Soltek Mount fix

Awhile back Mad Mike had the unfortunate experience of his mirror mount breaking due to the weight of the Soltek HID light. As luck would have it, I now have first hand experience of the same dilemma, probably exacerbated by my poor choice of roads to ride. :huh: I'm kinda stubborn and wanted to retain the excellent (sometimes life saving) extra visibility that the Solteks afford, so I opted to repair the mount and re-install the lights. Thanks to Mike and Wfooshee My link (thanks guys!) I figured out how to get my front end removed, found a good heli-arc man and fixed the broken tab along with reinforcing both sides with a triangular gusset. If some poor soul has the same issue, hopefully these pics will help. Note that the gusset won't work on the topside of the mirror mount tab as it would interfere with proper seating of the B & C panels.

Focus is a wonderful thing!

Looks good. Years ago, I had a pair of Solteks NIB that I never installed. I loved the light they put out but was very vocal of my concerns about their weight and the eventual fatigue on the front subframe. I ended up selling them and never installing them.

Glad to see you are working out a solution.

Greg, I was sure those 7 beers I had while shooting these pics didn't do a thing to my photographic abilities. Guess I'll have to keep it to a six pack next time! Either that or get a real camera!

SkooterG said:

Looks good. Years ago, I had a pair of Solteks NIB that I never installed. I loved the light they put out but was very vocal of my concerns about their weight and the eventual fatigue on the front subframe. I ended up selling them and never installing them.

Glad to see you are working out a solution.

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Which is exactly why I still have a pair of Solteks NIB that have never been installed. :glare:

Instead I've repaired the housings on my still functioning Hella FF200 HIDs several times.

I have considered a similar reinforcement but have never gotten 'round to it. Nice repair.

Two years ago(seems like a long time) The mirror mount on the bike broke on one side. What I did is I bought a new stay and had a shop beef up the bent mirror mount bracket.

They did it by taking another peice of metal and bending it to lay on the same curve. Then it was pop riveted together. I rode the bike for a full season with out the Solteks. Then last year I remounted the Solteks and they seem to be holding up well.

But hey.... that's just me!

I made a similar repair 2 or so years ago. Like CAJW I ride on rough roads. So far no problem at all. I'm convinced this is permanent fix.

dcarver said:

I made a similar repair 2 or so years ago. Like CAJW I ride on rough roads. So far no problem at all. I'm convinced this is permanent fix.

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Until something else breaks.......

So far that's grand total of three repairs ?

DC rides the washborad road from hell ( no offense bud ! )......

CAJW is the goat trail king......

MM2's bike took a nap.....

Until lately I've had two sets of lights hanging on the bike, Solteks over Piaa's for over 40 /50 thousand miles...... no problems so far I say mount 'em up Dougc !

HIGHLANDER said:

Until lately I've had two sets of lights hanging on the bike, Solteks over Piaa's for over 40 /50 thousand miles...... no problems so far I say mount 'em up Dougc !

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Yeah, yeah...my bike's had an asphalt nap a time or two and I've had to tweak the left mirror mount into shape just to get the bodywork to lay straight and flat so I expect that mine would probably break if more weight was added for more thousands of miles.

Think I'll trade one for a flood and use them as headlights on the XR.

dougc said:

HIGHLANDER said:

Until lately I've had two sets of lights hanging on the bike, Solteks over Piaa's for over 40 /50 thousand miles...... no problems so far I say mount 'em up Dougc !

Click to expand...

Yeah, yeah...my bike's had an asphalt nap a time or two and I've had to tweak the left mirror mount into shape just to get the bodywork to lay straight and flat so I expect that mine would probably break if more weight was added for more thousands of miles.

Think I'll trade one for a flood and use them as headlights on the XR.

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Exactly what happened with mine, Doug. I was able to straighten the tab but it cracked along that 90 degree angle bend. Good choice to use it on the XR. BTW, you can buy a wide angle diffuser lens for the Soltek. I bought one during the original group buy and still have distant plans to mount one on the KLR with that lens.