture I have of it for now, but if you're interested, I can take more detailed pictures, but I wont be home for a week or so.

http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v289/40/26/2361278/n2361278_46723276_8428.jpg

I may experiment with this in the future.  If I buy longer 6mm bolts, I could use the mirrors on the ends of the stock bar ends (no lanesplitting to worry about around here).  While there isn't a ton of vibration, I do think it would get old on a 2-3 hour trip.  This would eliminate the vibration, but I'm also considering tapping a hole through the top of the bar end--does anyone know how hard this would be, or if it's even possible?  That way, I could position the mirrors slightly higher in my field of view.  These are all just nitpicky things that I might try for the fun of it, and I am happy with the mirrors the way they are.  You do have to get used to looking down there to check, but it hasn't been a big deal, and I have around 400 miles on them.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

[fred]

I have the CRG mirrors and I really like them. They are a bit convex, so you can see more stuff behind you. Also, because they are convex, you don't notice vibrations in the mirrors nearly as much as flat mirrors. Overall I like them a lot. I used to have stock-like flat mirrors that only showed my shoulders and showed nothing but a big blur at anything over 5000 RPM. The CRG mirrors totally fix that problem. One more cool thing, the stock like mirrors I had were at exactly the same height as car mirrors, leading to some really embarrassing mirror slapping when lane splitting on a couple of occasions. The CRG mirrors are much lower and solve that problem...

[Jackstand Johnny]

I just did this mod, and so far I'm happy with it.  Here's what I did with third eye mountain bike mirrors, for $28 at REI.  I'd rather lose a $12 mirror if I drop the thing rather than a $100 CRG.  The mirrors come with a collapsing mechanism that holds tightly to the inside of the bars, so you have two options on the GS.  First, you can figure out how to break the welds and remove the threaded piece on the inside of the bars, or second, you can modify the third eye mirrors to fit.  I chose to modify the mirrors, which gives me the option of going back to stock if needed.  Anyway, it was a simple process.  I bought some 6mm screws , took the mirrors apart, and replaced the screw that goes through the collapsing rubber pieces.  As you can see, the mirror comes with two of the rubber pieces, and when tightened, the square washer compresses them to fit.  I got rid of the square washer, left one rubber piece, and screwed it right into the bar end.  It did, however, take some fiddling with.  I had to drill out the hole to fit the 6mm bolt, and then scrape out a little plastic so that the head of the screw was inset enough to clear the pivot of the mirror.  Anyway, it turned out well, especially for $28 and a 15 minutes of work.

http://media.rei.com/media/686043Lrg.jpg

My bike now...only picture I have of it for now, but if you're interested, I can take more detailed pictures, but I wont be home for a week or so.

http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v289/40/26/2361278/n2361278_46723276_8428.jpg

I may experiment with this in the future.  If I buy longer 6mm bolts, I could use the mirrors on the ends of the stock bar ends (no lanesplitting to worry about around here).  While there isn't a ton of vibration, I do think it would get old on a 2-3 hour trip.  This would eliminate the vibration, but I'm also considering tapping a hole through the top of the bar end--does anyone know how hard this would be, or if it's even possible?  That way, I could position the mirrors slightly higher in my field of view.  These are all just nitpicky things that I might try for the fun of it, and I am happy with the mirrors the way they are.  You do have to get used to looking down there to check, but it hasn't been a big deal, and I have around 400 miles on them.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

Only problem with that is my 89's bars stick down and I'm afraid the mirrors wouldnt work that well for mine. I'm gonna buy a set with the option of setting them high or low. Thanks for all your help guys!

[tripleb]

AFMO, so all you did was remove one of the rubber grommets and the washer from the end of the mirror, replaced the bolt with a 6mm one and screwed it in?

That's awesome if that's all you did!!  I will probably do the same since I have bar ends as well.  Thanks for the tip and for saving me from buying new handlebars!!

[ohgood]

I had some bar end mirrors for a while. They really do clean up the appearance of the bike. Add a flyscreen and you're into cool territory. As far as usability, I ditched them because I constantly had to look -down- as in tilt my head to view anything. Maybe this isn't the case for people less than 6' tall, I dunno.

After having them on for 8 months or so, I went back to plain ole stock GS mirrors. I have filled my bars with lead shot to make them perfectly vibration free, and that helped the gs mirrors a ton. At some point I may actually put some higher quality bar end mirrors on, but so far, no thanks.

