So, brace yourselves! What should have been a really simple job on my 848 turned into a bit of a nightmare. Basically the bolt supplied for the steering damper has a head on it that's about 1mm oversized in both height and OD. This means that you can't actually get the steering damper back in it's clamp without scratching it which in turn stops the rose joint from moving. I know it's weird, others have had no issues but me and my buddy were in the garage for 2 hours measuring bolts and figuring it out. The instructions say "use the supplied 25mm bolt for 848", there isn't one, it's 22mm there abouts and is no where near long enough and even if it was it has the same issue with the head. The answer was to grind the head of the bolt flat, which ultimately removes some surface area for the allen key to grip (as the depth of the head inner is also very shallow compared to OEM). And also to grind 1mm off the diameter so that when fitted it allows the steering damper to move enough to give free play. We fitted it all eventually.... and you can see the difference in height it provides.. So all's well that ends well, well not quite... I realise others have fitted this product, but I emailed the manufacturer and got a really dismissive answer saying they can't understand why I have a problem. As with most aftermarket parts there is a risk to safety, and I really don't think that there steering damper (which has a rose joint for a reason) should be fitted in a way that restricts the movement. I'm posting this for feedback really on what others experienced. My feeling is that they have switched suppliers for these bolts and there is a small but impacting difference to the head size and I just want them to at least acknowledge my comments as I shouldn't have had to modify bolts on a £300 product. Rant over... ;-)
Mine was fine on my bike but I ‘thought’ that the bolt I got was a domed head one. Mind it is a few years so my memory could have gone ! Excellent product. Made a vast difference to comfort on the wrists.
Yeah, it’s a nice product and am looking forward to seeing if it helps me out on the road. I’m just a little annoyed with the attitude of the manufacturer, untimately I wouldn’t have been able to fit it without sourcing a new bolt, which needed to be a specific size head. And for a £300 product that’s not acceptable
An update, in the interests of completing the thread. I did continue some conversation with the manufacturer and supplied the specs of the bolt versus standard and the modifications we made to the bolt and they were very receptive and said it could be possible they had been sent a batch of very slightly different bolts. Either way, just wanted to say I was left with a positive feeling regarding the situation. I rode the bike in this morning and initial impressions are that the front end of the bike feels 'stiffer'. I'm struggling a little in general because my rear tyre has squared of and it's obviously effecting the steering of the bike but it definitely feels really 'rigid'. I wonder if others have had a similar experience. Overall I did about 35miles this AM in commute mode, with backpack etc on and find that the ergo's are now very 'panigale' which is fine by me as I loved the positioning on that.
