When I bought my Bonneville, it came with one left hand Napoleon bar-end mirror installed by the previous owner. I liked the look, but being a motorcycle newbie, I wanted two mirrors so I could see as much aft driver stupidity as possible when I needed to. When it came time to drop some dough on the right side mirror though, I realized something...
Lane-splitting is a must here in Los Angeles. Sitting and stewing in traffic is strictly for the caged, which is a big part of why I got into bicycle riding and motorcycling in the first place. Few things beat whizzing past a bunch of "parked cars" in gridlocked traffic. Especially right after the douchebag in his Mustang just tried to start a drag race with you on the way home, and now has to just sit helplessly behind the wheel, gritting his teeth and punching the dashboard repeatedly while you downshift and pass him with a big, stupid grin on your face.
Unfortunately, despite their good looks, bar-end mirrors suck for lane splitting. I knew that my side clearance was really going to be compromised with two of those puppies jutting out of my M-Bars. The problem is, the options out there for stylish and functional Bonneville compatible mirrors, well...kind of suck. They are either super machined custom chopperized jobs with spiderwebs and other crap all over them, or cheap plastic pieces of...plastic, or worse, they have horrible reviews on visibility.
After searching all of the internets, luckily I stumbled upon the aptly named "Vintage Looking British Round Mirrors" from Bellacorse. These were exactly what I was looking for. Something that stayed true to the vintage look of the new Bonnevilles, without looking quite as much like a pair of antennae as the stock mirrors. I opted for the long stemmed version since I was willing to sacrifice a little style for the added visibility.
The mirrors were shipped quickly and arrived with all of the necessary parts and instructions for an extremely easy installation. After riding with them for the last couple of weeks, I can report that they are everything I wanted in a mirror setup. Vibration is minimal, visibility is great, and although I still prefer the look of bar-ends, these will do nicely. Now I can look stylish and I can see more stupid!
Thanks for the review of the mirrors, Jimmy. I totally know what you mean. I would love to go bar ends, but not in NYC. There's too much traffic to cut through. II've been looking for that balance of vintage-look and utility. The mirrors look great on your bike. I wonder if there's actually much of a visual difference in the short stems.
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