OP
OP
My wire clips don’t even snap together anymore. They just push together.
the cool thing is that I got the cowl home and plugged it in. Still works!!
Honda baby!
What does an upper cowl look like after breaking the tether at 100mph???
- Thread starter BeChiller
- Start date
the cool thing is that I got the cowl home and plugged it in. Still works!!
Honda baby!
ST Gui
240Robert
I line the two two studs up and give a rap to the upper outside edge of the cover. That always seats the top two and very often the bottom one as well. And if it doesn't a second rap at the middle outside edge does the trick. I think the key is making sure the top two studs are exactly centered in the opening of the clips.
OP
OP
Right, next prob. I unscrewed the top clip and the bolt, or whatever it is, behind fell and is forever gone. What to do?
Sadlsor
Site Supporter
Well, better never than late, right? Or something like that.
If you rode off into the night sky, no telling where that missing piece is that fell behind the fairing. But if it's been parked all this long time, strip off the right side plastics. Gotta be there somewhere.
Unless you vacuumed your garage since then.
What are these circular clips mentioned herein? Are you talking about just a couple extra zip ties to back up the keeper cord to the mirror housing?
Not familiar with the circular clip... but I know about circular references.
If you rode off into the night sky, no telling where that missing piece is that fell behind the fairing. But if it's been parked all this long time, strip off the right side plastics. Gotta be there somewhere.
Unless you vacuumed your garage since then.
What are these circular clips mentioned herein? Are you talking about just a couple extra zip ties to back up the keeper cord to the mirror housing?
Not familiar with the circular clip... but I know about circular references.
Kevcules
Site Supporter
I think they are talking about the circular clips which hold the mirror assembly in place. If you pop off your mirror assembly, you will see round mounting tabs/studs on it and then you line those up with the 4 tab clips (which form a circle) on the bike. Once you line them up, a quick tap on the mirror housing puts it back in place.
Sadlsor
Site Supporter
Thanks for that. I *do* know about those puppies, just never heard that terminology.
And the "buttons" have round-ish heads... now it makes sense.
And the "buttons" have round-ish heads... now it makes sense.
That blue housing,,, sitting on a Corbin,,, could be mine if I did not know better. I lost my mirror cover at at about 90kph a couple of season ago,,, and while it did not have as many scratches,, I am still using it. It also broke the tether,,, right down at the mounting screw. Since then,,, I have used a couple of small pieces of clear "helicopter tape" as cheap insurance against a repeat episode. Clear Gorilla tape,, cut off the roll,, about 3/4" wide x 1.5" long, will do. When mine came off,, along a country road,,, it took me 30 minutes to find it in the long ditch grass,,,, you were lucky, as was I,,,, CAt'
Nah,, The mirror is still there, and I was in dim light at the time. I actually thought I had been hit by a bird. And if you have any speed on,,, you will cover a fair bit of ground before you can stop and then locate the rough area where it might have landed (on either side of the road),,, CAt'
ST Gui
240Robert
The circular clip is the spring clip that goes around The Four Tabs (loved that group back in the '70s) and is responsible for them closing around the stud once snapped into place.
Bmacleod
Site Supporter
Also, dont be surprised when you see that only the top 2 "mirror setting springs" have the "tube clips" around them. I noticed one day that only my top ones had the clips and had figured that I had lost the bottom clips, but looking at a parts fiche/diagram, it only shows 4 required of the 6 springs present. My thought is that because the weight of the part is "pulling down", they are not necessary on the bottom. It also makes me wonder if Honda realized later that the springs weren't capable of holding the covers on their own and added the tube clips to the top.
I go to partzilla (I have embedded the link to 2004 upper cowl) or some other online motorcycle parts and look up the motocycle and they will have the blowup of the upper cowl, a list of all the parts for the clips, bolts and housing. I lost my clips and was able to order the mirror cover and clips from them.
Good luck and 100 MPH you would never catch me going that speed.
Cheers,
Craig
OP
OP
That speed is hypothetical!!I go to partzilla (I have embedded the link to 2004 upper cowl) or some other online motorcycle parts and look up the motocycle and they will have the blowup of the upper cowl, a list of all the parts for the clips, bolts and housing. I lost my clips and was able to order the mirror cover and clips from them.
Good luck and 100 MPH you would never catch me going that speed.
Cheers,
Craig
Probably why Yamaha don't put plastic thingies in front of their mirrors. Everyone know a Tracer won't go that fast. OMG! The St1300 is rumored to go 100 in third gear, but I never tried to go that scary speed, before I bought my slower Tracer.
Whooshka
Fairly faST old guy
I have12 inch, steel fishing leaders on mine. They're not going anywhere.
jfheath
John Heath
I have seen that tether fastened in two ways - different for each of my brand new ST1300s. One looped around the 'keyhole' in a tight closed loop, the other end screwed into the mirror housing. So you have to unscrew the tether in order to remove it from the bike.
The second is screwed in the dame way, the other end of the tether slots vertically into the keyhole with the the fat 'ratchet' end of the tether preventing it from coming out. But in fact, it does work its way out when riding and I found that every time I took the housing off, the tether wasn't secured.
