gsf, handlebar (not fairing) mirrors?

[samurazuki]

Hey guys, I've been considering a mirror change for my gsf and personally I'm not crazy about most of the fairing mounted options I've seen.  I was wondering if anyone has blocked off the fender mounts and put something on the threaded mounts on the handlebars instead?  If so, does anyone have any pics?  I'd greatly appreciate it.  Given a long enough stem I don't think visibility would be too bad.  I imagine vibration might be an issue but, might not be too bad.  I may just pick up a cheapy ebay set to see how it works but, since I always get such good info here I figured I'd give it a try.  Thanks for your time!

[samurazuki]

I should specify that when I say handlebar mounted, I mean the threaded holes on the top of the bar on either side, not bar end mirrors.

[Janx101]

mmm .. you'll likely have to check ahead of time if whatever mirrors you end up using are ok...

i had the fairings off my bike for awhile... being repaired... and had the stock suzuki ones in the stock fittings as you mention... they not as good a viewing angle as the fairing mounts! .. the fairing mounts are not ideal either for me... but better than the bar mounted ones..

... however... when i re-mounted my fairings... just for the look/idea of it... i left the bar mounted mirrors on initially to see how it looked with a 'clean' fairing.... looked ok... but the mirror arms fouled on the top area of screen/fairing .. i thought about getting out the oxy torch and heating/bending those arms downwards .. but decided not to as getting the angles the same for both sides was more messing about than i wanted to do at the time...

while i was looking at it i did think... ok... lower the angle ... AND tighten them up with more of a rearward rake .. so when bars are on full lock they still dont foul a lower bit of the fairing .. then i thought... ok... lower angle means 'wider' viewing placement of actual mirror.... but then the rearwards rake angle narrows that 'widening' again... as well as it looked as though the mirror bars were going to end up right over my hands on the grips... no massive drama but for me it looked a little cramped...

thats all with stock bar mount mirrors... and easily heated/bent steel posts ... aftermarket ones .. or ones from another bike (the threads wont have too many permutations/differences amongst brands) ... may fir the bill... or be modded to fit the bill...

but i suspect with similar issues of over the hands and or viewable area behind you...

i think thats why bar end mirrors exist? ....

one of the mates does have some bar end mirrors... that he mounted on the inner edge of the grips and just below the grip ... next to /under his thumbs ... he likes them... takes some getting used to though .. to look down there to see behind you... but he can still see just over his leg/thigh and around his waist ok..



Edit ... My bad... Time and memory plays tricks on me... When I remounted the fairings I had the fairing mirrors on .... And that's what the bar mounted mirrors were hitting... I had briefly toyed with the idea of having both on there for multi aim points ..... But regardless of the hitting... I also one remember that it looked a bit dicky having a fairing but bar mounted mirrors... For the stock he's anyway... Overall I do prefer the fairing mirrors... They don't turn with the bars , so you get a more consistent view behind....

While I do like the naked or E look..... I don't like losing the vision behind when I do turn the bars.... But that might just be the years of truck driving influence too? 

[jacob92icu]

So you want to do something like what weedahoe did on his bike?

Check the last few pages of this thread:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=63485.0

[samurazuki]

Folks, this is why I come here, this forum is awesome.  Thanks for all the detail janx, and the reference jacob, both of these comments were exactly what I was looking for.  I'm gonna take this info, and some measurements, and see what I can come up with.  I'll follow up with pics of the result if all goes well.  Thanks again!

btw, I've actually been a member for a while now, but never had a need to post due to the wealth of available info via the all powerful and glorious SEARCH!  This was the first thing I couldn't find any specific posts about...

[jacob92icu]

Haha very nice, glad we could help 

About those mirrors, pretty much any local motorcycle shop will carry a small selection of those mirrors. Most of the aftermarket mirrors you can buy will thread into any normal handlebar mount. Good luck finding some, should not be too hard to come across some on Ebay either.

Happy fishing!