Cheap Home-Made Under Mirror Driving/Aux Light Mount (A Home Depot Edition)

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'03 ST1300A
First, I must admit that I am cheap (have more time than money) and I like to poke around ideas building something from scraps or easily accessible parts. I don't have welding machine, bench press, etc. Just few hand tools.

I found that my ST-1300 is not throwing out decent beams after dark no matter how I adjusted the headlights. As I am getting older (now 57), I see much less distance at night. So I browsed few articles on this forum for Aux/Driving Light Installations. It appears that there are not much choices except MCL mount for under mirror installation and some custom made brackets. Fork and over-mirror mounts were not for me.

After I reviewed inside the mirror housing carefully and decided to venture out my way of constructing one.

After browsing few isles at a local Home Depot, these are what I ended up .
IMG_0111.jpg
- Two L bracket (3 in long and 1 1/4 in wide and 1/8 in thick) ($2.99) There are 7/8 in wide brackets also available but the material is a bit thinner than 1 1/4 in wide ones.
- 1/4 in Cable Ferrule ($1.99). I used the 11/16 in long aluminum stoppers in the package as the spacers between mounting hole and the bracket. You can find this at the section where they sell wire cables.
Two M6 (1.0 pitch)- 45mm socket head bolt ($1.20) 40mm long bolts can also work.

Note that I needed to grind out a little bit on the left side of bolt hole. This is because the mirror mounting frame around the bolt hole got in the way.
2016-01-28_14.39.34.jpg

You need to file out a notch to make the plate flush fit. Actually this notch provides unexpected beneficial effect because it creates some support so that the mount does not rotate around the mounting bolt. I also filed out the mounting bolt hole a bit lower so that the upper end of the plate flush with the bottom of metal mirror mounting bracket. I used angle grinder to cut out the notch but you can use a round chain saw sharpening file. I used the round file to make the mounting holes in the bracket to accommodate larger bolts.

IMG_0112.jpg


The surface of the mounting hole and upper fairing of the bike is curved so that the bracket is not touching the bottom of mirror housing flat.
2016-01-28_14.37.05.jpg


So I twisted the upper end of the bracket a bit to make the bottom section touches the fairing flat. I mounted the bracket on a bench-top vise and used pipe wrench to bend the plate a bit. You just need to bend about 1/8 inch or so. Make sure you bend the plate in the right angle. I did it opposite direction at the first try and needed to do it again. See the first picture to see how much I needed to bend the bracket to fit flush on the wall.


CAUTION: You may need to try few times to bend the bracket. However, when you place the bracket on the surface of the fairing, DO NOT tighten mounting bolts. After I bolted in/bolted out few times to check whether it flushes with the fairing surface, I stripped the bolt threads in the mirror mounting side. So for this one, I used a bit longer bolt (50mm) and used lock nut on the other end to tighten up.

After I put them together on the mirror mount.
20160202_202410.jpg

I needed to file out the bottom of mirror housing using a flat file and Dremel tools. No big deal. Very minimal cut-out.
20160128_131150.jpg


To power the light, I tapped into low-beam headlight hot wire for triggering relay circuit and pulled a fresh new 14 AWG wire directly from the battery for power the lights. That way the driving lights turn off when I switched the key off. It was pain to open up various covers to reach inside of upper cowel for wiring but it was very rewarding work.

This is how it look after the installation. I am using ADV Mondo light which is very light weight and throw out decent focused beams at night. It serves as daylight visibility light and driving light in peach dark roads. Under $10 and some elbow grease, my night rides got some relief.

20160221_095337.jpg

IMG_5880.jpg
 

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Joined
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Really nice job. I've been looking at doing the same thing. I'm still up in the air about placement of my 18W LED lights, was planning on the lower reflector spot but seeing this thread I might re-think that.
Thanks for posting.
 

dduelin

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The 6" bolt method to mount MondoMoto LEDs:







Two 1/4 x 20 6" bolts, 4 nuts, 4 star washers, a bit of 1/4" electrical loom. That's cheap!
 

bdalameda

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Just keep a close eye on the brackets - after months of vibration and bouncing the bend on those may break as there is no gusset so all the weight is being held by the material in the bend. The 90 deg. bend is a perfect stress point for a fracture to start. If the lights are light (weight) enough it may not be an issue.
 
