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Why, Why, Why....

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Old 03-20-23, 10:39 AM
  #1  
work4bike
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Why, Why, Why....

I just want to rant a little bit, granted it's not a huge deal, but it just leaves me wondering....Why

I've been using Mirrycle mirrors for years; however, just recently I bought one and noticed it came with two allen wrenches. Mirrycle mirrors I've bought in the past have always come with one allen wrench, which fitted all three screws required to mount the mirror.

And, of course, the two allen wrenches are two different sizes, the smaller of the allen wrenches is for the screw that fastens the mirror base into the handlebar and the larger allen wrench is for the other two screws.

Why did they do this? I've never had a problem with all screws having the same size head...what's the deal?




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Old 03-20-23, 10:41 AM
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Must have had complaints from a few customers about a bolt or two occasionally loosening during use. Larger bolt = enough additional torque.
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Old 03-20-23, 10:42 AM
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I blame the alignment of the planets, or a disturbance in the force.
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Old 03-20-23, 10:43 AM
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Wow. That's a huge life problem. I hope you can handle it.
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Old 03-20-23, 10:47 AM
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Originally Posted by Trakhak
Must have had complaints from a few customers about a bolt or two occasionally loosening during use. Larger bolt = enough additional torque.
If that did happen, I wonder if they lubricated the threads, which is a no-no for the design. Anyone could easily over-torque the screws even with the smaller wrench.
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Old 03-20-23, 10:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
Wow. That's a huge life problem. I hope you can handle it.
I don't know...I may need some counseling
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Old 03-20-23, 10:51 AM
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Maybe they should just stop providing the free tools with their products.
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Old 03-20-23, 10:54 AM
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What comes before a first world problem?
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Old 03-20-23, 11:32 AM
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Obviously, because of supply line problems, they were unable to get the third size Allen bolts, and had to settle for only two sizes.
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Old 03-20-23, 11:46 AM
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Maybe they wanted to ensure their reputation for a decent product would be upheld by making certain only those of some intelligence would be using their product? So, if you figure out which wrench to use, you pass!
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Old 03-20-23, 11:50 AM
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good rant
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Old 03-20-23, 12:09 PM
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Allen came into the Mirrycle offices one day and said "Sure is nice that I sell one of my wrenches with every mirror, but I think we might all find life a bit easier if you make me twice as happy. Sure be a shame if them nice mirrors started breaking mysteriously."
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Old 03-20-23, 12:23 PM
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Originally Posted by rsbob
I blame the alignment of the planets, or a disturbance in the force.
I blame the chain lube the OP is using. Clearly he is using the wrong chain lube.
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Old 03-20-23, 12:27 PM
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Originally Posted by work4bike
I just want to rant a little bit, granted it's not a huge deal, but it just leaves me wondering....Why

I've been using Mirrycle mirrors for years; however, just recently I bought one and noticed it came with two allen wrenches. Mirrycle mirrors I've bought in the past have always come with one allen wrench, which fitted all three screws required to mount the mirror.

And, of course, the two allen wrenches are two different sizes, the smaller of the allen wrenches is for the screw that fastens the mirror base into the handlebar and the larger allen wrench is for the other two screws.

Why did they do this? I've never had a problem with all screws having the same size head...what's the deal?
Assuming Mirrcycle are doing real engineering, they've selected screws for the clamping force they provide. There's little reason to choose a bigger screw, when a smaller screw will do the job.

But if this is the mirror in question:



It sure looks like the long screw mounting to the handlebar is the fat one. They probably were forced to use a bigger screw here, as small screws don't come in very long lengths.

The use of 3 washers under a screw looks hinky to this old engineer. Maybe they're using them as spacers. Hinky.
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Old 03-20-23, 12:29 PM
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Originally Posted by livedarklions
Allen came into the Mirrycle offices one day and said "Sure is nice that I sell one of my wrenches with every mirror, but I think we might all find life a bit easier if you make me twice as happy. Sure be a shame if them nice mirrors started breaking mysteriously."
Sort of like the "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz" campaign of long ago!
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Old 03-20-23, 12:30 PM
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
Assuming Mirrcycle are doing real engineering, they've selected screws for the clamping force they provide. There's little reason to choose a bigger screw, when a smaller screw will do the job.

