Some mirrors produced by Aeromach, the Santee, California manufacturer could be considered objects of art. This effect is created by an incredible amount of design time that goes into every mirror and arm that Aeromach makes.
Richard Fouhy, Aeromach's owner, and a machinist for almost 30 years, started out in a 400-square-foot rented space in someone else's shop. He used rented machines tomanufacture aerospace pieces for the then prospering industry. That was fourteen years ago. Two years later he was working out of his own 2500-square-foot facility fabricating parts for M-l tanks and space shuttle components from a variety of materials includingalumimum, stainless steel, and composite alloys. When the Space Age went bust, he crossed over to the commercial arena, creating specialty parts for medical, radar and laser optical devices.
It was a 1981 Wide Glide, which Richard raked and painted with skeletons that was the turning point in his range of products. “I wasn't happy with the mirrors on my bike, so I went to the big Del Mar bike event to check out what the competition had to offer. I looked around, and thought to myself, 'Hey, I can do better than that. I've got the machines, materials and experience in aerospace quality'.” In November of 1993, Richardmade his first mirror. “It was just for myself, and it probably cost me $3,500 considering all the R&D time.”
That same degree of intense design consideration still goes into all Aeromach mirrors, and there are quite a few of them including the hot Flame Mirror with Flame Arm and the cool Extreme Oval Mirror. All of Aeromach mirrors can be individually customized in as much as a customer can mix and match the various stem designs, in long and shortlengths, with the various mirror body components. Such “swapping” can create a whole new look from bar hopper to classic chopper, to aggressive sport racer in minutes.
The show quality mirrors are cut from 12-foot lengths of extruded billet, then highlypolished before being shipped to plating. Before the show quality finishing touches are applied, a great deal of thought goes into their prototyping.
“One of our first concerns is clarity of vision,” Richard added. “A mirror is just a clump of metal attached to your handlebars if you can't see a clear image in it. There's the obvious safety consideration, too.Our mirrors provide 40 percent less vibration which translates to a much clearer reflected image.”
Asyou probably noticed with stock mirrors, they shake, vibrate and eventually come loose.”How do you get 40% less vibration? We get that question at every bike show. We accomplish this through the use of our Beta Testing Program, while manufacturing a prototypeand running it through our harmonics testing software,” Richard explained. They also use stainless steel components inside their mirrors so once you adjust and tighten the screws, they stay tight. “We had a test run from Los Angeles to Daytona with one of our mirrors,” Richard said. “It didn't even require a single minor adjustment.”
They check out the aesthetics and most importantly bolt it on a bike for extended test rides using his old Shovel and a new Twin Cam as well. They shoot for a clear window of vision between 40-70 mph, the most frequently used speeds. The key to maintaining clarity of image, and thus a safe scan of the world behind the rider, is to keep the mirror steady as the engine moves up through the powerband where gear changes and R.P.M. fluctuations can work mischief on a less balanced mirror.
Today 100 percent of Aeromach's production is motorcycle related components. With a recent relationship with Orange County Choppers to design and produce mirrors for theirtheme bike projects, Aeromach has been forced to take mirror designing to the next level.
“Our relationship with OCC began with a chance meeting with Paul Sr. at a dealer show a few years back. Our outrageous mirrors took big Paul back and we werestruck by the creativity of their bikes,” says Jeff, Aeromach product designer. “Since thatmeeting, we have been asked to machine some challenging theme mirrors while meetingPaul Jr.'s strict attention to detail and originality.”
The mirrors are all “user-friendly”. Meaning they come with all of the necessary hardware to install and only require a Phillips screwdriver, 1/4 and 1/2-inch wrench.
For more information contact:
Aeromach Manufacturing
11423-B Woodside Ave., Santee, Ca. 92071,
(619) 258-5443
(800) 990-9392
