Just checking over all the nuts and bolts on my 916 and found that the steering damper has some movement in it. The nuts on the far right is nice and tight but the fixing under the centre of the damper is loose, I can move the whole thing very slightly, is this normal, If not how do I tighten it up, There seems little room to get to the nut.
If this is correct how the hell does the damper work when it is not fully stable, I must admit I am not an engineer but that seems strange to have movement in a item that is suppose to stop movement.
The damper mount which bolts to the top yoke should be tight! WHen this is tight the only movement shud be a slight rock of the damper fore to aft, as it rocks on the rose jointed bearing. To toghten the clamp you will have to undo the 2 pinch bolts, and the bolt on the left hand side and slide the damper out to get to said bolt!
There's also a small rubber "O" ring sandwiched between the damper mount and the yoke. These wear out and perish over time allowing more movement in the rose joint than there should be. I'll bet that's what's up in your case. Only cost a few pence to replace plus allow about 10 mins to fit - follow the procedure in the above post.
what type of damper is it? After market Ohlins or original ducati? The after market Ohlins does have quite a bit of play in it. As previously said, the play movement should be fore and aft. The damping process is left/right.
Bog standard duke damper, the movement for and aft is only slight so I guess it the same as most other but I will keep a eye on It, I may just change that o ring as suggested.