Over time, the tether splits at the screw hole anyway.
I use the original tether - which on my bike is a re-usable cable tie - to link the bike and the mirror housing together. It just needs something to thread the tether through. So I made two loops with 2 sturdy permanent cable ties.
One tie is threaded through the hollow vertical hinge on which the mirror bracket will pivot. Looped round and closed so that there is slack in the cable tie.
The other tie is threaded behind one of the three mounting posts that holds the indicator lens in position. You have to remove the screw and slacken the others in order to get the cable tie behind, and then tighten them up again. This too forms an open loop.
The original re-usable tie which forms the middle link in the chain allows the mirror to be detached easily.
Someone commented that this creates a system with three possible points of failure, but it is far superior to the original system which in my experience fails every time that it has been needed.
As for the retaining clips - the circular springs may occasionally need to be reformed. Take the clips off, remove the circular spring and re-shape it around a suitably sized shaft - eg a drill bit, and put it back together again. The idea is that the circular spring should be required to open in order to let the 4 tabs to allow the male part of the fitting to be inserted. When at rest, the spring should be a close, but loose fit around the waist of the 4 tabs.
Edit
There's a techinique for rejuvinating a spring. You would need to look it up.
Something along the lines of -
Heat it to cherry red, let it cool.
Then heat it to get a blue tinge and quench it in water.
Please someone that knows about this - correct me - it is bound to be wrong or incomplete. I am dragging this up from my metalwork lessons when I was 15. I failed my metalwork exam.
The second is screwed in the dame way, the other end of the tether slots vertically into the keyhole with the the fat 'ratchet' end of the tether preventing it from coming out. But in fact, it does work its way out when riding and I found that every time I took the housing off, the tether wasn't secured.
Over time, the tether splits at the screw hole anyway.
I use the original tether - which on my bike is a re-usable cable tie - to link the bike and the mirror housing together. It just needs something to thread the tether through. So I made two loops with 2 sturdy permanent cable ties.
One tie is threaded through the hollow vertical hinge on which the mirror bracket will pivot. Looped round and closed so that there is slack in the cable tie.
The other tie is threaded behind one of the three mounting posts that holds the indicator lens in position. You have to remove the screw and slacken the others in order to get the cable tie behind, and then tighten them up again. This too forms an open loop.
The original re-usable tie which forms the middle link in the chain allows the mirror to be detached easily.
Someone commented that this creates a system with three possible points of failure, but it is far superior to the original system which in my experience fails every time that it has been needed.
As for the retaining clips - the circular springs may occasionally need to be reformed. Take the clips off, remove the circular spring and re-shape it around a suitably sized shaft - eg a drill bit, and put it back together again. The idea is that the circular spring should be required to open in order to let the 4 tabs to allow the male part of the fitting to be inserted. When at rest, the spring should be a close, but loose fit around the waist of the 4 tabs.
Edit
There's a techinique for rejuvinating a spring. You would need to look it up.
Something along the lines of -
Heat it to cherry red, let it cool.
Then heat it to get a blue tinge and quench it in water.
Please someone that knows about this - correct me - it is bound to be wrong or incomplete. I am dragging this up from my metalwork lessons when I was 15. I failed my metalwork exam.
Last edited:
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
One of the design flaws of the mirror housing set-up is that the tether can quite easily work loose at the bike side because the slot and the tether are both vertical. There is nothing to keep the tether from migrating up out of the slot and in to the large hole above it. Once the tether has migrated up in to the hole, there is nothing to prevent it from pulling through the hole and leaving the mirror untethered.
Below is my simple solution for preventing the original Honda mirror tether from detaching from the bike. I simply made another slot in the plastic at the bottom of the original slot. The additional slot is horizontal. I routed the tether in from behind. The slot is only as big as the tether so that it can not rotate to the vertical position and migrate upward as it could before. I then routed the mirror light wiring through the hole to take up the free space as added insurance to keep it down and therefore in the horizontal position so it can not migrate loose.
Attached are pictures.
Below is my simple solution for preventing the original Honda mirror tether from detaching from the bike. I simply made another slot in the plastic at the bottom of the original slot. The additional slot is horizontal. I routed the tether in from behind. The slot is only as big as the tether so that it can not rotate to the vertical position and migrate upward as it could before. I then routed the mirror light wiring through the hole to take up the free space as added insurance to keep it down and therefore in the horizontal position so it can not migrate loose.
Attached are pictures.
Attachments
Sadlsor
Site Supporter
Perfect!
While I have not yet had the good fortune (?) of losing my mirror, the first time I was in there, I noted to myself, "That is a poor execution of a good idea."
While I have not yet had the good fortune (?) of losing my mirror, the first time I was in there, I noted to myself, "That is a poor execution of a good idea."
I've only had one instance where a mirror housing has detached from the bike while in motion. A few years ago I hit a large pothole just as I was slowing for a stop sign. The jarring was so abrupt that the right side housing detached. I didn't notice it right away, but after pulling into a gas station across the road I saw it dangling from the tether strap. I popped it back on and it hasn't come off since. I regularly knock the left one off when trying to squeeze past the bike in the garage. I've done that so many times I don't even need to take the bike cover off to put it back on.