Dropped Bike / mirror issue

[tommymck]

I know....they say that there are those that have, and those that will. Having said that, I haven't dropped a bike since my YZ80 as a teenager in the late '70s. I'm a pilot too, and they say that there are those who have landed gear up, and those that will, but I've always rejected that line of thinking.

Well, today, with my brand spanking new CB1100EX, I dropped it. I have my "excuses". I was riding to work and the right side mirror was flopping lose in the breeze. Pulled over into a parking lot to sort it out and my normal procedure failed me. Unless I'm parking on a grade, I shift to neutral, put the kickstand down and wait to turn the bike off until I get off if it. For whatever reason (maybe because I was thinking too much about the mirror) I put the bike in neutral, got off, but didn't put the kick stand down. Sinking feeling.

Here's the good news though. It fell towards the left (port) side and landed on the oil cap. Not a scratch on the tail pipe, not a scratch on the tank, not a scratch on the bars. Notta. Just a very minor scratch on the oil cap. What a perfect excuse to get the vintage cap that's been advertised here on the forum. And in any case, 15 minutes of buffing would render it good-as-new. Really, I'm shocked at the fact that I dropped the bike and essentially no damage was done. Yeah, I was very stupid to do this. But what a great design that you can drop the thing and not sustain any real damage.

Couple of lessons for me. First, no matter how long I've been riding, a new bike throws me off of my normal routine. Gotta make sure I develop fail-safe procedures. For whatever reason, my BMW procedure fails me. Second is that when things go awry, that's the time to pay particular attention.

Now, on to the mirror. So, this was a bit of a mystery. When I took delivery of the bike, the mirror seemed fine. I rode it a couple of days and I didn't notice anything. But (and this was the right / starboard mirror), this morning it was completely lose, which I only noticed when on the road (it was flopping in the breeze). The mirror stalk counter-rotates to screw in as it turns out. After I dropped the bike, and after I figured out that it tightens with counter rotation, when I tightened it up, it was 180 degrees out of what it needed to be. The mating "nut" can be adjusted also, but it was loose for any configuration that had the stalk snugly mated. When I go to the office, I found a couple of washers that made the whole thing work out, but "stock", I don't see how you could ever adjust things to work out. Wondering if anybody else has had this problem.

At the end of the day, my bike still looks spiffy showroom new with just the most minor scratch to the oil cap. Gives me even more confidence in the bike....

 

[Offroad]

My 2014 mirrors became lose a couple of times....I even carry the correct size wrench in my bags in case it ever happens again.

 

[tommymck]

Yeah...that's the thing.... There wasn't a combination of wrenches that would have made it work out for me. There is a nut with an internal thread that mounts to the bar on the 2017. The mirror stalk threads into the internal nut thread (counter-rotating). But if you tighten the nut to the bar, and tighten the stalk into the nut, when all is done, the stalk snugs up in the wrong spot. The mirror is in the wrong position (towards the interior of the bike.) The only way for me to make it work our was to add a spacer between the stalk and the mating nut. Works fine that way, and there is a cover that cleans the look up... but the thread length / design seem wrong.

 

[Mandrau_imp]

Thanks for sharing what is a painful scenario for many of us. Glad it turned out alright and the bonus is that you have learned something. For this reason, I always put my bike in first before turning the ignition to off and kick the stand. Yes it may seem easier to use the kill switch or let the kickstand cut the engine but I have then forgotten that the ignition is still in the on position.

 

[Blockhead_imp]

Amazed that the only damage done was to the oil cap...that’s great news. Sorry to hear of your mishap. A while back I did the same thing as you, forgot to put the kickstand down, while parking the bike in my garage. However, the bike fell on me as I was taking off my helmet. No damage done other than to my pride, and a sore back.

 

[Houtman_imp]

Yeah...that's the thing.... There wasn't a combination of wrenches that would have made it work out for me. There is a nut with an internal thread that mounts to the bar on the 2017. The mirror stalk threads into the internal nut thread (counter-rotating). But if you tighten the nut to the bar, and tighten the stalk into the nut, when all is done, the stalk snugs up in the wrong spot. The mirror is in the wrong position (towards the interior of the bike.) The only way for me to make it work our was to add a spacer between the stalk and the mating nut. Works fine that way, and there is a cover that cleans the look up... but the thread length / design seem wrong.

I think that you might do it wrong , get the stalk into the right position and than tighten the lock nut. After this you can adjust the mirror part a little but hold the stalk , some times walking into the mirror in the garage can loosen it.

 

[Lord Popgun]

I’m confused. It fell to the left? The oil cap is on the right. How did it get damaged?

 

[Cormanus]

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.

 

[the Ferret]

are these different than the 2014s? I just took my mirrors off the other day to remove my handguards. All I used was one 14 mm wrench to remove and tighten. Back off the top lock (jam) nut, unscrew the mirror, screw the mirror back down to near bottom and rotate it to where you want it, then tighten the locknut (jam) down, You could use another 14mm to really jam the two nuts together, but I didn't have to. Final adjustment is tilting the mirror itself.

 

[Rocky_imp]

are these different than the 2014s? I just took my mirrors off the other day to remove my handguards. All I used was one 14 mm wrench to remove and tighten. Back off the top lock (jam) nut, unscrew the mirror, screw the mirror back down to near bottom and rotate it to where you want it, then tighten the locknut (jam) down, You could use another 14mm to really jam the two nuts together, but I didn't have to. Final adjustment is tilting the mirror itself.

That's the way mine work and how I do it.

 

[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...