What is with those mirrors??!!!?!?!???!?

[street bob 59]

Ears too big for the animal, and the height position almost is a joke, roughly even with trucks of all kinds, suvs, crossovers. (weird choice of word for the category they wanted to define), and even some sedans.

I pass through these places easily on the road king, and on these urban roads (Los Angeles), I thought the technology, light weight and good handling would do just fine when in urban commuter mode.

But noooooooooooo!!!!! The mirrors are playing bumper cars. 100 miles, 4 clunks. Mostly splitting through stopped cars at interminable red lights.

I saw a multi adjustable mirror that apparantly lets you set distances and fold it all the way in if you want, made, if I remember right, by Vario.

I am going to check it out, and if the quality is good, I'm in.

And tube tires extra on the classic???

[Jedi5150]

100 miles, 4 clunks. Mostly splitting through stopped cars at interminable red lights.

I'm not sure the mirrors are the issue...

Not to be a turd, but I lane-split routinely (rush hour commute for over a year on a wider bike than the R1200R, in both LA, San Jose, and various other places). I've done countless miles through LA rush hour lanesplitting on my F800GS with aluminum panniers (with a full-length rifle case across the back) and in all my years of lane splitting I've never (knock on wood) cluncked a mirror or any other part of my bike. Obviously I lane-split conservatively on the 800GS with cases, and agressively on the R1200R, 1200GS, etc. If you've cluncked 4 times in 100 miles the issue is definitely not with the bike or the mirrors...it's with your perception of the size of your vehicle.

Edited to add:

As a side note, I actually like the mirrors to be the widest part of my bike. It provides a great tool for estimating gap clearance at super slow speeds, as well as the fact that mirrors are just about the least damageable (is that a word) part of the bike. Better a mirror than a cylinder head or a pannier.

[street bob 59]

Well, I agree the mirrors serve as an important guide to your bikes width, but I replaced the stock with the adjustable mirrors from Vario and they work very well. It is a height issue as well, and they were more of a pain lane splitting than any issues with my road king. I highly recommend what I got. They are infinitely adjustable, and in my opinion look better than stock. I got them through Wunderlich.