But if this is the mirror in question:



It sure looks like the long screw mounting to the handlebar is the fat one. They probably were forced to use a bigger screw here, as small screws don't come in very long lengths.

The use of 3 washers under a screw looks hinky to this old engineer. Maybe they're using them as spacers. Hinky.

Be honest, do you really care about the topic, or did you just want to type "screw" a bunch of times?
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Old 03-20-23, 12:55 PM
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
Assuming Mirrcycle are doing real engineering, they've selected screws for the clamping force they provide. There's little reason to choose a bigger screw, when a smaller screw will do the job.

But if this is the mirror in question:



It sure looks like the long screw mounting to the handlebar is the fat one. They probably were forced to use a bigger screw here, as small screws don't come in very long lengths.

The use of 3 washers under a screw looks hinky to this old engineer. Maybe they're using them as spacers. Hinky.
Yes, that's exactly what I have.

I have an old mirror that I keep on hand for spare parts, everything there (mirror is cracked). I verified that all three screws are the same size as the old "design", that's both in length and thread size.

The only difference is that the allen size for the two top cap screws are about a 1/2-mm larger. I'm guessing they're 3.5-mm screws, but I don't have a 3.5mm allen wrench in my tool kit. The bottom (long bolt) is a 3-mm allen and on my old mirror assembly the 3-mm allen fits all 3 screws.

There is absolutely no perceived difference in assembly, using the larger allen wrench.



.
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Old 03-20-23, 01:14 PM
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Oh my God! Thank you for the warning. If it had happened to me, and I had no previous knowledge of it, I'm not sure I could go on. What are we going to do to end this catastrophe, and ensure no one else needlessly suffers? Maybe we can divert some African famine resources to the cause...
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Old 03-20-23, 01:28 PM
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I love this website
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Old 03-20-23, 01:55 PM
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Originally Posted by work4bike
I just want to rant a little bit, granted it's not a huge deal, but it just leaves me wondering....Why

I've been using Mirrycle mirrors for years; however, just recently I bought one and noticed it came with two allen wrenches. Mirrycle mirrors I've bought in the past have always come with one allen wrench, which fitted all three screws required to mount the mirror.

And, of course, the two allen wrenches are two different sizes, the smaller of the allen wrenches is for the screw that fastens the mirror base into the handlebar and the larger allen wrench is for the other two screws.

Why did they do this? I've never had a problem with all screws having the same size head...what's the deal?
So, seriously, what is the problem?
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Old 03-20-23, 01:58 PM
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Originally Posted by work4bike
The only difference is that the allen size for the two top cap screws are about a 1/2-mm larger. I'm guessing they're 3.5-mm screws, but I don't have a 3.5mm allen wrench in my tool kit. The bottom (long bolt) is a 3-mm allen and on my old mirror assembly the 3-mm allen fits all 3 screws.

There is absolutely no perceived difference in assembly, using the larger allen wrench..
There isn't an ISO metric socket screw size with a 3.5 mm hex socket size. M4 uses 3mm hex, M5 uses 4mm hex.

I don't know what you have there that might be between 3 and 4 mm hex. An ANSI screw?
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Old 03-20-23, 02:22 PM
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Allen wrenches are damn useful:

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Old 03-20-23, 02:50 PM
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Originally Posted by RoadWearier
Mirrors are for ****s anyway. If you want to look behind you turn your head for a tenth of a second. Mirrors should go into the "Waste of Money" thread.
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Old 03-20-23, 03:08 PM
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I have that product. In fact I have both the road and the mountain bike version, and both I've had to re-engineer to make them useful for me. The road version kept breaking from pothole jarring so I had to configure out the weekness, and the mountain bike version I had to adapt to my touring bike, to attach to the end of my drops. I like the product, mainly because it is adaptable. The second wrench will be looked forward to with glee when I have to replace one of my mirrors.
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Old 03-20-23, 03:15 PM
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Just wait until they decide to use a tamper-proof Torx, and don't supply the wrench.
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