Mirror mirror on my bike....

Quick question maybe some of the guru's here have a handy trick or tip they can share.

Just bought new mirrors for my XJ: Mirrors

So, I got them, and got them on (they look good), but I have a problem. Actually this is a old problem that I had with my old mirrors as well. They vibrate a lot (yes I tightened them down) so that when I am driving at anything over 20mph, they are almost useless...

Is there anything that can be done? Rubber washers to dampen the vibration? tighten it further (feels like if I tighten any further they will crack in half), or am I up a creek?

Thanks for looking, now back to your regularly scheduled program ;-)

 

Shoulder check more!!! ha ha sorry I couldn't resist I'm not sure anything can be done, I know mine aren't to bad but that can change dramaticlly depending on speed and road conditions, you may get different results if you relocate the mirrors all together ( bar end) or prehaps try (if you are able to) change the angle slightly on my max I felt the clutch lever was to low so I brought it up a bit and got a slightly better angle on the mirror as an added bonus!
Shaun

 

That's interesting. My right mirror vibrates to the point of uselessness, but the left mirror is fine at all speeds!

 

Ditto

 

That's what I have to do, my mirrors are also useless. Fixing that issue is on my list now that the bike is actually running.

 

Yeah, i usually shoulder check all the time.. but when I am pulling 70 in heavy traffic I don't want to take my eyes far off the guy in front of me to see what the guy behind me is doing ;-P

So it seems like a lot of people having the same problems.... we gotta be able to figure out a fix here........i hope ;-)

 

Just wanted to chime in on the mirror vibration issue, although as my engine has gotten in better tune, my mirrors have gotten more useful. Right now they're really only bad at highway speeds.

 

Here's an interesting tidbit: The stock handlebar on my '83 Seca 550 had WEIGHT in the right end; looked "factory."

The stock bars off the '81 did not.

Why not try what Yamaha did? Add weight to your RH bar end (you can epoxy a slug inside the bar, it looks like that's how they did it.)

 

they sell a anti-vibration morror adapter at JC Whitney and they are only like $10.00 and they are great i had a set on my last bike when i had this problem.

 

Similar, on the 202 bypass one day doing about 70 or so and my eyeballs were vibrating in their sockets to the point I couldnt read the exit signs. at least it felt like they were vibrating.

 

So.. complete tangent here - but its my thread so I can ;-P

Was going through JC Whitney for those dampeners (which I found, Here)

So while doing that, I found 'THIS'.. I think they might actually look kind of cool - and help to make sure everything's firing as it should be on trips...

Whats everyone think?

 

your bars are mounted on rubber cushioned risers, over the years the rubber gets hard
try loosening the riser nuts a little or tighten them some if you see a difference invest in new rubber bushings
if you really need to use the mirror for a second, just let off the gas and pull in the clutch

 

If anything those flashing spark plug caps will be taking power away from your spark. They won't do anything positive for performance (unless your old caps are in tatters).

Better off spending your money on plug indexing washers :lol:

As far as the mirrors go, I put a set of aftermarket mirrors on my ZX9 which were a fair bit heavier than the stockers - and they seem to vibrate less due to the extra weight.

Food for thought :?

 

I'm thinking about trying one of these.

 

Please do, and let us know how it works. I might be interested too; I was thinking of filling one end of my aftermarket bar with epoxy...

 

i rode a DR650 suzuki on the street for a while, XJ's mirrors don't shake
the only thing i found that helped that suzuki was to plug the bars by the first bend (paper towel and elmers glue) then dump two shot shells of #6 shot in each side and plug the end
it felt the same but the mirrors were a little better, i tried solid weights and that felt worse and looked worse

 

I don't think those plug caps would be good for preformance. But you gotta admit they'd look cool. Has anyone tried these and noticed a difference?

 

I've considered making my own 'bar snake' from pvc tubing and sand. I had bar weights, but had to lose them when I installed bar ends.

I am thinking for the install a good spray of rubbing alcohol would be enough to lube things up to slide it in.

I'm guessing you could make a home version for $8 or less.

 

I've got the original bar wieghts in my bars.
The bar end mirrors still vibrate to the point of being useless.

 

Yeah, except for a couple of things. The material of the snake is made of norborene or some such material that actually absorbs impact (and vibrational) energy. (Google unhappy balls and read about them). If you have never seen one of these demos, its pretty cool. The kids always get a kick out of them.