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chinese parts


Flagman

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Hello all

 

My mirrors on my 2004 R1150RT are shot and with a $319 new cost I have been looking for options. Has anyone tried the aftermarket mirrors sold on ebay and made in china. Being a beemer head and Zen and and the art of Motorcycle mechanic reader, I am more concerned with quality fit and finish. The ebay models are quaranteed to be the exact color. Do they fit well?

They are simply $125 per side vs. $319 per side.

 

thanks

 

mark

Flagstaff

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They are knock-offs. It appears that molds were taken of the OEM mirrors and copies made - they even have the BMW part markings on them. I would not buy them on general principal, but they should fit if the design theft was carried out with care.

 

Andy

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have you ever read zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance?

 

No, what does that tell me about second had mirrors?

 

Andy

 

It tells you that if you buy Chinese mirrors you'll only want to buy some more in a few weeks time. (Actually I have read it and in my opinion it is a load of pretentious twaddle).

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If I recall correctly, in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pursig tried to fix his friend's loose handlebars with a shim made out of a beer can, but his friend refused, saying that there was no way that he would allow Pursig to put a piece of beer can on his new BMW motorcycle because it shouldn't be defective in the first place.

 

I think that illustrates the point nicely. Spending more money is always an option. Me? I'd take a closer look at the knock-offs.

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That's the thing about mirrors.....always something to reflect on!
Its worth noting that Pursig's intellectual pursuit of his concept of Quality drove him to insanity. Maybe he was trying to reconcile Quality and Value. Do you always get what you pay for? Hmm...
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My mirrors on my 2004 R1150RT are shot and with a $319 new cost I have been looking for options.

Please define "shot". If "shot" is just the reflective coating deteriorating, you might want to consider Multivex mirrors. They are an aspheric design, and simply stick over the existing mirrors, while providing a broader field of view.

 

Multivex thread on bmwsporttouring.com: http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=633967&page=1

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mirror related-

My next door neighbor has a daughter that is 4 and she has one of those electric Barbie Jeeps. She pulls up to my house the other day and proclaims to us that we needed to look at her car. She is showing us the features of the car, the gas pedal, the seat belt, the steering wheel, and of course the "looker backer"

 

We almost died as she pointed to the rear view mirror and says "looker backer". Best mirror related name ever.

 

Flagman, since mirrors are usually plate glass and not tempered. You could cut out a piece of mirror from a home depot 12x12 mirror for $5.00 and silicone it to the existing mirrors and save yourself $245.00 + shipping for 45 minutes of work...I am on a tight budget and could use 250 bucks in alot better places.

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I tried the eBay Chinese knock offs, did not fit and seller won't refund money after he told me to return it, which I did and verified via FedEx tracking. I escalated to eBay.

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If it is just the glass you need, or just the base-frame with the spring clips, these are sold separately by BMW at a much lower cost than the whole unit.

 

Andy

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DFWBo, thats the info I was after. The mirror itself is fine, its the chipped and cracked moulding thats bad. On the right side, the interior black plastic moulding is also cracked. It doesnt sound like the chinese parts are worth it, if they dont fit, no need to buy; further supporting my belief in quality as read in the the zen and art book.

 

thanks for all of your help.

 

mark

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Flagman, since mirrors are usually plate glass and not tempered. You could cut out a piece of mirror from a home depot 12x12 mirror for $5.00 and silicone it to the existing mirrors and save yourself $245.00 + shipping for 45 minutes of work...I am on a tight budget and could use 250 bucks in alot better places.

My 1999 RT is currently partially disassembled for January maintenance, and looking edge on at the mirrors, to my surprise, I noticed they are slightly convex, so a piece of flat mirror glass is going to produce a significantly smaller field of view.

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The mirrors are definitely convex, the local glass shop refused to replace it as it's apparently against the law in TX to replace it with flat glass.

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Here's another option. The glass is fine in my mirrors but the outer housings are scratched up from a previous owners tipover. I also did not want to spend the money on a replacement so . . . .

