Double Take Mirror- a new (and better) Dual Sport Mirror

HI-how does the double take mirror mount on the right side for a 04 950 ADV?
My right mirror broke off the master cylinder reservoir. The master cylinder works fine, just the mount broke off.

thanks

I hope my last e-mail made it through! If not, per our conversation, take a look at the split clamp assembly here to relocate the mirror perch off your brake reservoir

I'm trying to picture how this would work. My mirror stalks go through the control pods and attach via nuts on the bottom. If I went with the plate, would I need to find an appropriate-sized bolt to go through that hole? Or am I missing something?

Thanks.

Since I purchased the mirrors I had been putting the more open of the two ends of the RAM arm on the rubberized ball mount side (bike side) and the more closed end on the mirror side. This seemed to make the most sense for removing the mirrors easily to switch to another bike.

On my last ride I decided to flip the RAM arm over, with the open end on the mirror side and the closed end on the bike side. I rode 30 miles of washboard and only one mirror barely moved, which was acceptable to me. Prior any amount of washboard would have the mirrors dropping out of adjustment.

I'm not sure why this made a difference for me but it did and now I'm happy

Just wanted to share my experience with these mirrors. I do love these folding mirrors, they have exactly the kind of versatility I had been looking for. I have them mounted on my plated XR:



They are not quite perfect, however, as I do experience movement of the mirrors at speeds above 50 mph. Vibration is noticeable on my setup, but I've seen worse. The main problem is that I would have to readjust the mirrors during my ride if the wind/air pressure was significant.

Looking over the mounting system last weekend to see what could be done, I noticed that the ball mounts were being somewhat deformed from the sphere shape due to my clamping/tightening efforts. It occurred to me that I could easily make a spacer dowel to prevent over tightening the ram side of the clamp. So I took the clamp apart and found out that a 5mm bolt would fit the inside of the spring without too much play. I think a 1/4 bolt would also work, but I used a spare 5mm bolt that looked to have a decent chrome coating to prevent early rusting.

Taking some measurements, I cut two sections off of the unthreaded portions of the bolt slightly longer than I thought I'd need, 18 mm. Then taking a file, I started shortening the dowel and test fitting on the bike. The dowel goes in the spring, and the spring side of the clamp is mounted on the RAM mount. I was taking off about 0.2 mm per trial, and I ended up with 16.7 mm on one clamp, and 16.4 mm on the other. To test, I would grab the mirror bracket/post and give a gentle tug. If things moved, then I went back to filing the dowel shorter. It didn't take too long to find the sweet spot where the RAM ball was clamped adequately and the rest of the clamp pressure went to the plastic mirror ball. Photos:





After this addition, I'm happy to report that the mirrors are staying in place now.

If this fix stops working, then I'll probably look into cutting up a rubber glove and using a finger end to slip over the plastic mirror mounting ball as suggested earlier. If anyone has tried this, post up and let us know how it worked.

Also, I suppose a small rubber stopper could fit into the recessed holes that are molded into the plastic mirror mounting ball. Those rubber stoppers are sold at any well stocked hardware store so that would be easier to try than making the dowels but I had the bolt handy in my bin of extras.

I really like that fix, Ghost_Mutant. Good thinking!

Nice work Ghost, please keep us updated on how it works for you.

I originally mentioned using a nitrile glove finger tip but ended up trying latex because I had one handy. It works, my mirrors did not move at all and this was before flipping the RAM arm. However the latex does not hold up, it dries out and disintegrates pretty fast, mine lasted about a week but looked like hell most of the time

I just returned from a day ride in AZ with 60% dirt and the flipped RAM arm with no glove tips did move some. Next I'm going to try the nitrile glove tip but will probably end up purchasing the tool handle rubber dip, this seems like a more permanent fix that will look better. The finger tip is really a quick fix if you're in a bind.

Your idea looks really good as well so I may give that try.

Ghost, I also had the RAM balls deform too much when I tightened down the RAM arms enough to keep the Double Take mirrors from moving on my Husaberg FE390 while riding. Your mods inspired me to see what I could do for the short RAM arms, so I got after it:



Drill a few holes on one side








Bottom-tap some 8-32 threads








Insert in some stainless steel screws with Red Loctite






Grind the screws down until I got just enough clamping force on the RAM balls. Ground screws face down towards the RAM ball.






It works great!

Great stuff guys! Although mine have been superb for many many miles this leverageing idea is suberb and I'll have to give it a test.
It's especially noteworthy to me now that I want to try the plastic mounts vs the alum for some weight savings and this mod will help them to transfer force to the harder DT ball.
GREAT idea two thumbs up!

