repairing a vibrating r1200c oval mirror - internodeshirrens/bike/repairing a vibrating r1200c...

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Repairing a Vibrating R1200C Oval Mirror

1. Start by removing the black plastic cover on the back of the mirror housing. I accomplished this

with a small pocket knife but any thin metal item should work. Be careful not to scratch the

chrome as it seems fairly delicate. Work around the perimeter slowly nudging it straight out

little by little until it is off. Make sure that the mirror is face down on a surface or held in place

with masking tape depending on how wobbly your mirrors are.

2. The problem – here is the problem that causes the mirrors to wobble, in the picture below you

will notice two holes in the chrome mirror housing that have clips in them, if your mirror is

wobbling one or more is most likely broken or getting ready to break:

Below is a close-up of the lower clip in the image above, notice that there are two pieces of

plastic sticking through


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whereas the hole on the top of the mirror only has one piece of plastic poking through.

3. I used my wife’s tweezers (with permission of course) to squeeze the two clips together on the

lower one that still had two. Unhooking these two clips allows the mirror to be removed (yes,

two little plastic clips is all that is holding these mirrors on – is it any wonder why these things

fail so easily?).


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4. Once the mirror is out of the housing it is clear to see both the problem and the feeble

mechanics of how the mirror is held in the housing. At this point I ate a Popsicle (more on that

later).

Clips are spread by the black

plastic retainer on the back

side of the mirror housing

removed in step 1.

The Culprit!

The broken clip.

Close-up view of the

receptacles where the clips

attach.


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5. This step and the next are more easily accomplished with a helper. Once the mirror was apart I

cleaned all surfaces with rubbing alcohol and then used standard kitchen and bath silicone to

place a bead around the interior perimeter of the chrome housing. Be careful not to get too

close to the adjusting nut. There is a slightly raised ridge around the inside, this is approximately

where the mirror sets so I used that as a guide and made sure to keep the bead of silicone safely

behind/below that point.

I think when I do the other side I will put some grease on the adjusting nut so that in case any

silicone comes in contact it will not stick. I used plenty of silicone to make sure there was ample

surface area for the mirror to grab on to.


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6. I then laid the mirror face down and ran a mating bead of silicone around the perimeter of its

backing plate.

7. I used the popsicle stick from step 4 (yum) to even out any high spots on the silicone beads on

both parts because things got a little sloppy as you have seen.


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8. Using extreme caution not to allow the silicone on the mirror backing to come in contact with

anything on the way I inserted the mirror back into the silicone filled housing.

9. Finally I clamped the mirror back together using light pressure on the clamp. Be careful that you

don’t crack the glass, but it has to be enough to hold the mirror from moving around. When I

was putting everything back together one of the clips from the bottom (where there were still

two) broke off so I did this repair just in the nick of time – whew!


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10. I left the clamped assembly to cure for 3 or 4 days in the oven (my garage) before unclamping in

order to make sure all that silicone I glopped in there had an opportunity to reach strength

before riding with it.

11. Reinstall the mirror on the bike, push the black plastic cover on the back of the housing and the

only trace of the repair is that the mirror no longer vibrates, images reflected back are rock solid

all the time.

One unexpected benefit of this repair is due to the voluminous amount of silicone I used the

added weight has seemed to reduce some of the vibration on my right handgrip. Next up, the

left mirror to balance things out

repairing a vibrating r1200c oval mirror - internodeshirrens/bike/repairing a vibrating r1200c...

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