I am guessing that eventually a decat is coming, in which case I would suggest the Meerkat because it has the cleanest most minimal design as they have somehow done away with all the supporting structure and it's no less solid.
I also find the stock mirrors pretty hopeless (I don't want to see my elbows!), thoughts on replacements, bar ends?
The Street Twin rear axle is hollow, which means you can fit a rod through it and attach paddock stand bobbins to either side. I've got the TEC Parts one, which works fine, and I've had the bike on a stand many times with no issues. I think Motone have recently brought out something similar. If you have the choice I would always recommend Motone over TEC. Usually a bit more expensive but better quality, but as I said, the TEC one is perfectly ok.
I agree with you about the stock mirrors. Aesthetically they look awful. Mickey mouse ears! A good enough reason alone to bin them but they're also functionally pretty useless. I went for the Triumph bar end mirrors because they're good quality but there are of course lots of options. Once again TEC Parts make them. Not sure about Motone. Isn't it amazing how many stock parts on these bikes are pretty poor? It's almost as if Triumph expect you to swop them for better quality parts..which coincidently Triumph just happen to make. Btw, Triumph also list a rear axle bobbin rod for the ST.
Yeah, it's a rod through the axl . I'm not entirely sure what brand is actually fitted. My dealer fitted them at the first 1000Km check-up as part of compensation for the long wait (stupid Suez canal ship) and the lower price I got for my old bike due to it having over six months more mileage on it.
I actually quite like the look of the stock mirrors . I'm so used to having to pull in my elbow for full view of the mirror from all my previous bikes that it doesn't even bother me. As for bar end mirrors, I'm quite.. let's say quirky, when it comes to bar ends. I think they look great on some bikes and I absolutely dislike them on others. Maybe one day I will come across a pair of bar ends that I would fit to my bike in a blink of an eye, but as for now I'm keeping the stock mirrors. As it stands my left hand side mirror also holds my sat nav mount, I need to keep that in mind should I come across my dream bar ends . As for the next steps in this payday project. The next part is somewhere in transit, probably held up at customs.
Going back to the bar end mirrors, be careful about which ones you buy. Another reason I chose Triumph was because I knew they'd fit without any problems. Make sure the ones you go for are actually designed to fit these Triumph bars, some are not straightforward. My brother bought some cheapies for his T120 and they were a pain to fit properly and still aren't quite right, especially the throttle side.
Here's a pic of the Triumph mirrors on my ST, they are sooooo much nicer than the stockers and actually work properly
That pic also shows the Motone tail tidy, rear light and indicators. You can also see the axle bobbin thing. This pic was taken before I dumped the original shit tyres. I've also switched to Triumph barrel grips and an LSL brake fluid reservoir to replace the crappy original, plus I took a used ST seat to a seat-maker who made me a custom seat to my design.
Regarding mirrors, you either have to go up or down (or out I guess) and I am pretty tall, and don't want the bike to look like an insect! I have been looking at the Triumph bar ends, thanks! Great advice from you guys!
I kept the standard Triumph bar end mirrors when converting my Street Cup in to a Street Twin riding position. I am 6ft and still have a good rear view.
Small update! I just received message from my local post office, my parcel with the next part for the payday project is currently passing through customs. I have paid the necessary fees and hopefully it will arrive before the end of the month. I will of course post pictures when the part is fitted to the bike. *Minor rant*: I was aware that extra import fees would have to be paid on this package, as it comes from outside of the EU. The way Belgium customs calculates these fees never cease to amaze me however. The import fee is higher than the cost of the item, yet again! Customs over here seem to have the nasty habit of not believing the declared retail price and coming up with a value themselves. F*ckers!
At least you can buy stuff within the EU and not have to pay import duty. Brexit scuppered that little bonus for us and now we pay extortionate duty on just about everything. As well as that, the extra paperwork and admin created means we often have to pay increased postage&packing fees. I know this to my cost when I tried to order a few small parts for my Hondas from CMSNL, a parts company based in the Netherlands. The duty and P&P that I would have paid was almost the same as the cost of the parts! £45 worth of parts + £40 duty/P&P!! And you could have got the parts into a large envelope. Ridiculous . Needless to say I cancelled the order.
Woohoow!! The mailman stopped by today with a special order package. If all goes as planned I will be fitting it next Saturday.
