Hello from Lincolnshire

[cactus]

Hi and welcome.

[Mr Gazza]

Well the cheapo mirrors came this morning and when I got home from the MOT I had a go at fitting them.



Quality looks and feels absolutely fine. No instructions, but one comes fully assembled and the other has the mounting bits packed separately so it will fit the dinky box. so just use the assembled one as a guide for the other.

The smaller collets are 13mm so should have fitted my alloy bars, but my bars were a tad smaller than that, in fact the original bar ends had been forced in and needed levering carefully out.
I ran a 13mm drill bit down the ends of the bars about an inch and a half and the mirrors slid in and then nipped up solidly. Should be plug and play with more up to date alloy bars?



They adjust in all planes, then they can be nipped up into position. The flip back action is good and positive, I don't think the Mach 1 blast will fold them back.

Not sure about the image though. The field of view is wider and unhindered by elbows but everything looks small. (or far away Dougal!)




Also not sure about the new bald, spread-eagled look either? Nor how far further out of my field of forward vision they are.

I'll be out and about between (and during) showers this weekend so I'll report back.

[hh93]

Well - they look the same as my super expensive ones !!

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by hh93

Well - they look the same as my super expensive ones !!

Indeed they do and a real bargain at that price - nice one.

[Dukedesmo]

Sorry to hijack the thread but, inspired by the £12 clone CRG mirrors as above, I bought some and thought this might be of interest to someone.

As above I have the CRG on my Monster and have been very happy with them, I had a spare and decided to fit it to a bicycle as I ride around 15 miles a day as part of fitness campaign and find a mirror useful, especially if planning a RH turn.

I fitted the CRG, using a motorbike bar end but the bar end has a rubber bush/insert that expands in the bar and so is quite easily turned in the bar if the mirror mount gets knocked, as such I was planning to buy some more secure fitting bar ends.

The CRG clone mirrors at £12 a pair are about the same price (maybe even less?) than a decent set of solid bar ends and are supplied with the bar ends so I bought some.

Fitted today and been on an 18 mile (pushbike) ride and I have to say they are very good; design is the same as CRG (so a copy), the only visible differences that I can see are; the hinged bracket is black rather than ally coloured, the mirror surround/frame is a little slimmer (and doesn't have the 2 little retaining 'ears' in it), there is no 'CRG' logo etched into the mirror housing, the mirror is clear rather than lightly tinted as per the CRG, the finish of the casting is not quite as perfect but, overall very good and they have used conventional allen screws rather than the ones with the 'pilot' hole in the screw (probably a plus to most people as not using the correct key can round the screw easily).

Functionally the only criticism I have is the ball joint is not such a tight fit and so is easy to move the mirror position without undoing the allen screw (the CRG is very tight) and the mirror is slightly wobbly as the pivot bracket won't quite tighten up as much, both of these could likely be addressed with a bit of fettling e.g. by removing material from the inside of the clamp bracket? Long-term who knows if they'll last as long but I see no reason (except maybe the movement in the ball joint) why not?

But, the big difference is the price. IIRC I paid around £80 for the CRGs, 10 years ago and they are currently around £100 (or more) and that's without the bar end fittings which no doubt if genuine CRG would add a significant chunk to the price, whereas the ebay specials/clones are £12 including the bar ends.

In summary I'd say the CRG are better but not by a huge amount and given that they cost 10 x the ebay specials, it's a bit of a no-brainer if you're after this type of mirror.

[Mr Gazza]

Interesting how well they compare to the CRG mirrors and as you say actually less than the price of a pair of bar end weights.

I also found that the pinch screws needed a very firm tighten to stop everything moving. The trick is to tighten the mirror ball joint end first and then the handlebar end.

I got them tight enough that they don't move when riding, even at warp snot, but I can still adjust the angle with firm pressure.. You have to mean it, but they still don't move again after a little tweak. A little fine grinding paste on the ball would probably lock them up solid with less pinch screw pressure?
To be honest I rather liked the on-the-move adjustability as I was fine tuning the view over a 100 mile ride.
Some horrid noisy, short and sticky fingered human had to have a fiddle when I was parked at a show among other bikes. Sadly the village no longer has a drowning pool, but at least the mirror was easily corrected at the first straight stretch when leaving the village.

I am still getting used to the extra few degrees that I have to look sideways to see the mirrors. They are both out of my field of vision when riding and need a head movement to see them and a microsecond more distraction from the view ahead. My biggest concern is missing blue flashing lights approaching from behind. I really really don't like obstructing emergency vehicles! Nor manic arsehole tailgaters either. That said the view is remarkable when I do look.

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

Sadly the village no longer has a drowning pool.

I'm with you there Gary, sometimes 'progress' is not a good thing...

[smiffyraf1]

Hi howie. sorry for the late welcome. im also in lincoln. very clean looking dark you have there

[dacs]

Welcome Howie, always glad to see another Dark on here, I have a 750ie that is pretty much the same as yours.

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

Sadly the village no longer has a drowning pool

So you didn't get the Father Christmas gig again this year Mr Gazza?

[Mr Gazza]

Originally Posted by dacs

So you didn't get the Father Christmas gig again this year Mr Gazza?

No. The Judge made it difficult for me to pursue that anymore.. Tch!