Looks  = 10/10

usability = 5/10

safety = 3/10


my 2 cents

[tripleb]

I'm prefacing this with "it might sound stupid" before I say it, but think about it before judging.

As far as using the mirrors go, do you really use yours that much when it really matters?  I glance at mine every once in a while while crusing, after stopping to check out the cars stopping behind me and whenever I'm changing lanes or turning, but then I always turn my head and look too.

My point in all of this is that I don't really think mirrors play that large of a role in the rider's safety.  If you're chaning lanes, you should be looking over your shoulder anyway which I trust more than a mirror no matter how big it is...

[ohgood]

I'm prefacing this with "it might sound stupid" before I say it, but think about it before judging.

As far as using the mirrors go, do you really use yours that much when it really matters?  I glance at mine every once in a while while crusing, after stopping to check out the cars stopping behind me and whenever I'm changing lanes or turning, but then I always turn my head and look too.

My point in all of this is that I don't really think mirrors play that large of a role in the rider's safety.  If you're chaning lanes, you should be looking over your shoulder anyway which I trust more than a mirror no matter how big it is...

I'll agree with you on the head turns, and generally being aware of all things, all times while driving/riding a bike.

The bad thing is that being aware means being able to see behind / beside you with only an eye flick, not a head turn.

I've found that an eye flick is so much faster, whereas a head turn takes 1/4  - 1/2 second. After a couple of "oh shaZam!" moments myself, I ditched the bar end mirrors. It could have something to do with my height though, and not having the right angle to just glance down without tiliting my head to see the bar end mirrors.

If it works for you, great. My geometry is usually a limiting factor

[Jackstand Johnny]

How so? I'm 6'1 so if it's because youre to tall then I'd probably be in the same boat. I use my mirrors quite a bit, but that's because I'm a rookie on a motorcycle and I'm always looking for cars around me. Also, what's a real good quality mirror to look for?

[fred]

I am also 6'1" and I have to look down at my mirrors, but I don't find it to be that bad. At least I can see things out of them now, unlike before when I could only see my shoulders or two lanes over...

[AFMO]

tripleb--yep, that's all I did.  Gotta drill out and mess with the screw a little to make the head inset (the stock one is a hex head, so you have to round it out a little bit) but yeah, that's it.  Also, the third eye mirrors are convex as well.  Even so, I notice a little vibration around 5k.  No problem at all around town, REALLY cleans up the look of the bike, but like I said, I may try a few other things just to see if they work.  The way I see it, for $14 apiece, you can't go wrong, don't worry about having $200 in mirrors tied up in a $1500 bike, and I can go back to stock if I want to.  Good luck and have fun!

[Jackstand Johnny]

Whats a good quality bar end mirror to look out for?

[tripleb]

If you want something cheaper (like $15 each) go with what he did - the Third Eye Bicycle Bar Ends.  IF you want something more expensive (over $100 for the pair) seach for Napolean or CRG bar end mirors.

[DoD#i]

Napoleons are $28.75 each plus shipping from BikeBandit. Not sure if that's the best price, haven't really shopped it that hard, yet. Way less than $100 the pair, even with shipping.

http://www.bikebandit.com/brand-nav/napoleon

[tripleb]

I must've been thinking napoleans were something else....my bad.

[gmark]

My $.02. I got a set of cheep barends off ebay and I LOVE the things. I ride to work/school allways in city trafic and they have saved my ass a few times. Here is the link to the cheep ones I have. for less than $35 shipped you cant go wrong.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorcycle-SILVER-BAREND-MIRRORS-Convex-Lens-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35580QQihZ004QQitemZ140249490772QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

[GI_JO_NATHAN]

My $.02. I got a set of cheep barends off ebay and I LOVE the things. I ride to work/school allways in city trafic and they have saved my ass a few times. Here is the link to the cheep ones I have. for less than $35 shipped you cant go wrong.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorcycle-SILVER-BAREND-MIRRORS-Convex-Lens-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35580QQihZ004QQitemZ140249490772QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I really like the look and price of those. I just ordered a set of black ones.

[ohgood]

How so? I'm 6'1 so if it's because youre to tall then I'd probably be in the same boat. I use my mirrors quite a bit, but that's because I'm a rookie on a motorcycle and I'm always looking for cars around me. Also, what's a real good quality mirror to look for?

yep, i'm 6'3" or so and it's just easier for me to see things with the stockers. i'll get some SV mirrors eventually.

i don't know of the good quality mirrors, only the Third Eye ones i've purchased ^^ that I kinda rated up there.