Halcyon bar end mirror adaptors

[JimmyR]

Well I was going to write about how much I like my Halcyon bar end mirrors. They are very cool and well designed. When I installed them on my aftermarket tracker bars they fit well and were very stable.

The issue I have is that I just bought some genuine Triumph Thruxton bars. Love 'em! But being Triumph bars they have the little insert inside the bar ends and the stock Halcyon set up won't fit. No problem - visit halcyon's website and order some Triumph bar insert adaptors. And they finally arrived this morning.

Oh dear. Firstly they don't fit the mirrors. Where the mirrors join the bar attachment bit they are slotted. The new adaptors don't fit the slot. So after gently filing down a whisker I get them to fit. Then I find they sent the wrong size screw for my Thruxton bars. The thread is too small. Luckily I have some of the next size up screws purely by chance so think aha! that was lucky, let's go! But no - the diameter of the insert is too big by 1mm to fit into the bar ends. What??

Wow. How else can this go wrong? I am really unimpressed.

So I guess the moral of the story is only get these mirrors if you are using aftermarket bars. They are well made and work well in that application. But don't waste your time if you have stock Triumph bars.

 

[OhioT100]

Can you just knock the inserts out of the way in the Triumph bars and use the original Halcyon expanders?:chin:

 

[drlapo]

why not drill out the stock bar insert and rethread it to 8mm?
then the Halcyon mirror works fine

 

[bonZa]

Well I was going to write about how much I like my Halcyon bar end mirrors. They are very cool and well designed. When I installed them on my aftermarket tracker bars they fit well and were very stable.

The issue I have is that I just bought some genuine Triumph Thruxton bars. Love 'em! But being Triumph bars they have the little insert inside the bar ends and the stock Halcyon set up won't fit. No problem - visit halcyon's website and order some Triumph bar insert adaptors. And they finally arrived this morning.

Oh dear. Firstly they don't fit the mirrors. Where the mirrors join the bar attachment bit they are slotted. The new adaptors don't fit the slot. So after gently filing down a whisker I get them to fit. Then I find they sent the wrong size screw for my Thruxton bars. The thread is too small. Luckily I have some of the next size up screws purely by chance so think aha! that was lucky, let's go! But no - the diameter of the insert is too big by 1mm to fit into the bar ends. What??

Wow. How else can this go wrong? I am really unimpressed.

So I guess the moral of the story is only get these mirrors if you are using aftermarket bars. They are well made and work well in that application. But don't waste your time if you have stock Triumph bars.

its an old thread but so people know as it sounds like there is a problem with Halcyon bar end mirrors when there isnt. the problem is with the user who was installing them wrong

Thruxton handlebar inserts are different to Bonneville inserts and that is why the Halcyon mirror adaptors would not fit. the Halcyon adaptors are for Bonneville bars not Thruxton bars and says so on their website

Thruxton bars use a M6 bolt and the insert is sleeved and deeper whereas the Bonneville bar inserts use M5 are not sleeved and shallower.

to use Halcyon bar end mirrors on Thruxton bars its best to use the expander they are supplied with and remove the inserts from the bar

OEM Triumph bar end mirrors for Thruxton and Bonnevilles are different and this is reflected by separate part numbers
A9638020 for Thrux and A9638056 for Bonnies

 

[JimmyR]

If you read my post more carefully you would see where I write that the adaptors don't fit the mirrors. It was not even a handlebar issue! The mirrors have a notch cut out for the adaptor to slot into, and the notch in the adaptor was too big to fit the mirror. Both parts were Halcyon made. Halcyon acknowledged that these parts should have fit together.

When I emailed them at the time they were themselves unaware that the two different bars had different threads. Sure, it's a dumb thing for Triumph to have done but these were sold to me as items that would fit and they didn't. Perhaps as a result Halcyon have added the different parts, but when I bought them there was only one insert available. Please don't rewrite history to make yourself look clever.

BTW even once fitted the mirrors would not show me what I needed to see. It was impossible to get them pointing in the right direction so I could actually see behind me. I could see the traffic on the other side of the road just fine. I have had people suggest to me that bending the stems will fix it - but what if I try bending the stems and they snap? Sorry - just poor design.

