The Versys Gen 1 mirrors...

I've a 2009 Kawasaki KLE650 Versys, known as a Gen 1 as it was the birth of the new model back in 2007, and they had a few bugs that needed to be ironed out, which included "loose mirrors". Which will become "useless" mirrors etc.

Note the missing left hand side mirror?

Some of the bugs really irked me. Such as loose mirrors. I suppose if you fell into that rider category of "Only rides from Church to Tim Horton's when the forest fire danger is 'high to extreme'." then you know nothing of my dilemma and wonder why I need to replace my mirrors on the bike. I fall into the "He probably shouldn't be doing that. He might fall down or damage the bike. Oh my! He did fall down and damage the bike!" category of rider.

After many gravel roads and potholes, wheelies etc, I found that my left hand mirror began to move more easily. I'd hit a really bad pothole, or come down too heavy on the front end, and it would swing around backwards at me. A casual glance at these mirrors leads you to think that they are really strong and robust...

That rubber covers a multitude of sins...

The mirror shaft is about 12mm in diameter, and uses a 10mm threaded bolt to mount to the handle bar brackets, yet the designers of this have cleverly camouflaged their mistakes under a couple of layers. 

First you will need to slide the rubber cover up to expose a curious sight, 

I bet you don't have a wrench this big in the set you bought on sale...

So why would you use a nut that ships with PRE-ROUNDED corners much larger than the average 17mm or 19mm wrench that ships with an average combination wrench set?! Right, so if you are like me, or my friend WIllie, out comes the trusty old adjustable wrench and you are able to find that in order to tighten the mirror, you need to separate these two. The Silver Cone (Part A) needs to be removed from the Black Base (Part B), then using a thin walled 10mm socket, you need to tighten a nylock nut on the end of the mirror that uses friction to hold the mirror in place. You do this by hand without the aid of a vice, and think you might want to use some of the blue medium strength thread locker on all the parts so you won't be back into this on Friday after work. Note that I would not be able to do this roadside with the stock kit as it lacks the tools necessary. 

2014 saw me tighten the mirror too much with the nylock nut, and I managed to snap off the end of the mirror, but by the grace of God there was enough thread left behind that I was able to reuse the nut with some washers, and get through the rest of the season.

Fast forward to 2015, and now the left hand mirror is wobbling when I'm on rough pavement, so I'm constantly correcting it before lane changes. I'm now much safer as any to the left has to be cleared with the mirror and a should check first, as the mirror is often no longer showing a view to the side and rear of the bike. A last ditch attempt to fill Part A (The Silver Cone of Concealment) with JB Weld epoxy, tighten the bugger and let that goop set for 24 hours, saw me once again snap the end of the mirror off, but this time it was done, and I rode the last couple of weeks of the season without a left hand mirror.

It's dead, Jim!

I happily forgot all about it until a few weeks ago when I took the bike out, after which this starving student ordered in the cheapest replacement pair I could find that would pass a vehicle inspection coming up in July when I renew the registration. China had the answer, and I got my package...

Julie Andrews and the Sound of Music - Brown paper packages tied up with string... These are a few of my favourite things...

Are you old enough to even remember that song? :D

 I was a bit nervous that the mirrors would mount properly as while I researched, I heard mention of left and right handed threads etc., but I'm happy to report on my Generation 1 Versys, the thread is 10mm on both sides, and the normal right handed thread we all know and love. Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey.

They aren't made of cheese, but they are pretty cheesy. 

 These mirrors are made of cast white metal, and frankly I don't think they will last more than a couple of years, but for $37 Cdn shipped, I can live with that. I want something functional that will pass an MVI later this year.

I still can't believe how robust the upper is compared to the final 8mm connection.

Who came up with this and couldn't see a problem developing later on?

Not perfect, but they work.

Job done, time to blog, err, Ride!

And that is that, although I do have a couple of suggestions for the designers...

• If you have a 12mm shaft, try to stick to within a couple mm of the connecting bolt. Just saying.
• Nylock nuts on a mirror? Come on. If you can't even touch that the nut with the bike onboard tools, then it needs to be rethought. 
• Next time I'd rather you focus on vibration damping if you are going to invent something fancy and useless
• Run any designs past your old man first and get his go-ahead before sneaking them onto  the completed project. If you cannot find an old man, one will be provided for you. 

I'll come back and update this if they survive... :D

Update: 2016-04-22

 The mirrors are pointing at the ground and have horrible vertical adjustment. I'm going to have to rotate the mount on the bars in order to get a better view of the road behind. That may effect the attitude of the brake and clutch levers. Perhaps I'll simply loosen the handle bar and rotate that until fixed? 

Update 2022-04-19:

As bad as they are, these thirty seven dollar mirrors are still in one piece and working. One vibrates and buzzes once in a while like an angry bee until I reach over and jab it into silence with my thumb. More powder coat paint has flecked off, but they are working, and I've no plans to replace them until they fail. :)