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[Red Clay]

I must admit to riding too many miles with really crappy mirrors. Not any more! The new Doubletake Mirrors just arrived and I am very pleased! New look, decided to go with an alternative build and put an adventure mirror on the 3 in/76mm RAM arm plus extentions(one is left hand thread). Tilted the mirror up a little. They fold down and out of the way really well.

Ever seen this setup?

Ride On!
Red Clay

[Say10 15FX 16FXS]

I like the adjustability of the ball mounts but those massive stalks might affect your range, ha. Also did a double take when I saw the price, $120 squid for a pair!

[Curt]

I've had them on my KTM for years. Hopefully the newer ones are better. The problem I had was that they'd move around easily, and I couldn't hand-tighten them enough to stop that. So I started using pliers to tighten them and they still moved around. I kept tightening them and the RAM ball plastic/rubber material started to deform and squish out of the RAM clamps. The damn things still move around in the wind.

[Red Clay]

Thanks for the heads up on loose mirrors. Curious, tossing ideas here, do you think roughening the plastic on the RAM balls with sandpaper would help?

Red Clay

[NEW2elec]

Finally, an opportunity to share my one Zero hack.  Well it's a ball joint hack.

Closed cell foam ear plugs.
My 2013 mirrors started flopping around so I took it apart and cut about a third of a plug off and jammed it up into the female section of the ball joint.  They want to expand so they fill in any open space.  They don't soak up water because they are closed foam.  I can still adjust the mirror but it's nice and firm and wind proof.

For that setup you might try two full plugs one on each side of each ball.

[Red Clay]

Excellent input. The experts shine again. Ever thought of changing your name to ANSWER2elec?

[TheRan]

Is the ball attached to the mirror removable? If so you could swap it to the bigger Ram ball. More surface area = more friction

[Red Clay]

The ball is permanently attached to the mirror case.

[TheRan]

Ultimate Addons make these arms with indentations on the socket that look like they'd grip the ball quite well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimateaddons%C2%AE-Motorcycle-Inch-Extension-balls/dp/B00ED2BBYU/ref=sr_1_91?dchild=1&keywords=Ram+Mounts&qid=1604355653&quartzVehicle=29-411&replacementKeywords=mounts&sr=8-91

[Curt]

Here's a picture where my lower ball is being squished yet the upper still slipping.

Sandpapering the upper ball didn't help. I wondered if I could glue a piece of plastic sandpaper in there but haven't tried yet. The foam earplugs idea sounds interesting, hmmmm.

[Crissa]

Yeah, that squished ball has failed.  It just needs to be replaced.

-Crissa

[Red Clay]

I agree with crissa, that ball looks defective, maybe air pockets in the plastic. Doubletake may replace that, if not, it is fairly cheap. Me? I'd cut it in half and have a look. (after acquiring another one). Let us know what happens with that.

[NEW2elec]

Ok first, Curt you are one sure enough ball buster.  You must be related to my ex girlfriend. 

My 13 DS mirrors are set up a bit different as they use a locking round threaded "nut" to hold the mirror to the ball.  It sits at the end of the ball joint where as yall's are set up to hold it on the sides.

The set up yall have will likely need to be undone and the ball pulled out and try to hold a plug or half of one rolled up tight and then quickly put the ball back in and start to tighten it.

Anything that adds uneven friction will help.  I think sandpaper would just shrink the ball and smooth it further over time.
A rubbery plastic dip on the ball might work but again it can wear off in time.

I use those plugs when I ride so I know how they expand into your ear canal and then stay in place so I used it to increase the friction without damaging my mirror in any way.

[Curt]

The ball obviously needs to be replaced, but that still wouldn't fix the slipping problem at the top end of the clamp!

If the replacement ball was hard plastic instead of rubbery, then I'd expect it to slip at the bottom end as well.

My theory on gluing in sandpaper is that it normally wouldn't slip at all, and therefore wouldn't wear at all. During a crash, it would slip greatly. It should take dozens of crashes before the ball was worn out (therefore it would last several weeks. )

[Crissa]

Having the balls different materials is making the spring not balance the load evenly.  Which would make slipping harder to fix.

-Crissa