Fairing Mounted Mirrors
by
Joe Camarda

Introduction:
For anyone interested in mounting the mirrors on the fairing I had a very clever plan.

I pulled the fairing/windscreen off the mounting bracket. I then measured the distance between the two holes in the bracket through which the screws attach the fairing. They measure 40 mm (center to center).

It just so happens that many Honda mirrors have the same mounting hole distance.

So my plan wa to use the Honda mirrors, drill through the fairing and use the fairing bracket as a built-in support for the mirrors!

FAR mirrors also offer some interesting options (cyccon.com) including mirrors with built in turn signals which would (should) mount as above. (editor:  see Jeff Gough's write up on the FAR mirrors HERE)

Miscellaneous notes:
The hardest part was the drilling through that first well-nut and knowing that the point of no-return had been crossed.

Also it should be noted that I have narrower Cycle Cat handlebars on my 620, so these mirrors offer a very good field of vision for my particular bike.

You will need mirrors with holes spaced 40 mm apart. Many Honda mirrors will work. I used mirrors from a 03 CBR954 Honda. The mirrors will need to have holes through which bolts can be "slipped". Mirrors with fixed bolts cannot be used.

And finally, a disclaimer: This procedure worked for me, but I cannot promise that it will work for you. You should proceed at your own risk. This procedure was performed on a MTS620.

Procedure:
Remove fairing and remove windscreen.

Drill through fairing at each well-nut. Drill from underside of fairing using a bit smaller than the well-nut so as to not damage the brass well-nut threads.

Now enlarge the holes using gloved hands and turning incrementally larger bits by hand, so as not to damage threads. Once the hole through the fairing is drilled out to just slightly smaller than the diameter of the threaded hole in the well-nut, turn fairing over and hand drill from the painted side using a gloved hand to enlarge the hole through the fairing to the same diameter as the threaded hole through the well-nut.

Using a 6mm bolt with the same (1.0) pitch as the shorter stock bolts run the bolt from underside through the well-nut and through the plastic fairing. Expect some resistance through the fairing as the bolt cuts a thread. The resistance should not be excessive, if it is, go back and use a slightly larger bit to enlarge the hole. You are only trying to continue the thread pattern through the plastic.

Repeat this process at all four well-nuts.

Now you're done with the drilling.

Place the mirror (ONE only at this point as the second mirror will need to be mounted once the fairing and one mirror is placed on the bike) with rubber spacers between the 2 mounting holes and the fairing. The 40mm Honda mirrors will align w/ the holes you've drilled through the well-nuts.

Note: Originally the bolts went from the underside up, the new bolts will be inserted downwards, through the mirror base, through the fairing plastic, through the well nut.

Using a 6 mm allen head, or button head bolt with the same thread pitch as the stock bolt (NOTE: THE BOLT THREADS NEED TO BE CONTINUOUS, NO SHOULDERED BOLTS) with a 1.0 pitch and (I think 30 or 35 mm long) bolt the mirror onto the fairing. The bolt will slip through the mirror's base, thread through the fairing and then through the well -nut and will protrude about an inch through the bottom of the well-nut. Snug it down, but don't over tighten it into the well-nut. Do not use any additional nuts as you are threading into and through the well- nut only.

Now place the fairing with the one mounted mirror back onto the bike. (Don't forget the rubber cushions between the bracket heads and the bottom of the fairing). The fairing and mirror should remain securely in place even though it is not yet secured. The 2 bolts will protrude through the bottom of the fairing bracket head on one side and the shape of the fairings bottom will hold it aligned with the bracket head on the other side.

Use a steel sleeve (.25 inch diameter I think) and slide it over the bolt bottom and into the recess on the bottom of the bracket head. Then use a nut to snug up the sleeve into the recess. Again, don't yet tighten everything too snugly.

Now mount the second mirror using the pre-drilled holes and repeating the process above, but with the fairing already on the bracket..

Note: The reason for mounting the mirrors separately is that with both mirrors mounted and the bolts protruding through the fairing on each side it will be necessary to flex the fairing to get the bolts through the fairing heads if both mirrors are initially mounted. The flex might be too much, or it might work for you. I didn't want to find out.

Now go back and snug everything down. Snug from the top (allen heads or button heads) first, but don't over tighten here as you're drawing the well nut up. After the top is snug, then snug up the bottom to draw the mirror and fairing down against the bracket head.

Overall measurements to help you get an idea of the mirror span:
tip to tip = 33.5 inches
center of right mirror to center of left mirror = 27.75 inches

Again, I want to emphasize that although my very limited experience has proven satisfactory to this point, I have assumed the risk of my fairing cracking due to stress induced by the "bolt-up" method described above.

This photo shows the mounting from the underside. The longer bolt is the front bolt. Note that the front bolt is recessed further into the fairing bracket head. This is the right side mirror.

This photo is also of the right side mirror. It is taken from the side (inside) with the windscreen removed.

Photos of the finished product:

 © 2006 WolfCentral Productions