Dropped Bike / mirror issue

[tommymck]

Thank you, popgun. That’s exactly the question I was going to ask. Unless somehow the post is written from the point of view of standing in front of the bike looking aft.

Oh, and how could the oil cap get damaged anyway? It’s way too out of the way.

OK...I'm an unreliable witness. It wasn't the oil cap. It was the piece on the left (port) side that says "Honda" on it. A bit of polish and you'd never know it happened.

With regards to the mirror, it definitely sounds different than the 2014's. The piece that screws into the handle bar is a bolt that is hollow and threaded on the inside. The threads on the outside of the bolt are what screws into the bar. There is indeed a nut threaded on the top side of that bolt, but it is fixed. You can't adjust it. You just use it to tighten the bolt into the bar.

The nut effectively sets how far into the handle bar the bolt goes, but you can't adjust that. You just tighten that until it is snug. The mirror stalk threads into the interior of the hollowed out bolt, but you counter rotate the stalk to thread it in. When completely tightened, the mirror stalk is in the wrong position (towards the interior of the bike.) It required a spacer to make it all work out. I'd be happy to see where I'm missing the boat, but I don't see how it's possible.

Anyway, the bike has been fantastic, I don't plan on dropping it anytime soon (on either side) and the mirror work-around seems to be working just fine. I can take some pictures if that would help explain things.

As a side note, I have modified my shutdown procedure as a result of all of this. I now turn the bike off by leaving it in gear and putting the kickstand down. That way, if the bike is off, the kickstand is down....

Great weather on the East Coast for riding the last few days....

[CBRider_imp]

Thank you, popgun. That’s exactly the question I was going to ask. Unless somehow the post is written from the point of view of standing in front of the bike looking aft.

Oh, and how could the oil cap get damaged anyway? It’s way too out of the way.

OK...I'm an unreliable witness. It wasn't the oil cap. It was the piece on the left (port) side that says "Honda" on it. A bit of polish and you'd never know it happened.

With regards to the mirror, it definitely sounds different than the 2014's. The piece that screws into the handle bar is a bolt that is hollow and threaded on the inside. The threads on the outside of the bolt are what screws into the bar. There is indeed a nut threaded on the top side of that bolt, but it is fixed. You can't adjust it. You just use it to tighten the bolt into the bar.

The nut effectively sets how far into the handle bar the bolt goes, but you can't adjust that. You just tighten that until it is snug. The mirror stalk threads into the interior of the hollowed out bolt, but you counter rotate the stalk to thread it in. When completely tightened, the mirror stalk is in the wrong position (towards the interior of the bike.) It required a spacer to make it all work out. I'd be happy to see where I'm missing the boat, but I don't see how it's possible.

Anyway, the bike has been fantastic, I don't plan on dropping it anytime soon (on either side) and the mirror work-around seems to be working just fine. I can take some pictures if that would help explain things.

As a side note, I have modified my shutdown procedure as a result of all of this. I now turn the bike off by leaving it in gear and putting the kickstand down. That way, if the bike is off, the kickstand is down....

Great weather on the East Coast for riding the last few days....

Sorry about your mishap. Sounds like no real harm done.

That top nut on the mirror is adjustable, if I remember correctly it has left-hand threads. You should not need a spacer to be able to snug anything down.

My 2017 mirror adjusts just like The Ferret said.

By the way, the mirrors are interchangeable. No right or left mirror, they will work on either side, you just rotate the body of the mirror around.

[Lord Popgun]

The parts fiche shows the same mirrow mounting setup for all years. I think he is just doing something wrong.

OTOH, I”m glad your crankcase cover was not damaged. Just for your info, the alternator rotor is behind that cover.

[tommymck]

The parts fiche shows the same mirrow mounting setup for all years. I think he is just doing something wrong.

OTOH, I”m glad your crankcase cover was not damaged. Just for your info, the alternator rotor is behind that cover.

Thanks pop... I probably am indeed doing something wrong. From what was described, it sounds like my mistake was that the nut on the stalk is also counter rotating. I was probably trying to loosen it up to back it off and I was actually tightening it. I'll try to sort it out tomorrow.

Thanks all for the advise.

[CBRider_imp]

It'll look like this when all snugged down...

[the Ferret]

Yep, that's what mine looks like and you only need to loosen the top nut. On one mirror it turn clockwise to loosen, the other side counter clockwise to loosen.

[tommymck]

That's what mine looks like also. Thanks for the pic! The issue on mine is that the nut on the stalk is backed off all the way to the top of the thread and won't turn. It's probably tight enough that it just didn't want to loosen up. I'll try a piece of cloth on the stalk with plyers as I try to back off the nut.....

[CBRider_imp]

That's what mine looks like also. Thanks for the pic! The issue on mine is that the nut on the stalk is backed off all the way to the top of the thread and won't turn. It's probably tight enough that it just didn't want to loosen up. I'll try a piece of cloth on the stalk with plyers as I try to back off the nut.....

Just make sure you are turning it the correct direction. I think that is a left hand thread, try turning it the opposite direction of the way you did when you couldn't loosen it. Pliers are a good way to scratch things up, even when using cloth.

[the Ferret]

ok just went out and checked.... 14 mm box end wrench (open end) on both mirrors.....lift rubber, turn jam nut (the top nut) clockwise to loosen...adjust mirror stem to where you want it and then hold stem and turn jam nut counter clockwise to tighten. Dooesn't have to be gorilla tight, just reasonably snug.

even though 1 mirror screws out and re installs in opposite direction. If jam nut is really tight, you may have put hold the bottom nut with another 14 mm box end wrench to break the top nut loose.

[tommymck]

Thanks feret,

I managed to sort it out. It turns out that the top nut was tightened all the way to the very top of the threads on the stalk. So hard that there didn't seem to be a way to loosen it (it wasn't even clear that it wasn't somehow welded in place.) Knowing that it was possible made all the difference. It's all adjusted perfectly now. Thanks for the help.

I also spent the time replacing the intake manifold on my R1200C. It's back on the road now also. First time I've ever had two bikes co-located at the same time. Having options is nice.

In any case, I'm still shocked at how well the bike took the drop...