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Gsxr Mirrors On 6th Gen


Darth Bling

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There's another fellow on here who was working on a set of 8th Gen mirrors. I'm not sure where he ever finished. Just about all the OE mirrors with integrated signals have a horizontal-ish base mount - whereas the VFR uses a nearly vertical base. So, most (all?) will require some sort of adapter base. I suspect the GSXR mirror was originally selected because there were umpteen million GSXRs produced with many available used. Plus, the mirror was actually quite large by sport bike standards and didn't vibrate to holy hell.

The base could definitely be simplified considerably if the svelte form factor of the original weren't a hard requirement. Heck, a piece of bent angle could do the trick if we didn't care about the aesthetics.

When I first offered my services to Greg, the tacit understanding was that the original design was to be improved and reverse engineered to make more. A clean sheet design to reduce cost was never specifically discussed. While I think the original design looks great (what I posted a few weeks ago), I personally wouldn't have designed a mount like that if I were going to produce a set just for myself...just from a manufacturability standpoint. I would have foregone the fancy contours and used a piece of bent sheet metal.

Of those who are interested, what's the general consensus on an upper price threshold? That conversation should probably happen (again) before we continue down this path and end up with a $1XX kit.

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Soooooooo, for argument's sake, is there another mirror brand and or design that might require a less complicated adapter base??? Would anyone have a suggestion about this? How about the new 8th gen? Just trying to look at it from a different angle...

C

I was able to fit up my GSXR mirrors on my Gen 5.5 with a Ninja ZX6R base (not sure of the year). It was a PITA but worked in the end. Not as clean as what Greg and co. are going for here. So I am patiently waiting for the mount for my 6th gen with another set of GSXR mirrors in the box.

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[...]Of those who are interested, what's the general consensus on an upper price threshold? That conversation should probably happen (again) before we continue down this path and end up with a $1XX kit.

Something in the order of $80/pair maybe? I'm Canadian and need to add 40% to that :-(

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I have these mirrors/mounts from the origianl buy on my bike. I get a lot of questions (or used to) via my site on where to buy them as the mirrors were visible in the HID Headlight video for the HID kit that I no longer sell (thus the questions stopped). I never had an issue with them breaking, even on a tip over (two of them). I did have a problem where I wished the angle was better...I am only 5'8" and I couldn't quite get them adjusted low enough. I am not sure if this has been addressed but I am guessing not? If one is needed for measuring/replicating let me know...I am not currently riding my bike so I could loan it out for a couple weeks (I would need it back, need to have mirrors!). Let me know, I would love to see these made again! I think printing them would work as long as there were seen as failure parts in the event of a crash...the rest of the bike is plastic, no reason the mounts couldn't be.

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Thanks Tightwad. Interesting suggestion. Would it be doable to print let's say 3-5 pairs each in case of tip overs and how much would that be??? Just trying to look at all options people. Don't mean to undermine the excellent work that has been done so far...

C

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Thanks Tightwad. Interesting suggestion. Would it be doable to print let's say 3-5 pairs each in case of tip overs and how much would that be??? Just trying to look at all options people. Don't mean to undermine the excellent work that has been done so far...

C

I don't know a ton about the options for printing. I do know that a local place offers rental of their machine by the hour. My library does it based on the weight (free use of machine, just pay for materials). I have no experience with printing from a cad file...I gather it's fairly easy however.

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There are some great options out there for printing in plastics and metal. Metal would be the right solution, but it's pricey. Using the model I posted above goes for about $125 in stainless steel and about $180 in aluminum...that's each side, so double for a pair.

Plastic would be much cheaper, but the issue is that the plastic structure wouldn't be ideal for use as a weight bearing part without some modifications. First, plastic will creep over time...I.e, it won't remain dimensionally stable and the bolts will loosen over time. A metallic spacer would be needed so the plastic isn't compressed under the mounting bolts. Also, a threaded insert would be required for the main bolt...the plastic wouldn't be strong/durable enough to retain the bolt torque. These features are easy to incorporate into an injection molded part because the spacers and inserts are permanently locked in place during the mold process...but molded parts like these require custom machined molds that can cost upwards of $10,000. That's only an option for the OEM who makes thousands of these.

Back to the earlier question about cost. $80 may be manageable, but it'll be tight. As I mentioned earlier, this part will be fully CNC'd, which requires labor in programming and set up (the time required to manually fixture the parts on the machine). Depending on the shop's overhead, you could be looking at $100-$200/hr in labor. So, it's critical to minimize the number of times an operator needs to physically interface with the part and machine. Of course, the shop charges for machine run time, too. The more machining required, the more time required.

Adding in a custom bolt, there is more time. There is also anodize, which typically incures a lot charge. The more you plate, the cheaper the ammortized cost becomes.

