I scored a pair of almost new Ducati Multistrada 1000 mirrors for cheap. I decided to try these mirrors on my Norge. Turned into a more complicated project than I thought.
These mirrors are much wider than the OEM’s. I’m a big guy so having mirrors that are almost 3” wider than OEM is a treat. Unusual, the heads of these mirrors don’t move--only the glass moves. And there are front turn signals built into the mirror head with wiring snaked down the middle of the stem tubes. One challenge, like most Ducatis and Yamahas, the right mirror is reverse-thread (left-hand thread) while the left mirror is standard thread. How to mount that right mirror on a Norge that has standard 10mm perch mounts?
First off, instead of turn signals, I wanted to use the mirror lights as running lights for improved conspicuity. I suspected the housings weren’t designed to handle the heat from an “always on” incandescent bulb-- I needed some nice bright LED bulbs. Not easy, since the OEM bulbs are an unusual size (7507’s with offset pins), but I ended up with a nice pair of amber SMD bulbs from eBay for $23 shipped.
Here you can see the SMD bulb next to the OEM bulb, then another pic of each bulb installed in the housing. The SMD’s fit just fine--
Next, I hooked up both mirrors to a battery to see how the SMD compared in brightness to the incandescent--
That’s the SMD on the left. It’s actually brighter! The incandescent bulb has a more even glow, but the SMD is brighter in the center.
Before tackling the left-thread problem, I discovered another problem. Posts in a Multistrada forum complain about these stems breaking right at the threads where the tube wall is thinnest. Not much I could do about this, but I packed the bottoms of the stems with JB Weld anyway. Once hard, I drilled a hole up the middle of the JB Weld just big enough to snake the wires through. Basically, I’m hoping the JB Weld will reinforce the inner walls of the tubing even if only a little.
The bottoms of the stems look like this--
First the upper locknut threads onto the stem. Then snake the wires through the stem, out the bottom, and through the middle nut. Then screw the middle nut onto the stem and position the wiring exit where you want it. Then lock the stem into place with the upper locknut. The 10mm mounting stud protrudes from the bottom of the middle nut. The lower locknut goes on this stud, then you screw the stud into your mount, position the mirror, then tighten the lower locknut.
The left-thread problem was resolved with some sweet little mirror risers I got from a British website Bitzforbikes. I bought two risers, both fit standard 10mm right-hand mirror mounts, but one accepts a reverse-thread mirror while the other accepts a standard thread. Cool! $24 shipped, and arrived here in 5 days. (I’ll paint these risers black when I get around to it.) Hats off to Paul Smeeton!
Then I decided I’d like it if the mirrors could be running lights AND turn signals. Bought a Signal Dynamics little black box called the TriStarXP from Pashnit.com that let’s me use the turn signal power leads as triggers for blinking the mirror lights. Mounted the TriStarXP under the gas tank then connected all the wiring. No LED “fast blinking” issues because my OEM turn signals are still part of the circuit and nominal resistance is retained.
Here’s the final result. Kinda hard to show old v. new but the first two pics give you an idea of how much taller and wider the new mirrors are than the OEM.
[youtube]9fG9IsjGy-4[/youtube]
(Sorry about this lousy video. You can't really see how bright they are. In daylight, they're visible. At night, they're REAL visible!)
The last question, then, has gotta be, “Yeah, but, how are they ON THE ROAD?”
Took them for a one hour shakedown today and my reply is absolutely fanfuckingtastic! With the OEM mirrors, the way they vibrate, a car is no more than a big blob. These mirrors were so steady, I could not only see the cars clearly, I could see the make and model. I kept looking and saying things like “there’s a Jeep” and “there’s a Subaru.” Changing lanes is so much easier! I have a metal plate in my neck so checking over my shoulder has never been easy. But on this ride I was changing lanes with complete confidence. Cool!
I like these mirrors so much I think I’m going to join a Multistrada forum just so I can cruise the “for sale” section for a back-up pair.
These mirrors are much wider than the OEM’s. I’m a big guy so having mirrors that are almost 3” wider than OEM is a treat. Unusual, the heads of these mirrors don’t move--only the glass moves. And there are front turn signals built into the mirror head with wiring snaked down the middle of the stem tubes. One challenge, like most Ducatis and Yamahas, the right mirror is reverse-thread (left-hand thread) while the left mirror is standard thread. How to mount that right mirror on a Norge that has standard 10mm perch mounts?
First off, instead of turn signals, I wanted to use the mirror lights as running lights for improved conspicuity. I suspected the housings weren’t designed to handle the heat from an “always on” incandescent bulb-- I needed some nice bright LED bulbs. Not easy, since the OEM bulbs are an unusual size (7507’s with offset pins), but I ended up with a nice pair of amber SMD bulbs from eBay for $23 shipped.
Here you can see the SMD bulb next to the OEM bulb, then another pic of each bulb installed in the housing. The SMD’s fit just fine--
Next, I hooked up both mirrors to a battery to see how the SMD compared in brightness to the incandescent--
That’s the SMD on the left. It’s actually brighter! The incandescent bulb has a more even glow, but the SMD is brighter in the center.
Before tackling the left-thread problem, I discovered another problem. Posts in a Multistrada forum complain about these stems breaking right at the threads where the tube wall is thinnest. Not much I could do about this, but I packed the bottoms of the stems with JB Weld anyway. Once hard, I drilled a hole up the middle of the JB Weld just big enough to snake the wires through. Basically, I’m hoping the JB Weld will reinforce the inner walls of the tubing even if only a little.
The bottoms of the stems look like this--
First the upper locknut threads onto the stem. Then snake the wires through the stem, out the bottom, and through the middle nut. Then screw the middle nut onto the stem and position the wiring exit where you want it. Then lock the stem into place with the upper locknut. The 10mm mounting stud protrudes from the bottom of the middle nut. The lower locknut goes on this stud, then you screw the stud into your mount, position the mirror, then tighten the lower locknut.
The left-thread problem was resolved with some sweet little mirror risers I got from a British website Bitzforbikes. I bought two risers, both fit standard 10mm right-hand mirror mounts, but one accepts a reverse-thread mirror while the other accepts a standard thread. Cool! $24 shipped, and arrived here in 5 days. (I’ll paint these risers black when I get around to it.) Hats off to Paul Smeeton!
Then I decided I’d like it if the mirrors could be running lights AND turn signals. Bought a Signal Dynamics little black box called the TriStarXP from Pashnit.com that let’s me use the turn signal power leads as triggers for blinking the mirror lights. Mounted the TriStarXP under the gas tank then connected all the wiring. No LED “fast blinking” issues because my OEM turn signals are still part of the circuit and nominal resistance is retained.
Here’s the final result. Kinda hard to show old v. new but the first two pics give you an idea of how much taller and wider the new mirrors are than the OEM.
[youtube]9fG9IsjGy-4[/youtube]
(Sorry about this lousy video. You can't really see how bright they are. In daylight, they're visible. At night, they're REAL visible!)
The last question, then, has gotta be, “Yeah, but, how are they ON THE ROAD?”
Took them for a one hour shakedown today and my reply is absolutely fanfuckingtastic! With the OEM mirrors, the way they vibrate, a car is no more than a big blob. These mirrors were so steady, I could not only see the cars clearly, I could see the make and model. I kept looking and saying things like “there’s a Jeep” and “there’s a Subaru.” Changing lanes is so much easier! I have a metal plate in my neck so checking over my shoulder has never been easy. But on this ride I was changing lanes with complete confidence. Cool!
I like these mirrors so much I think I’m going to join a Multistrada forum just so I can cruise the “for sale” section for a back-up pair.
