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[Curt]

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

The balls were originally the same size, yet it slipped. Given that I shouldn't have to use pliers to keep it from slipping in the first place, the product is clearly designed wrong. Are you arguing that it's not?

[TheRan]

Is that a legit Ram ball? Looks like it might have the logo on it but not sure. I assumed the rubber coating was only thin, there's no need for it to be thick enough to squish like that. I've cranked down on mine quite a bit (no pliers though) and while there is an indentation where the clamp was it's not squished as much as that and there's no cracking. I'll have had it 2 years in December and it's seen plenty of rain and sun, below freezing to just over 30°C. I'm going to replace the U bolt mount for one of the sleeker looking bar mounts soon so when I do I'll cut the rubber off and see how thick it is.

[Crissa]

It shouldn't be squished like that, no.  Having a ball squish takes pressure off the other ball.  It looks broken.

-Crissa

[NEW2elec]

Yeah it's like chop sticks one side closes the other side opens.

I know it may have gotten frustrating going loose but when something has a hand handle to tighten just use your hand and not tools.

[Curt]

The design flaw is not that the lower ball is rubbery. It's that the upper ball is hard plastic, so it slips in the hard plastic clamp. For all I know, if the upper ball were also rubbery, then I could hand tighten it and all would be well.

I think RAM knows how to design these things and Doubletake doesn't. It's a fundamentally bad design to mold the ball out of hard plastic (Zytel) as an integral part of the mirror arm. (The shape, quality and durability of the mirrors otherwise is indisputably great.)

[Crissa]

No, it's that both need to be the same hardness.  Unless the spring is offset.  Then put the tighter end on the smooth ball.

-Crissa

[NEW2elec]

Curt, they are supposed to be able to swing in and out and to move if they are hit by a tree branch on the trail or pull them in for lane splitting.
I hope you don't feel your being chastised for trying to get your mirror to firm up by tightening it in hopes of getting it to stay put.
Stuff happens.

Which ever way you go to fix it good luck.

[Curt]

No, it's that both need to be the same hardness.

Right, both rubber. If both ends were hard plastic, then both ends would slip for lack of friction. In a proper application, the clamps hold when thumb-tightened.

Curt, they are supposed to be able to swing in and out and to move if they are hit by a tree branch on the trail or pull them in for lane splitting.

That is the theory. Unfortunately, they move when you hit holes and rocks and roots, so they have to be adjusted constantly while out on the trails. The frustration leads to overtightening.

I also have the RAM balls that spin into the stock mirror holes. That looks great, except when you hit a branch the whole mirror arm comes loose and swings all around, ruining your ride, and you might as well have had a stock mirror.

Even if Doubletake did switch to hard rubber, the rubber might tear and wear quickly. Doubletake has a great concept, but it doesn't work great for enduro use.

[Crissa]

No, it's that both need to be the same hardness.

Right, both rubber. If both ends were hard plastic, then both ends would slip for lack of friction. In a proper application, the clamps hold when thumb-tightened.

Again, they just need to be the same hardness.  This is a friction hold, and compressing the ball means any slip is going to add sheering which will damage the ball.  My camera mount uses two hard ones and it's fine (my only problem is the screws keep vibrating loose).

-Crissa

[Curt]

Again, they just need to be the same hardness.

Unfortunately, Doubletake doesn't make them like that and neither does RAM. If you know where to get a hard plastic 1" ball bar mount please let me know.

[TheRan]

Ram do make ones that are supposedly plastic, however only in M6 and M8 (and 1/4-20) and I assume you're using the M10 one. They do make ones that have an M8 bolt going through them instead of a threaded stud, perhaps you could drill one of those out to fit an M10 bolt.

However I don't think hard plastic is the way to go, there's just not enough friction to hold it. If it was me I'd try coating the ball on the mirror with some sort of rubber, perhaps the stuff you can buy to coat hand tool handles like pliers (Dip and Grip).

[Crissa]

My camera mounts are just plastic.  *shrug*

-Crissa

[TheRan]

I have quite a few ballheads too, but they're all much bigger than 1 inch and have less leverage than that mirror setup. They also have a different clamping mechanism that applies the force over a larger area and finer threads on the clamping screw so more torque can be applied by hand.

[Curt]

There are these thread adapters 10mm to 8mm specifically for motorcycle mirror use.

But yes, I do have some Plasti-Dip I could try. I wonder if that would stick to the plastic ball or just envelope it. There's still the foam earplug idea too.

Either way, I need to acquire a pair of balls. Hahaha. Maybe we'd do better to call them knobs instead.