Side Mirror Differences

[karlhoffman_76]

Hey all, recently I've had to purchase a left side mirror after low siding on some gravel and busting my existing mirror. Ordered one from a Tasmanian dealer over eBay, Bikeworks Motorcycles, and when it came, I noticed that the mirror stem was about 3/4 the length of the one on my bike and overall it weighed noticeably less (I have a 2009 GS500H naked Australian export model). Thinking it was an aftermarket knockoff, I requested a return on eBay. Seller came back adamant that it was OEM, now this is where things get interesting.

Apparently there are different variations of the standard black plastic backed mirrors. After double checking part numbers, the LHS mirror that comes standard with the Australian 2009 H model has P/N 56600-01D02. Checking the equivalent US model on CMSNL yields P/N 56600-03F31. After calling some other Suzuki parts suppliers, I was able to confirm that my bike is indeed the Australian export model (manufactured in Spain) and not a grey import. So it begs the question, why are my mirrors different?

Some people have suggested to me that maybe the previous owner replaced the stock mirrors with the ones I currently have. There are a few problems with this theory though. The first being that it's highly unlikely the previous owner would have done this, considering the heavier mirrors cost ~$160 AUD a piece, and I doubt they would have replaced the stock mirrors with these heavier variants simply for aesthetic reasons. The second problem is, even if both stock mirrors had somehow been destroyed and replaced due to an accident/accidents, there would be no reason for the heavier mirrors to have come up as an option given that Australian suppliers are going to order Australian parts and also that the Australian version of this mirror is some $60 cheaper than the heavier variant (which I guess is congruent with the weight difference). All the mirrors in my possession are stamped Suzuki, so I believe they probably all are genuine, as after looking through aftermarket mirrors, I've noticed none of them are stamped in this way.

The other suggestion to me was that maybe it was due to slight variations in assembly at the Spanish plant that my bike came from. Maybe they just happened to have a batch of the heavier mirrors that they needed to offload, or maybe the specification for the mirrors was changed in the middle of a production run. Would this be a possibility?

Is there something I'm missing here?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Long post, I know, but I'm genuinely curious about this. It seems silly to me that there would be slight variations of what is essentially the same mirror.

Cheers!

[cbrfxr67]

INteresting!  I don't have any answers but thanks for posting!

[karlhoffman_76]

The plot thickens!

Turns out my first gut instinct was correct; seller was peddling a cheap knockoff!

I guess it would be hard for someone to definitively spot without actually having the mirrors on hand to compare.

Well, the way I was able to spot this was by ordering the "matching" RHS mirror (Suzuki P/N 56500-01D02) from a dealer in Victoria, Mick Hone, to go with the LHS mirror I'd ordered from Bikeworks Motorcycles. I don't think they were counting on this, given that most people with a GS probably wouldn't care or notice that the knockoff was shorter and lighter than the stock mirror. Sure enough, the mirror I received from Mick Hone was identical to my existing RHS mirror in all respects and did not match the knockoff mirror in terms of stem length or mass.

So Bikeworks Motorcycles falsely advertised a knockoff LHS mirror as an OEM mirror with Suzuki P/N 56600-01D02. Needless to say I demanded a full refund, threatening to go directly to eBay if they didn't comply, and which I thankfully received this morning without them even requesting that I post the knockoff mirror back to them. Still out of Pocket ~$100 AUD for the RHS mirror that I did not need though.

As an addendum, and I should have checked this before, but searching for an image of the equivalent US model LHS mirror with Suzuki P/N 56600-03F31 yields the chrome metal backed mirror with chrome stem. So it is in fact the chrome that makes up the difference in price of ~$60 AUD, not slight variations in a plastic mirror as I assumed.

Moral of the story, stay away from Bikeworks Motorcycles in Tasmania.

How annoying this has all been!

[karlhoffman_76]

Additional moral to the story, and actually this is probably the main one, don't purchase parts advertised as OEM if they don't come in OEM packaging with the standard red Suzuki Genuine Part label.