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Hawks Nest & dduelin, well done!

I love to see creative people working their brains & using their workshops!
 

KTD1911

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I made some homemade under mirror mounts out of a block of aluminum and shaped them with a bench grinder. And mounted them at the mirror mount with longer screws. been using them for 4years and 50k + miles
 
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The 6" bolt method to mount MondoMoto LEDs:







Two 1/4 x 20 6" bolts, 4 nuts, 4 star washers, a bit of 1/4" electrical loom. That's cheap!
It looks pretty good too! I'm assuming that you cut a notch in the mirror housing. Do you have a picture of that?
 
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A simple notch big enough for the bolt and wire.
Thanks! That's what I thought.

I'm planning on doing similar and I had to give some thought as to how to determine where to make the notch since you can't see the mirror mount with the mirror housing in place. It may be overkill, but I'll position a plumb laser pointing to the mirror mount and when I snap on the housing, the laser will be pointing to where the notch needs to be.
 

dduelin

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Thanks! That's what I thought.

I'm planning on doing similar and I had to give some thought as to how to determine where to make the notch since you can't see the mirror mount with the mirror housing in place. It may be overkill, but I'll position a plumb laser pointing to the mirror mount and when I snap on the housing, the laser will be pointing to where the notch needs to be.
You can do that or you can place the bolt in place down through the mirror mount then position the mirror cover so it would pop into position noting where the bolt touches the mirror cover.
 
Joined
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The 6" bolt method to mount MondoMoto LEDs:



Two 1/4 x 20 6" bolts, 4 nuts, 4 star washers, a bit of 1/4" electrical loom. That's cheap!
That sure seemed like a good idea so I bought a couple of 1/4 X 20 bolts, but it turns out that they don't fit through the hole in the mirror mount. Maybe I need a #12 bolt which would have a diameter of 7/32 or maybe even a #10 bolt with a 3/16 diameter. A #10 bolt fits loosely, I checked, but I don't happen to have a #12 to check that.
 

dduelin

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That sure seemed like a good idea so I bought a couple of 1/4 X 20 bolts, but it turns out that they don't fit through the hole in the mirror mount. Maybe I need a #12 bolt which would have a diameter of 7/32 or maybe even a #10 bolt with a 3/16 diameter. A #10 bolt fits loosely, I checked, but I don't happen to have a #12 to check that.
You might have to turn the 1/4 x 20 bolt with a wrench to start it or use a small rat tail file to open the hole at the top a tiny bit. A 1/4" bolt will work - mine did not slip fit in the hole at first either. A few turns with a wrench and it dropped right in.
 
Joined
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You might have to turn the 1/4 x 20 bolt with a wrench to start it or use a small rat tail file to open the hole at the top a tiny bit. A 1/4" bolt will work - mine did not slip fit in the hole at first either. A few turns with a wrench and it dropped right in.
Thanks, you're right. It threads right in.
 
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So, I finally got around to installing the Superbright Led's that I was thinking about. They definitely add plenty of light to be seen by, but not so much to see better. No matter, I really wanted them to add to my visibility and not so much to see better. I already installed Silverstar headlight bulbs and they add (almost) as much lighting to see by as needed.

I got the 25 degree lights. They also have a 45 degree light, but I'm glad I got the ones I did because the 25 degree lights add lighting in front of me... actually a little closer than the headlights... and I think the 45 degrees would be good almost exclusively for being seen, but not as much to see better.

superbright led.jpg
 

ST Gui

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ddemair said:
and I think the 45 degrees would be good almost exclusively for being seen, but not as much to see better.
+1 Not only that but 45? is practically a flood light and with any HP behind the lens (lumens) they'd probably be blinding oncoming traffic.
 
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