1972 BMW R75/5 w/ Halcyon 830 Mirrors
The mirrors that came with Die Hexe were tall, stalk
mirrors designed for the handlebars used in Europe. Interestingly
enough, however, these mirrors were mounted to the more ape-like
bars shiped for the US market. While "tall on tall" seemed to be
common at the time, I've always questioned this mod and the added
vibration, i assumed, such a combination would cause. By
replacing the US bars with
lower, european bars that are designed to work with these taller
mirrors, I had hoped to see a noticable reduction in mirror
vibration . While there was indeed a decrease, it wasn't all that
drastic. I can now see traffic behind me, but its consistently slightly
to really blurry.
To help address this issue (and in fact see whats behind me),
I've been thinking about aftermarket Halycron
830 bar-end mirrors as a means to improve things. Santa (via my
two children) gave me a very nice stocking stuffer this year and
presented me with a set. The following pictures provide a quick
snapshot of these in place. They are extremely well made, fold in
nicely and fit perfectly in 22mm bars.
My old rock-hard grips have been swapped out with BMW's sport grips
(BMW GRIPS #32721458395 & 32721458396) designed to work for their
newer bikes. I removed the plastic throttle insert and managed to
retro-fit this to the older bike with very little effort. Best $10
ebay deal I've found in a while.
A crazy weather pattern gave the midwest 60 degree temperatures the
end of January 2012. I took advantage of this to the extent possible
and went for a ride to finally test these mirrors out. In short, they
performed amazingly. No vibration and a clear view of whats behind
me.
The corbin seat .... eh... i like
less. Looks cool, but extremely hard on the arse. The seat itself
lowers the rider (compared to stock) when riding, but because of the
design requires the rider to stand up higher when at a stop. I need to
give this more time before coming to any conclusions, but my inital
ride was not all that exciting.