Sorry if this sounds like a ramble, but I'm trying to shed light on where some of these costs go. Our biggest hurdle is the low volume. In the production world, we're barely breaking out of prototype quantities here.

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Thank you for clarifying for ignorants like me. This is complicated process.

$80 would be great --as it was said, Canadian funds is 40% more plus shipping.

I hope it works out.

C

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Mike aka Mellow Dude from the famous world class Mellow Dude's Garage has offered to talk to his CNC guy to see if he can produce these.


Hell yeah, I'll take the drawings, a math model even better. I'll get a quote from my CNC guy.....

Its up to you guys but I can say from Mike's PAIR plates, front fender mounts and reg/ rectifier relocation adapters he makes some very nice stuff for VFR owners.

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Some of you may want to look to the great white north ,your 70 cents will buy a canuck dollar which makes some of the machine work cheaper.

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Let us get CAD-worthy drawings completed and we'll get back to you, how's that?

Thanks Greg, send them over to Mike @ Mellow Dudes Garage. Hopefully his CNC guy is cheaper to work with!

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  • 4 weeks later...

At our last count, with our small numbers of folks who want them, we were @ $160 USD just for the mounts, not including shipping and the drilled bolts, I believe.

Jump in and correct me if I am wrong, but $175-ish/set out the door USD for the mounts is still too steep in my mind. Am I wrong here?

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Greg

I would be happy to pay up to $150 for a set. Hopefully once you get a good set of CAD drawings, a check on costs in other parts of the world could drop the price. Let me know when you have the CAD files sorted as I could see if there are any firms in Sydney that can do the work and provide a quote.

Regards

Jim

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  • 2 weeks later...

Latest/last update on this.

OK folks. Decision time.

I got a new CAD file from a LM here. Shopped it around. Came up more expensive than the original file.

I sent it to 2 other LM's who requested it to try their local machine shops.

1 came back with yet another higher quote than my original, and one came back with a "not interested at such low quantities" response.

My suggestion is to go with my first, original design quote with a few caveats for you who are interested still.

If we JUST got the mounts alone, anodized, and I pick them up, with lovely CA state tax they came to $126.44 for a set of two. Let's call it $130 USD even to make it easy.

At that time, I would still need to buy the two bolts (one per mount) and pay to have them drilled. I rolled that cost, plus the US shipping, into my original quote of $160-ish.

So, I propose that we get these made, and then reassess/add in the bolts and drilling. I'm guessing that all of you would NOT want to source the bolts and drill them yourself, am I right? If I was buying these I'd prefer a full set in the mail. The bolt quantity was too small to order a full box (only 24 needed).

After we got these made I'd still need to get funds from each of you for the bolts and drilling at a machine shop, and the shipping. The shipping I can then do on a case-by-case basis maybe since some of you are outside the US?

Right now, at our latest count, we had 12 people interested. I'm betting in order for those numbers to stay the same we'd need to keep those 12, and maybe even add a few more?

Keep in mind, we MAY potentially get right back up to the $150/$160 USD area once all is said and done with these once I add in the bolts/drilling/shipping, so keep that in mind. I *think* the price I originally got for the drilling was something like $6/$7 USD each bolt, and the bolts cost $5 a pair or so.

Either way, this will be the last time that I'll run this around the park. I've spent a good deal of time on it and the numbers seem to stay in the same ballpark, or worse.

Let me know what you think. As of the last count we had, our 12 buyers were:

post-8118-0-07018300-1458749032.jpg

Edited by wgregt
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I already have a great set of lit mirrors , but in the interest of maybe helping my fellow members add my name in as well,never hurts to have extra pair anyways.

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Wgregt, Have you looked into McMaster-Carr or other hardware store for those bolts? I believe these are something you can obtain off the shelf.

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Wgregt, Have you looked into McMaster-Carr or other hardware store for those bolts? I believe these are something you can obtain off the shelf.

I have. That's where I was getting them from. Depends on the final length we need, but they had all the sizes I needed.

I already have a great set of lit mirrors , but in the interest of maybe helping my fellow members add my name in as well,never hurts to have extra pair anyways.

You do? Care to fill us in how you did the mod?

I'll add you in. 13 it is!

1) wgregt

2) Switchblade

3) DeltaboxiI

4) Deltaboxil 2nd set

5) Marooncobra

6) Polarbear

7) highsideNZ

8) Mk3dub

9) digitallyhip

10) Lacy/VFR800R

11 )Badelman

12) VFRpwr

13) UltimateVFR

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Greg

I still want a set and I am happy for paying up front so you are not out of pocket via PayPal. If you can source the bolts and drill that would be good, but if too difficult or the majority decide to go without bolts I can source from here in sunny down under

Again, outstanding work on seeing this through.

Regards

Edited by Marooncobra
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