Next job was to investigate why the Handlebars felt loose, and why I could feel a knock when moving the bike around. I realised that the Handlebar mount bolted down to the top yoke was moving about, and knocking as the slack in whatever was worn or loose was taken up. Looking at the parts diagrams online there appears to be a difference between the Enduro and other 1200/1260 Multistradas. The Enduro has a spacer under the mount to raise the bars a little. Interestingly the Bolt, parts 15 and 28 in the images below is listed as the same part number for both. That must be a mistake, as the bolt would need to be longer for the Enduro: I was thinking perhaps the Rubber vibration dampers, 10 or 25 above, had worn out so decided to take the clamp off the top yoke.
The first thing I realised was that either my bike came out of the factory with no spacers, or more likely somebody has removed them to lower the handlebars a little: With the top clamp and Handlebars out of the way I was a little shocked to find this: At this point I thought I was going to have a hell of a job getting those out, so filled the holes with my favorite mixture of Diesel and Brake cleaner and went off to brew up. When I came back I thought "well here goes" and tried both with an Allen key. To my delight both were actually completely loose, very loose, not tight at all, which explained why the Handlebars felt loose, but one was bent as it wobbled about as it was wound out. Unfortunately they have an M10 fine pitch thread and I didn't have replacements available, so I cleaned everything up, straightened the bent bolt as best I could and put it all back together. I'm pleased to say all the looseness has gone, but it will all need to come apart again as I'll order some replacement bolts in Stainless.
The Enduro had a spacer underneath as I bought some to raise the bars on my 1260. I think there are a couple of versions, one was the standard one (15mm?) and there was a lower version (10mm?). They were pretty cheap to buy from Ducati.
Thanks @Twin4me, I assume you had to have new longer bolts too. I'm happy with the bars at the height they are, so won't be reinstating the spacers that should be there. .
Pretty sure they came with the new bolts in the kit. Now I think about it I’m sure one type were to lower the Enduro bars from standard (or the alternative I used them for was to raise the 1260 bars)
Due to lots of other commitments today was the first chance I've had to ride the bike since swapping over to standard levers and removing the foam grips from over the standard ones. The levers are so much nicer to use, a much nicer shape and profile. But wow, I can't describe how much difference it's made removing the foam grips somebody had fitted over the top of the standard Ducati ones. The difference in diameter is immediately obvious, the grips now feel so much more natural in the hand and I realised that for the first time I really felt in control of the bike. Just being able to wrap my fingers round the grips, to a size we are all more used to just felt right, and of course the throttle movement required was less. Why somebody did what they did I'll never know, but I'm so much happier with just the standard grips.
Probably because they have very big hands, like me. The standard Ducati grips for me, are way too small a diameter and cause considerable pain on longer rides. Something like the Grip Puppy is an essential mod. Andy
I too have used grip puppies as I have hands like shovels, or so I’m told. They can also help with numbness caused by handle bar vibration that some bikes /riders may suffer from.