 

I took them off and took them apart, used some epoxy bumper repair goop to fiill the sctatches, sanded carefully, masked off the part of the housing that wasn't damaged and then primed, painted and clearcoated the repaired area using a contrast paint since I knew I would never get a colour match. Some pinstripe tape along the edge and voila! No more scratches and a custom paint job to boot.

 

I carried the contrast down onto the fairing to make it look a bit more "on purpose".

 

I'm not finished with the pinstrip on the fairing yet but I think it will look pretty sharp if I do say so myself.

 

Of course the other mirror was paianted to match. Even if you don't have any primer paint or clearcoat in your shop the total cost for the repair is under $40.

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The mirrors are definitely convex, the local glass shop refused to replace it as it's apparently against the law in TX to replace it with flat glass.

 

Do you have Policeman in Texas that are that clued up that they would even think about looking at the curvature of a mirror!!

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Re: Zen and ... (Actually I have read it and in my opinion it is a load of pretentious twaddle)

 

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but I enjoyed reading this several times. Read it for yourself.

 

As for the mirrors - fine fit and finish. The adjust-ability is actually better than stock ... it takes a lighter touch to readjust them, but they hold position quite well. Tape on Multivex glass and the rear view is as good as it gets without adding GS mirrors.

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As for the mirrors - fine fit and finish.

 

Are you saying you have these Chinese mirror pods on your bike, or just after market reflectors?

 

Andy

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Both ... Multivex mirror glass mounts with double stick tape. I've had the multivex for 3 yrs, chinese mirrors for a year or so after having my parked RT blown over while atop Capulin volcano in NM. The housing was trashed but the multivex survived.

 

The view from the top was amazing and so was the wind.

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I ma in the very same position here. Last autumn my bike felt off the side stand and broke the glass on the L/H mirror.

 

Last Saturday I have ordered it from the dealer. It was eighter the dealer or motorworks, nut decided to go with the dealer since it was cheaper.

 

Dan.

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No, but we do have the inspection facilities for your annual tag that are....however I think the glass place was worried from a liability standpoint.

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I think it would be a liability for a shop to do it but not neccesarily illegal for you to repair your own mirror.

 

But now we know it is not the glass that is bad that is irrelevant. I doubt if you did a clean job that ANY inspector would notice the tiny convex missing.

 

As far as these other convex after market mirrors, are they DOT certified legal? I hate those convex "objects may appear closer" mirrors. They do provide a wider field of vision but at the expense of a realistic scale.

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Multivex are progressive in their curve ... to the rear, there is almost no distortion, but they do provide an expanded view to the adjacent lanes.

 

When I first installed them, I was not enthusiastic ... after a couple of rides, I really would not be without them. A great product IMHO

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Well we certainly don't use the term down here in Somerset!

Not familiar with it even further South either.

 

My money is on a tin of Mr Sheen with a fuse in it:

Clean, polish and obliterate as you dust with Mr Sheen!

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I have replaced the mirror inserts on my 99rt. The old mirror inserts pry off kind of hard, but if you order the bmw replacement inserts, you will see how they lock in. The job is easily done with a small screw driver, and you don't have to buy the whole mirror assembly. Got the mirrors with the bike from the PO. I think the bike was dropped by the previous previous owner though.

I liked Robert Persig's writing about the beer can for shims...the point I got from it, was that some need the part engineered for the purpose and will invest whatever money to get what has been engineered for the function, while others will seek out whatever form will fit the function. Both are valid, as an end result, but if you've got to have a roundel on your part, there's only one place to get it.

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A brief tip for R11xxRT owners: I had a parking lot tip last fall that resulted in the left mirror not attaching as firmly as it had previously. On disassembly, I noticed that the post that didn't seem to hold as well as the others was slightly tweaked, probably less than 1mm. The tip of the post accepts a hex wrench, and I found that rotating the post 90° restored the fit with the mirror assembly -- I happened to hit the sweet spot on the first try.

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