I rode the XR to work 4 of the 5 days this past week. Its 25 miles a day with 55 mph speed limits. On one day I had a decent head wind to overcome. But I didn't have to adjust the mirrors all week. No movement of the mirrors like I had before the dowel addition.

I still have to tighten the knob pretty tight, but now the dowel limits the pressure on the RAM ball side of the clamp. I'd like to be able to just cinch down the knob without feeling like I'm over doing things. So for grins, I stopped in at the local hardware store when I was going to the bank today. They don't appear to have rubber stoppers small enough to fit inside the mirror ball holes. I didn't feel like spending my time trimming the larger stoppers down to size. Scratch that idea.

However, I walked out of the store with a can of black plasti dip just like the left most can on this web page:
http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

Now this may not wear any better than the latex glove that Projected tried, but it can't hurt anything (other than my wallet) to try.

I'll put a single layer on each mirror ball this weekend and see if it helps.

Cyborg, that is a pro installation

Impressed!

Still trying to figure out the best way to attach this to a 2000 R1150GS, which has a threaded mirror stalk (M8x1.25) that fits through the clutch perch/master cylinder assembly and is secured by a nut from the bottom. I'm thinking the M8x1.25 RAM ball (as shown here) is the best bet, just not sure if the collar below the ball will be long enough to put the ball above the clutch reservoir.

Any thoughts?

I put a single layer of plasti dip on my mirror balls last weekend:


The upside is that the mirrors absolutely stay in place now with less clamping force required.

The down side is that the vinyl coating is soft and the aluminum clamps did immediately wear into the plasti dip where the sharper edges/ends of the clamps contacted the mirror ball.

The other down side is that the mirror is now harder to fine tune, because the plasti dip vinyl really is sticking to the clamps.

Since the mirrors have now lost some of their convenience due to the extra effort needed to fine tune their position before final clamping, I won't be recommending the plasti dip solution unless you have an especially hard case of keeping the mirrors in place.

If I were to do it again, I would not put the plasti dip on the mirror ball. Instead, I think I would only coat the inside of half (one side) of the aluminum clamp. I'm thinking that masking off the outside of the clamp (on one aluminum casting only) and then dipping the end which holds the mirror ball. Just after dipping, remove the masking tape before the plasti dip cures. I think that would probably work much better and I may try this if the coating I have now on the mirror balls wears off.

Its been a fun experiment, and I think I'm good to go for now. I'll just deal with the fact that fine tuning the mirrors for the street after riding the trails will take a bit more time.

Good try on the Plasti-dip Ghost.

One thought I might toss out for coating the aluminum clamp on the plastic ball side, try a layer of stick-on polyurethane film on one or both sides of the mirror clamp mount. That stuff is unbelievably tough and puncture resistant. I've used it in numerous places on bikes to protect wires and such from vibration and metal parts abrasion, and paint from rock chipping, etc.

The polyurethane film comes in various thicknesses and is the stuff they use for stick-on headlight protectors (thick), and often as paint protector layers on cars and bikes (thin). They usually come with a high heat acrylic adhesive on one side, trim with scissors, peel-n-stick. I think it would work well in this app since it will allow adjustment. I have some and will try it.

Some examples:

Google: 3M urethane film

http://www.xpel.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Xpel-R3022-Clear-Universal-Protection/dp/B003EP52BU

http://www.cleardefender.com/?gclid=CKC0qJX586sCFQl1gwodomhcJw

etc etc

Good idea...

Just a quick update to bump this thread back up to the top.

I rode my XR on a 70 MPH stretch of road today. Mirrors didn't move. That's with the dowels and the plasti dip.

Vibrations were killer though Perhaps I'll work on that next.

Went for a offroad ride this last weekend, the DT mirrors with short arm mod held up great to heavy duty bouncing a bumps, and great on fast smooth sections.



The left one folded in like it should when I tipped it over, and the right one didn't move.

Doesn't look like it's hit the website yet (hence no link) but congrats Ned on a favorable review in this months DR Tested in DirtRider Magazine!

Love my Double Takes!!!

Hope you are stocked up!!

Do you have a fitment for the single spark F650's.

I think the later bike used a M10 thread but my bike and the early bikes use M8.

I've looked but I don't see a M8 to 1 inch ram ball.

Is there anything????


Cheers,

You are correct- I've seen bikes with both threads, and don't feel knowledgeable to comment on which bike will have what.

Good news is, there are elegant parts available no matter the answer.

If your bike is an 8, I'd get these: RAM 367U

If a 10, validate whether they are 10 x 1.5 or 10 x 1.25 (seen both of these as well, BMW is many things but consistent about mirror sizing is not one of them). The standard thread you would get at the hardware store is 10 x 1.5, or just bring your mirror there and figure out the threads.

Sorry I'm not able to definitively answer, but the worst case scenario is answering incorrectly!