Extra Mirrors?

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Dec 31, 2015 | 07:47 PM

nevadarider

Thread Starter

Advanced

Joined: Nov 2014

Posts: 64

Likes: 5

From: REno, Nevada

Extra Mirrors?

I am wondering if anyone has ever bothered with doing this; adding an extra mirror on a touring bike.
I have an '04 Electraglide and have mini apes that place my arms in a position that would block out the fairing-mounted mirrors on batwing fairings, so that type of blind spot mirror is out. I end up having to ride/drive on freeways often and have always noticed that other vehicles can sneak up in my blind-spot areas and it especially annoys me on a motorcycle. To be honest, I have had some near misses a few times from that and also in heavy traffic it can be dangerous to turn my head to check because sometimes when I have turned my head even for an instant, the vehicle in front of me has hit the brakes and I've gotten way too close to them before I realized what was happening. I have looked into blind-spot mirrors but either I just don't like the looks of the ones available, or they don't have very good reviews and I have held back on buying them, especially the ones HD sells due to the price tag.
So, I am going to try something; I am adding a mini-mirror on each side of the bike mounting them to the top of the crash bar. They will be tucked in and I have mocked it up and it seems like it will work but can't find info on anyone that has ever tried it.

Anyway, maybe I'll like it, maybe not, but whatever happens I will post my results on here just in case anyone is curious.

Dec 31, 2015 | 08:01 PM

Gliden

Club Member

Joined: Jun 2009

Posts: 5,323

Likes: 37

From: NJ

I have 16 inch apes. I have mirrors up on top and I kept the fairing mirrors.

The fairing mirrors allow me to slightly raise my arm and peek at my stock mirrors which I have adjusted to see along side of me while changing lanes.

The top mirrors show me what's way behind me.
They all serve a purpose.

Jan 3, 2016 | 08:53 PM

nevadarider

Thread Starter

Advanced

Joined: Nov 2014

Posts: 64

Likes: 5

From: REno, Nevada

Thanks for the input Gliden. That may be the way I need to go, but not sure yet. I have shorter apes, I think they are 12 inch. I'm kinda short and with the h/bars I can't see that area of the fairing where the mirrors would be mounted. I tried a mirror on the crash bar but found out that that particular mirror isn't a wide field of view (or whatever you would call mirrors that make objects in mirror appear farther away than they really are. So, as I pulled alongside a car the image was so big I couldn't really tell what the heck I was looking at down there. I have some mirrors coming that would look okay installed down there but if the mirror glass is the wrong type, then it won't work. If that's the case, I'll think about doing the fairing mount mirrors and move my head/body around enough to see them. I didn't mention that years ago I got hit by a car from behind as he came off a freeway off ramp that merged into the 3-lane 1-way street I was on. He was going fast so maybe nothing would have helped that event but I have been a little squeemish about vehicles beside/behind me ever since!

Last edited by nevadarider; Jan 3, 2016 at 08:55 PM.

Jan 3, 2016 | 08:53 PM

nevadarider

Thread Starter

Advanced

Joined: Nov 2014

Posts: 64

Likes: 5

From: REno, Nevada

By the way Gliden....nice looking ride you have!!!!

Jan 4, 2016 | 11:18 AM

JMC22

Ultimate HDF Member

Joined: Dec 2013

Posts: 6,044

Likes: 336

I opted to ditch the fairing mounted mirrors and put bar mounted mirrors on - I also installed them "upside down" as to not have them sticking awkwardly above the fairing...

Attached Thumbnails

Jan 4, 2016 | 06:42 PM

Gliden

Club Member

Joined: Jun 2009

Posts: 5,323

Likes: 37

From: NJ

Quote:

Originally Posted by nevadarider

By the way Gliden....nice looking ride you have!!!!

Thank you!

Feb 29, 2016 | 09:43 PM

nevadarider

Thread Starter

Advanced

Joined: Nov 2014

Posts: 64

Likes: 5

From: REno, Nevada

Trying out the extra mirrors

So, I have put on a few miles with the extra mirrors mounted on the crash bar. They do work, for instance, I can see a vehicle coming down the freeway on-ramp in my blind spot in the crash bar mounted mirror, then as I speed up to give the vehicle room to enter the lane, I will see the vehicle disappear from the crash bar mirrors and then appear in the h/bar mounted (rear view) mirror. The issue now is that I put mini rectangular mirrors on the crash bars and I cannot clearly see anything in detail, due to the small size of the mirror. I put Kuryakin "Bahn" mirrors on the h/bars, which are an angled shape. They work fine and I like the looks of them. Their shape looks a little better up there than rounded shaped mirrors such as the stock Harley mirrors, especially on my Twin Peaks style h/bars.
The Bahn mirrors have enough room that I am going to affix a set of convex "Bogo" blind spot disc mirrors (45mm diameter) at the outer edge, and if that works out well enough, then I'll remove the crash bar mirrors.
As I stated before, I got rear-ended by a car years ago and that wreck should have killed me but somehow I escaped with just a bad back and neck, and scrapes and bruises, and since then, I like to know what's sneaking up behind me.

Trending Topics

Interview - A Straight-Talking Harley-Davidson Dealer

118

5.9k
Cam chest noise

42

1.1k
Well Monday will tell

20

249
Base gasket leak and other ramblings

25

626
Odd oil change behavior, M8 114

14

673

Apr 4, 2016 | 07:53 PM

nevadarider

Thread Starter

Advanced

Joined: Nov 2014

Posts: 64

Likes: 5

From: REno, Nevada

In case anyone ever wondered how the above experiment worked out, I ended up removing the mirrors I mounted on the crash bars. They were just some cheapies I used to experiment with and they work but I think if I did do something like that I would want some rectangular mirrors of decent size that I could see with real short stems to mount real close to the crash bars, and that would take some "in-hand" looking at possible mirrors, not "on-line" looking. So anyway, I got some little round convex blind spot mirrors that I could adhere to my present rear-view mirrors. They are pretty small which works out okay as they don't block out too much of my rear view but they weren't helpful to just stick them on as I still couldn't see that blind area right behind my shoulders. They gave me just another fish-eye view of the rear. They needed some angle to them so I got some wood wedges that one would use when putting a new handle on an axe. They are a "wedge" shape of course and have that angle to them. I cut discs out of the wedges the same size as the little blind spot mirrors and applied them to the back of the little disc mirrors and applied the "units" to the rear view mirrors (on the outside edge), angled outward. Now they give me a view of that blind spot area and do so without looking dorky. Yay. So far they worked okay on a day of riding and checking them out.

Last edited by nevadarider; Apr 4, 2016 at 07:57 PM.