The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: rob650 on September 19, 2007, 01:09:30 AM
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Considering getting rid of my standard issue rearviews. THey seem to turn into chrome-peeling rust every two years.
Does anyone here have bar-end mirrors and like them?
Thanks.
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yes, absolutely I love them. It took all of 5 minuits to decide to have them on ever bike i own.
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I like them on my Triumph; they won't fit in the Windjammered R65.
That Windjammer was nice this morning. :)
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I put them on my R65LS so it could have a sportier look - in keeping with the sportier 'factory look', I guess.
I have the black "napoleon" mirrors - they look great. They work fairly well, but often seem to twist out of
position just enough that I can't see behind me anymore - given where they are placed, and where my
head is, there isn't much margin for error in the necessary angle for good rearward vision, but these are more
for looks, than pure practicality, I think. The rubber mounting does make them a bit clearer at certain
RPMs than the hard mounted stock units, and I like being able to fold them in or out to get a wider view
to the rear - as when I have saddlebags mounted. They do take a fair amount of 'fiddling' though to get
pointed right, and adding a pillion passenger or wide load on the back seat and you may as well forget using
them much.
You may have to cut your throttle grip and/or slide the throttle/control assembly farther to the middle of the handlebar
to get the right hand side to fit without rubbing and hanging up on the throttle tube. And I haven't seen any yet that
peacefully coexist with heated grips. But, they do look cool !
;)
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Does having the bags on the back interfere with the view? I use those all the time
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Sorta depends on how high/wide you adjust the mirror. Riding up to the BMWMOA rally in VT last
year I had (2) large saddlebags and and big duffel bag which basically stretched across the rear seat
as wide as the bags did, pretty much. Unless I had the mirrors adjusted way out to the side, no, I couldn't really see
behind me, but with the model that I had you have a fair amount of adjustment possibilities. Still, I think
that higher mounted mirrors would provide better rearward view, though possibly also blurry depending on RPMs.
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It is said that you can work around it, but I found they interfered with the wires on my BMW heated grips.
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I loath them... The rear view is to confined for the Motorway and being a bit clumsy I have a habit of trashing bar end mirrors. After doing two sets in on my old Triumph I gave up on them.
Tony
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Can you have bar-end mirrors and heated grips?
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I loath them... The rear view is to confined for the Motorway and being a bit clumsy I have a habit of trashing bar end mirrors. After doing two sets in on my old Triumph I gave up on them.
Tony
Strange. I have them and love them myself, having replaced the stockers that vibrated horribly as one of the 1st mods on my '84 R65. I also have taken several trips with saddlebags, tail bag, and a mountain of crap bungeed on top and never had any rearward visibility problems. I think the added width helps with that.
But, to each his own, obviously.
They were also about half the price of a pair of BMW-issue stockers, if you're replacing missing or trashed OEM units.
That said, I seriously doubt one could configure a modestly priced set of mirrors to co-exist with heated grips w/o some major mods...
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I have a set on my R27 and like them.... really like the way they look on the R27. Mine are 1960's reproductions and as Thang said they are a bit “confined”. But over all I do like them.......and have been toying with the idea of putting them on the R65.
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I have one of these mounted using the adapter on the left side. It is tiny but has a very wide field of vision. I do love it. I head check most of the time though. I may have to add the larger one later to get completely legal. As the regulations here have just changed. And they apply to all bikes. The build quality is astounding. Check it out here:
http://www.constructorsrg.com/store/page3.html
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You've got one of those ultra-high-qual, small, clamp-on bar enders! Cool!
I looked at those, but, beyond their expense, felt like maybe they'd be better suited to an S-type BMW, Guzzi 1100Sport, Ducati, Triumph Speed Triple, etc. Something beyond the rather modest performance of an R65.
Just my opinion, though, and I still love the look! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
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The old bar end mirror that was on the bike would only snap into a couple places.
When I would try to adjust it. After futzin with it for a couple days I had enough.
The CRG mirrors can be adjusted anyplace & locked into positin if you choose.
I agree the price is big. But less than some others I looked @. The other reason for my choice was I can put this where I want it & it doesn't hit the lever when I pull it all in. Like @ a stop.
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I'll admit that style wise they can look better than the stock items especially on more sporty looking machines, but that dosen't make up for the loss of good rearview vision you get from the stock mirrors.
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Can you have bar-end mirrors and heated grips?
Yes but not the BMW heated grips.
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I have napolean bar end mirrors on my LS and love them. I also have heated grips and handguards to keep the chill off. Looks very sporty, works fine- I have bar ends on all 6 of my bikes. They provide much better rear vision than the stock rear view mirrors.
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These look really cool! But I do split traffic here in California sometimes. I would only worry about making my overall bars wider and clipping a cars mirror.
see attached.