For my Silver K75 project bike I've decided to go with the complete "T-windscreen" look with mirrors on stalks.And being a president of the CABOA (cheap ass b*stards of America) and feeling tenderly toward my billfold when I look at the prices new, USD $50.+, am looking at refurbishing a couple of the used 10 that I already have.
Several of which are perfectly acceptable except for broken glass and/or the rim piece being chewed up from inadvertently hitting the pavement a time or two. Surprising to even me how many I've collected over the years. Anyway would like to reach out for the collective wisdom of the Forum about refurbishing rear view mirrors on stalks. I have found acceptably round mirrors at a local project supply store (USD $3.99), Michaels. They are unfortunately 11.9 cm in diameter whereas the BMW ones are 11 cm or approx 4.5 inches. My thoughts so far are:
1) cut off the excess glass with my dremmel grinder and fit into the existing space. Is this even possible?
2.) simply slap them on top of the existing glass/mount allowing the excess to hang over. Glue in place with a silicon bath tub sealant holding it on top of the old glass.
3.) Do #2 but cover the bit of glass extending beyond the edge with some plastic edging. You've undoubtedly seen what I'm speaking of. Looks like a miniature hose with a slit down one side.

Any other possibilities that I've not thought of? I appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Long ago when motorcycles ran on wood and coal we used to make mirrors for our enduro bikes out of mirrored plexiglass. It was easy to draw a circle with a compass and cut out the shape with a bandsaw. The optical quality wasn't the best, but you could still tell if there was a car behind you when on the road, making it legal for racing and the lens was unbreakable when you hit a tree.

Cut the bottoms out of Farberware saucepans, dremel them to size, mirrror-polish them, glue them to the mirror housings with silicone adhesive copper-side inward. They can be used as fry pans by holding the stalks as handles if you get trapped in the wilderness and need to cook up locusts to survive until rescue arrives.

Oh you guys break/brake my heart.   Farberware saucepans?? Seriously!! Makes BMW prices look el cheapo. And I thought I was being ripped off at $3.99. Ok, as soon as I figure out how to host photos elsewhere and link them here I'll show you.!! Might be a while at least until the winter snows shutdown the Bay Area.

jjefferies wrote:Oh you guys break/brake my heart.   Farberware saucepans?? 

You'll probably find a couple of used ones enough to outfit a few more of your bespoke creations at Goodwill in Alameda for $10. Just don't cost out your labor at a high rate. You can alway settle for old Mirros but they don't have the copper bottoms and might char your rations.

Snow closing the Bay Area? Isn't cocaine under control out there, or is it legal and the shipments come in winter? Thankfully, denatured alcohol is illegal in California or residents would be putting it in gasoline and drinking it if they couldn't get E10.

I like this thread. I'm sort of imagining what other parts of an exploded K could be retrieved from the undergrowth, post tree impact, and used to cook up a bit of a gourmet spread whilst getting used to your new home in the wilderness?

Final drive rotisserie anyone?

Reluctantly back on topic...
If, in the pursuit of replacement mirrors, you find yourself wanting to remove glass intact from the plastic housing, then placing said housing into a 120 centigrade oven for 20 mins or so will floppyize the plastic enough for the glass to come out whole - an otherwise impossible, and probably costly pursuit. This works a treat and has great appeal if you run an R1100s - expensive secondhand mirrors, but exactly the same pods & glass (typical BMW approach) as numerous much cheaper options connected to more prosaic BeeEms via different stems. 

More cooking tips to follow 

Laitch wrote:Snow closing the Bay Area? Isn't cocaine under control out there, or is it legal and the shipments come in winter? Thankfully, denatured alcohol is illegal in California or residents would be putting it in gasoline and drinking it if they couldn't get E10.

The Junction shut down. Not that I ever heard of anything happening out there anyway. But in the depths of winter when snow hits the high hills or at least Mt. Hamilton and the bo's can't do Mines Rd. It'll be soon enough.

WoW Whee Chris846!! You da' man. I just knew there was knowledge lurking on this forum of how to do these mirrors. Thanks! Am I assuming correctly that you had some experimentation to arrive at the magic number of 120 C.? Is the plastic any good after the heat treatment or should I plan on dumping that part? Good for getting mirrors out whole but not for salvaging the plastic?

Other cooking tips:: how is the mirror and the plastic shell held together? Is that glue or a heat seal. I've been wondering how to salvage the plastic when it's just the mirror that got busted up. And anyone know how many different stem lengths there are? I've counted 3 so far. Most of the mirrors I have are 8mm bolts but there's one that's 10mm.

Plastic is fine and reusable afterwards. The glass is just a tight fit in the housing - no sealant or adhesive. Make sure the housing is well up to temp and don't be tempted to lever or force the glass out at all - it'll snap as easily as a biscuit.

Almost. There's three different glass fittings - thank you so much BMW - so you may or may not have a snap ring on the back of the post that secures the mirror. Said 'post' may be plastic or may be brass. Plastic posts that don't have a snap ring appear (I was never very sure about what I was seeing here) to have a spike pushed down the middle to spread the 'post'. The snap ring makes detaching the mirror a complete FPITA. Some posts are glued in and some posts aren't. I found out by dismantling a bunch of RS and RT/LT mirrors when I was bored one day and wanted to store the mirror lenses away somewhere more safe. The pods are held together with a thin ring of glue and careful pressure with large-surface tool (such as a Stanley blade) will eventually separate them.

Again, thank you so much BMW for putting all the various mirror types under the same damn part numbers.

chris846 wrote:If, in the pursuit of replacement mirrors, you find yourself wanting to remove glass intact from the plastic housing, then placing said housing into a 120 centigrade oven for 20 mins or so will floppyize the plastic enough for the glass to come out whole - an otherwise impossible, and probably costly pursuit.

Or you can try this method which could be cathartic even if it were unsuccessful.

I’m not the only one who lost a fight with a RS mirror pod.
Whew it’s amazing something seemingly simple can frustrate the best of us.

Some? Even have a retainer thingy.

From Max BMW parts Fische.