Sports: Re: [DucatiST] 1st Ride '07 ST3s

If y'all only knew how much money I have spent on mirrors for my three Ducs! They'll look right in the pics but in real life...ugh. The best ones I have are on my stock '03 ST4$. the outer edge of the mirror is slightly bent outward to give a better close up in your bling spot view. On my '96 900SS/CR, I put some rectangular after market mirrors on the inside edge of the stock mirror and had a good blind spot view. On my '01 996 Superbike, I bought some after market dedicated to the Superbike mirrors and they work...almost but better than the originals. The ones I thought I was buying were on a long stem that was articulated at the base and at the mirror nacelle for some good adjustments but they were sold out and not available anymore...drat!

The big thing that i have done on the bike I can, is to make the mirror stick straight out horizontally so it is as far out as it can be. Helps...some!

Good luck on your new toy!

Oh one rant...I see people securing a bike with just two tie downs and letting the loose ends flop around in the breeze. They don't respect their bikes or they have more money than brains. I always have four tie downs on a bike, front and rear, so that the only way a bike can get loose is for two tie down to give up on the same side. I also take a halh hitch and slide it under the edge of the cam lock as added insurance if the cam action should ever give way, then tie the loose end so that it can't come loose and be lost along the road.

I flipped a three bike trailer once with two bikes on it. It landed on it's side. All I had to do is pull it back down and it was ready to go. the Norton Commando with a Windjammer fairing nor the Triumph Bonnieville wewre hurt at all. I was picking up and olde BSA 500cc single at the time and it was to be loaded on the spare rail on the out side edge.

From: Jan Wysocki <st@tarasowka.org>
To: "st2_owners@yahoogroups.com" <st2_owners@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, April 14, 2013 5:10:06 PM
Subject: Re: [DucatiST] 1st Ride '07 ST3s

Hey BRG (British Racing Green?? Ducati???),
mirrors can be improved.

You can get spacers* that sit under the base of the mirror stalk, to move
the mirrors out about an inch, or as others have suggested, you could
use bar end mirrors. Whether half an inch helps, is probably down to
the width of your shoulders and exactly which jacket you wear. When I
bought my ST, one of the stalks broke off a couple of weeks before I was
due to ride to Barclona. With no time to order a new mirror, I found
a company selling Rizoma bar end mirrors, got them delivered in time to
find that flat bar end mirrors don't have a wide enough view. Luckily I
still had enough time to return them for replacements with convex mirrors,
which gave me an excellent rear view on my trip. However, once I got a
replacement Ducati mirror I ditched the bar ends. The problem with
bar end mirrors is that although they give a better rear view, it's at
the expense of extra time needed to glance down before looking back up
at the road ahead. (I love the mirrors on my Monster that are almost
level with the horizon.)

* I bought a pair off eBay a couple of years ago, but haven't got 'round
to trying them out, yet.

<RANT>
Why can't we buy a robust, high quality rear view system based on a
video camera and flat video display? It's the 21st century! Why aren't
motorcycle manufacturers fitting these as standard and why are there
no credible aftermarket kits? After all, it's not just Ducati that
lets you view your arms in the mirrors. From what I hear most sports
bikes give you a worse rear view than an ST does. You may also discuss
the lack of heated and scratchproof motorcycle helmet visors, properly
waterproof riding gear and all the other deficiencies that annoy you:)
</RANT>

--
--
Jan
On the road:'03 ST4s ABS (37,000 miles since April 2010)
'99 M900 (85,000 miles since new)
Languishing: 'Guzzi V50 III & that legend of unreliability: a Lario!
Norwich, UK