 

[B06Tang]

It is amazing how something as simple as handlebars can turn into headaches and become a major pain in the ass. This is the downfall with internet buying and why I sometimes miss the good old days of actually going to a shop and putting my eyes on something...but I'm visual. I have to read and re-read something over and over again in order to get it...but let me see it and I'm there lickity split...okay...I'm rambling now...what were we talking about????

 

[JimmyR]

I agree with you but unfortunately here things are either unavailable or in the rare case they are available they cost double what they do online. Plus the two Triumph shops here are weird - not the kind of places you go into to chew the fat, that's for sure.

That's one thing I miss a bit about when I was working on my Harley. The official Harley dealers were worse than useless but there is a place here that sell loads of Harley stuff and deals in used Harleys and the guys in the service section were really cool, funny and great to deal with. The local Suzuki guys - well the dealership I used to use a lot - were the same. They knew EVERYTHING about their product, and were happy to help and share information.

The Triumph dealers here are not like that. It's interesting - both used to handle other makes but are now exclusively Triumph, but they really aren't the best at service.

 

[B06Tang]

I agree...part of the missing equation with being a bike owner is wrench talk. I don't care if it is a shiny do-dad for bling purposes or after market cams for a top end overhaul...it's fun to shoot the shit like that. It is non-existent where I am at right now when it comes to that and Harley was saavy to create an environment for people to hang out like that and suck down coffee and talk bikes

 

[bonZa]

If you read my post more carefully you would see where I write that the adaptors don't fit the mirrors. It was not even a handlebar issue!

Please don't rewrite history to make yourself look clever.

BTW even once fitted the mirrors would not show me what I needed to see. It was impossible to get them pointing in the right direction so I could actually see behind me. I could see the traffic on the other side of the road just fine. I have had people suggest to me that bending the stems will fix it - but what if I try bending the stems and they snap? Sorry - just poor design.

I'm not trying to make myself look clever,

and understand that the slots in halcyon adaptors you received did not fit the corresponding slots in the halcyon mirrors. (you filed them to make them fit)

but maybe you need to re-read your original post as you also mention about different thread sizes and the fact there was a 1mm difference in diameter where the adaptors are to fit into

hence the reasons for my post to let people know that there are differences between bonnie and thruxton bar inserts and their ability to accept bar end mirrors. reason being I have just fitted thruxton bars and after looking at bar end mirrors options am discovering differences between the two

so JimmyR, stop being so thin skinned and a know all windbag shit canning any one who happens to update with more relevant info

but I am grateful for your update about vision problems which makes me re-think about buying a set of them

 

[B06Tang]

:fight::fight:I am starting a "Ozzie only fighting thread"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:fight::fight:

 

[bonZa]

:fight::fight:I am starting a "Ozzie only fighting thread"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:fight::fight:

hahaha, good one B06Tang. :flag:

would be better than the other :australia: only thread

 

[JimmyR]

Yeah well... My wife is a second degree black belt in Muay Thai kickboxing and she could beat you up!

No really, my wonderful wife IS a second dan black belt in Muay Thai and I s a helluva lot fitter than me. And really, when I emailed Halcyon about the bolt size issue (which I did after my review post, which was done at the height of my pissed-off-ness) they didn't know that the bars were different sizes. My Bonnie has 1" bars and the Thruxton bars are 1" and they didn't know at that time that the interior diameters were different. The controls fit just fine. Credit to the folks at Halcyon - they were very pleasant to deal with and were surprised to hear that their product didn't fit.

Anyway, it's all water under the bridge now because I have some infinitely superior Oberon mirrors on the bike. They are smaller than the Halcyons but have a bigger view. It was a piece of cake to install them and get them to point exactly where I needed to see what is behind me. And I think they look better too. The Oberons are really well made.

 

[bonZa]

here are mine

Triumph have three different part numbers for bar end mirrors which suggest the handle bar connections are different. I fitted a pair of late model Thruxton bars to my Bonnie and simply supplied Halcyon a sketch and they made the appropriate attachments for me
couldnt be happier with them except they would be better if the spherical that attaches the mirror to the stalk allowed a little more movement. however have managed to set them up so I get excellent rear vision