PartsNMore Quality?

[crazy steve]

I know these guys are one of the main sources of parts for our bikes (almost the only source) and I've bought stuff from them myself. I've never had reason for complaint but all I've ever bought was 'unseen' parts such as gaskets, etc. But how is the quality on their cosmetic stuff? I'm eyeballing their new turn signal assemblies and mirrors in particular. Has anybody bought these? Were you happy with the fit/finish? Are they as nice as OEM?

I'd like to fit some 'front' turns to the rear on my '78 for a pair of additional running lights (and I have a pair of the proper square lenses in red to make them legal). I'm also looking at the chrome square mirrors listed for the Virago, as I never understood why Yamaha fitted round mirrors to a square-themed bike. It looks like these would fit, but can anybody confirm that?

Any and all comments welcome....

'78E original owner

[Geezer]

P&M turn signals are crap. I bought a set and they broke when I tried to tighten up the pinch bolts. That was a rather high price for some lenses and bulbs...

Geezer

[CatatonicBug]

I never understood why Yamaha fitted round mirrors to a square-themed bike.

I guess that just goes along with how they did the XS's. The standards are square-themed, but have round mirrors, and the Specials are round-themed, and have rectangular mirrors. I've often thought that was strange myself, but in the spirit of keeping things stock, I'll just keep my rectangular mirrors.

[fredintoon]

- - - - I never understood why Yamaha fitted round mirrors to a square-themed bike. - - -

Hi Steve,
same reason they fitted rectangular mirrors on my round-themed Heritage Special.
Betcha they had a warehouse full of them at the time.
Check out MikesXS for the Heritage mirrors, they'd more or less be sure to fit.
Although that's true of any left-hand-threaded Yamaha mirror.

[jmnjrpa]

Round mirrors had been the "standard" for decades before. When they built the special they went with the rectangular.

[randy]

I like the rectangular mirrors over the round. The rectangle gives me a wider picture.

[crazy steve]

P&M turn signals are crap. I bought a set and they broke when I tried to tighten up the pinch bolts. That was a rather high price for some lenses and bulbs...

Geezer

Ok, the castings are junk; this is what I wanted to know. But are the internals the same? The stock castings appear to be identical front/rear, so would it be possible to use the two-filament sockets in the OEM casting?

'78E original owner

[fredintoon]

- - - The Standards are square-themed, but have round mirrors, and the Specials are round-themed, and have rectangular mirrors. - - -

Hi 'Bug,
is that so? I was never sure about what mirrors my bike originally came with. My XS11SG came to me with no mirrors and a stripped-out LH-threaded mirror mount.
Had to make me a right-handed bushing to use a set of nice matte black trapezoidal generic mirrors that I had.
Which went missing on me after I took them off to reduce the rig's size for winter storage Dammit!
Now I'm using two right-hand threaded chromed rectangular mirrors out of my junk box.
Not sure of their origin but the stalks are long enough that I can at least finally see past my elbows.

[crazy steve]

I like the rectangular mirrors over the round. The rectangle gives me a wider picture.

Where did you get the ones you're using? My concern with both the Virago and MikesXS mirrors is they appear to have rather short stems. A view of my upper arms is not exactly what I'm after here...

'78E original owner

[fredintoon]

Where did you get the ones you're using? My concern with both the Virago and MikesXS mirrors is they appear to have rather short stems. A view of my upper arms is not exactly what I'm after here...

Hi Steve,
most bike accessory places sell a left-hand to right-hand threaded adapter to get you away from being locked in to using Yamaha-specific mirrors.
Now you can search for as long a stalk whatever shape set of mirrors you fancy.
Be sure and check the mirrors' magnification factor before you buy.
I have one "bargain" pair in my junkbox with lovely long stalks that let me see way past my elbows but they have zero magnification and so a very small field of view.

[randy]

That's funny, I thought it was just me that was too wide for the mirrors The best solution I found was to buy two pairs of Emgo's, one set with long stems and another with the best mirror. Franken-mirror!

[dbeardslee]

A view of my upper arms is not exactly what I'm after here...

I replaced the stock bars with emgo bars on Betsy, and wound up with the same problem. I got a set of true vision mirrors from Mikes ($24) and couldn't be happier with them. The stems are a little longer, and they come with the yamaha left-hand adapter so they'll work on both yamaha and non-yamaha's. They provide a really good view of what's behind you.

[crazy steve]

Hi Steve,
most bike accessory places sell a left-hand to right-hand threaded adapter to get you away from being locked in to using Yamaha-specific mirrors.

Yeah, there's always that solution, and I've looked at that. But the trouble with adaptors is they always, well, look adapted. When I make mods, I try to make it look like it should be that way unless it's an obviously radical change. Otherwise, it should look OEM enough to make you wonder. And yes, I can be a bit anal. I was hoping for a shortcut, but if I have too, I'll build my own stuff.

Right now, after checking out some of the alternatives suggested, I'm leaning towards some OEM HD 'long stem' mirrors as they have the chrome 'square' shape I want and the stem configuation looks fairly close to the OEM Yammy mirrors. They can be gotten fairly cheaply as take-offs, so that's in their favor. That left-hand thread throws a bit of a monkey wrench into the works, as does the difference in stem size (5/16 vs 10mm) but with a bit of machine work, taps, dies, helicoils or whatever I think I can make it work.

'78E original owner

[Geezer]

I replaced the stock bars with emgo bars on Betsy, and wound up with the same problem. I got a set of true vision mirrors from Mikes ($24) and couldn't be happier with them. The stems are a little longer, and they come with the yamaha left-hand adapter so they'll work on both yamaha and non-yamaha's. They provide a really good view of what's behind you.

I put the same mirrors on my 79 Standard but I used Mikes-XS flat track bars with set-back risers. It's a bit like having low bars again but ones that my aging old back can handle...

Geezer

[jmnjrpa]

Steve,

Another way is to get someone to do some fancy machining on the adapters to offset the look.