Due to their construction material (aluminum), their intended use (support for both the mirrors and the front cowling) as well as their poor mounting point on the headlight support, makes mirror supports fragile and brittle. Vibrations, pot holes, road bumps or even accidental mirror pushes, very soon take their toll on each of these supports which end up braking around their mounting point. The pictures that follow illustrate the damage on a removed left mirror support (but a plain run of the fingers around the base of each support when fitted will reveal whether it’s been damaged without the need to remove it). These supports – each weighing in at only 152 g (when intact) – have long been discontinued by the factory and are no longer available to order (original Ducati listing price was circa GBP 35 for each). The extortionate asking price of the limited few examples available for sale in good/nos condition, in combination with the abundance of carbon fibre alternatives out there, makes their replacement with the much superior carbon fibre ones a no brainer (even for the hardcore purists seeking to keep their bike in period correct form). As I have recently happened to have come into possession of a new right one at a fair price, was wondering whether anyone has any fitting tips that could be followed so as to make it last a little bit longer? Somehow and due to the confined space, I doubt that a rubber flange could be fitted. Removing the mirrors is very much on the cards, as besides from offering absolutely nothing in terms of function they are – due to their weight and stress they put on the support whilst driving – the culprit behind most of the damage.
My RH side support broke like the one pictured above when the bike worked it's way off the paddock stand as I was lubing the chain. Fortunately my car broke it's fall so it only ended up leaning against the car but the support twisted and caused a break as above also broke the mirror housing but I had a spare so OK there. That said it was many years ago and it's still fitted and working fine. As for preventing it happening, not sure what to suggest, carbon fibre parts would probably be the route I would go down if I needed replacements.
I agree with you in most part. I also had an off at the track and broke a mount, sort of. I was luck the screw into the headlight bucket was only 4 threads deep and just stripped that out. I didn't have mirrors on so the top end was OK. You should use the proper break screws for the mirrors so you don't damage the support or the mirror body in a fall. I find the mirrors work OK and they look nice enough. The only real alternative is bar end mirrors that look shite on a 916
I totally agree with you that they very much still serve their purpose even if/when broken. What I have identified to be the non-visible collateral damage that the prolonged driving around with broken mirror supports brings is/are the following: rattling of front cowling (that in turn cracks the cowling not only on the top where with mirrors bolt on but also below at the threaded M8 inserts - see below), the mounting point for the special mirror screw in the mirror itself cracks (see also below), as well as damage to the headlight support (where these supports screw on). These are much costly not to factor them in.
I've had a couple of mirrors crack around the base but, at least one was before the support broke. It does seem that some are a tighter fit than others which may be part of the reason. Not sure if related but I've only had red ones crack, my original black ones were fine when I swapped to red. Maybe the (later manufactured) red mirrors are of a different make? though they're still genuine Ducati parts. Can't remember if just the one side broke but that's why I had some spares as I bought them as and when I saw them at a good price.
