First, I must admit that I am cheap (have more time than money) and I like to poke around ideas building something from scraps or easily accessible parts. I don't have welding machine, bench press, etc. Just few hand tools.
I found that my ST-1300 is not throwing out decent beams after dark no matter how I adjusted the headlights. As I am getting older (now 57), I see much less distance at night. So I browsed few articles on this forum for Aux/Driving Light Installations. It appears that there are not much choices except MCL mount for under mirror installation and some custom made brackets. Fork and over-mirror mounts were not for me.
After I reviewed inside the mirror housing carefully and decided to venture out my way of constructing one.
After browsing few isles at a local Home Depot, these are what I ended up .
- Two L bracket (3 in long and 1 1/4 in wide and 1/8 in thick) ($2.99) There are 7/8 in wide brackets also available but the material is a bit thinner than 1 1/4 in wide ones.
- 1/4 in Cable Ferrule ($1.99). I used the 11/16 in long aluminum stoppers in the package as the spacers between mounting hole and the bracket. You can find this at the section where they sell wire cables.
Two M6 (1.0 pitch)- 45mm socket head bolt ($1.20) 40mm long bolts can also work.
Note that I needed to grind out a little bit on the left side of bolt hole. This is because the mirror mounting frame around the bolt hole got in the way.
You need to file out a notch to make the plate flush fit. Actually this notch provides unexpected beneficial effect because it creates some support so that the mount does not rotate around the mounting bolt. I also filed out the mounting bolt hole a bit lower so that the upper end of the plate flush with the bottom of metal mirror mounting bracket. I used angle grinder to cut out the notch but you can use a round chain saw sharpening file. I used the round file to make the mounting holes in the bracket to accommodate larger bolts.
The surface of the mounting hole and upper fairing of the bike is curved so that the bracket is not touching the bottom of mirror housing flat.
So I twisted the upper end of the bracket a bit to make the bottom section touches the fairing flat. I mounted the bracket on a bench-top vise and used pipe wrench to bend the plate a bit. You just need to bend about 1/8 inch or so. Make sure you bend the plate in the right angle. I did it opposite direction at the first try and needed to do it again. See the first picture to see how much I needed to bend the bracket to fit flush on the wall.
CAUTION: You may need to try few times to bend the bracket. However, when you place the bracket on the surface of the fairing, DO NOT tighten mounting bolts. After I bolted in/bolted out few times to check whether it flushes with the fairing surface, I stripped the bolt threads in the mirror mounting side. So for this one, I used a bit longer bolt (50mm) and used lock nut on the other end to tighten up.
After I put them together on the mirror mount.
I needed to file out the bottom of mirror housing using a flat file and Dremel tools. No big deal. Very minimal cut-out.
To power the light, I tapped into low-beam headlight hot wire for triggering relay circuit and pulled a fresh new 14 AWG wire directly from the battery for power the lights. That way the driving lights turn off when I switched the key off. It was pain to open up various covers to reach inside of upper cowel for wiring but it was very rewarding work.
This is how it look after the installation. I am using ADV Mondo light which is very light weight and throw out decent focused beams at night. It serves as daylight visibility light and driving light in peach dark roads. Under $10 and some elbow grease, my night rides got some relief.
I found that my ST-1300 is not throwing out decent beams after dark no matter how I adjusted the headlights. As I am getting older (now 57), I see much less distance at night. So I browsed few articles on this forum for Aux/Driving Light Installations. It appears that there are not much choices except MCL mount for under mirror installation and some custom made brackets. Fork and over-mirror mounts were not for me.
After I reviewed inside the mirror housing carefully and decided to venture out my way of constructing one.
After browsing few isles at a local Home Depot, these are what I ended up .
- Two L bracket (3 in long and 1 1/4 in wide and 1/8 in thick) ($2.99) There are 7/8 in wide brackets also available but the material is a bit thinner than 1 1/4 in wide ones.
- 1/4 in Cable Ferrule ($1.99). I used the 11/16 in long aluminum stoppers in the package as the spacers between mounting hole and the bracket. You can find this at the section where they sell wire cables.
Two M6 (1.0 pitch)- 45mm socket head bolt ($1.20) 40mm long bolts can also work.
Note that I needed to grind out a little bit on the left side of bolt hole. This is because the mirror mounting frame around the bolt hole got in the way.
You need to file out a notch to make the plate flush fit. Actually this notch provides unexpected beneficial effect because it creates some support so that the mount does not rotate around the mounting bolt. I also filed out the mounting bolt hole a bit lower so that the upper end of the plate flush with the bottom of metal mirror mounting bracket. I used angle grinder to cut out the notch but you can use a round chain saw sharpening file. I used the round file to make the mounting holes in the bracket to accommodate larger bolts.
The surface of the mounting hole and upper fairing of the bike is curved so that the bracket is not touching the bottom of mirror housing flat.
So I twisted the upper end of the bracket a bit to make the bottom section touches the fairing flat. I mounted the bracket on a bench-top vise and used pipe wrench to bend the plate a bit. You just need to bend about 1/8 inch or so. Make sure you bend the plate in the right angle. I did it opposite direction at the first try and needed to do it again. See the first picture to see how much I needed to bend the bracket to fit flush on the wall.
CAUTION: You may need to try few times to bend the bracket. However, when you place the bracket on the surface of the fairing, DO NOT tighten mounting bolts. After I bolted in/bolted out few times to check whether it flushes with the fairing surface, I stripped the bolt threads in the mirror mounting side. So for this one, I used a bit longer bolt (50mm) and used lock nut on the other end to tighten up.
After I put them together on the mirror mount.
I needed to file out the bottom of mirror housing using a flat file and Dremel tools. No big deal. Very minimal cut-out.
To power the light, I tapped into low-beam headlight hot wire for triggering relay circuit and pulled a fresh new 14 AWG wire directly from the battery for power the lights. That way the driving lights turn off when I switched the key off. It was pain to open up various covers to reach inside of upper cowel for wiring but it was very rewarding work.
This is how it look after the installation. I am using ADV Mondo light which is very light weight and throw out decent focused beams at night. It serves as daylight visibility light and driving light in peach dark roads. Under $10 and some elbow grease, my night rides got some relief.
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