Visibility on a motorcycle is paramount for active rider safety. Riders commonly refer to the heightened situational awareness you need on a bike as “head on a swivel”—the constant scanning of the road or trail environment from all angles to asses threats, choose riding lines, and generally stay upright and moving forward. A motorcycle’s mirrors are critical to this practice, but factory mirrors can sometimes feel like an afterthought. They have a limited range of adjustability and are particularly fragile in off-road situations where tip-overs and pesky tree limbs can damage them. Doubletake mirrors are an easy, bolt-on upgrade that offers solutions to all these problems.
Doubletake mirror kits come in four flavors depending on the type of bike you ride and the kinds of riding you most commonly do. The tiny trail kit is a zip-tie mirror that’s good for dirt bikes and small trail bikes that spend a lot of time on narrow single-track, while the enduro and dual sport models offer a huge range of adjustability and easy-folding arms for protecting the mirrors during off-road excursions. Doubletake’s adventure kit offers a longer arm option and larger hexagonal mirror surfaces for the widest field of view on bigger bikes while retaining the flexibility and folding functions of the smaller mirror kits when you hit the dirt.
The mirror body and arm are made of glass-reinforced Zytel, a tough thermoplastic composite that resists impacts, abrasions, and degradation from the elements and UV light. The ball mounting system on the Doubletake mirrors offers an infinite range of adjustability along with a highly rigid platform. The crush-proof oversized aluminum ball on the handlebar end has a grippy nitrile rubber coating that doesn’t break down under compression, and the mirror-side ball is smooth for precise on-the-fly positioning. Making larger adjustments to the mirrors or folding them completely down to avoid trail damage is as simple as loosening the large handle (which is easy to grasp with gloves) on the asymmetrical clamp.
I tested the adventure kit with the longer 6-inch arm option on my 2000 Cagiva Gran Canyon. This Ducati-by-another-name is a wide ADV bike, and the mirror mounts are far toward the inside of the handlebar. The extra length on the arm over the 3.5-inch option gave me an excellent field of view, and the 5.2″ x 3.5-inch reflector glass was sharp and bright. That convex reflector is both SAE and CE-rated and extremely high quality—in fact, I believe I may have underestimated how important lens quality is in motorcycle mirrors. The old stock units on the Cagiva appeared dull, wavy, and ill-focused compared to the Doubltakes.
Included with the kits (excluding the trail kit) is a complete set of stainless bolts for most common threaded mounting systems, meaning there’s no need for adapters. In a pinch, Doubletake mirrors can attach to other popular ball-mount systems, but their ball sizing is slightly different, so your mileage may vary. The mirrors are also modular—replacing any individual part of the system and keeping your head on that swivel (including the reflectors for a very reasonable $10) simply means visiting Doubletake’s website.
$25 – $145 | doubletakemirror.com
Images: Doubletake Mirror
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