OK everyone, Here is a bit of a warning for you .. There is a problem with the R&G crash bung kit for fitting to RR8- and upward blades. Some people have noticed that after a crash the thread in the engine mount gets damaged. Sometime it requires repair .. a nut is NOT advisable as a repair as the rear of the mount is webbed to avoid stress cracks and there surface is not parallel .. I think talking to a few others its been wrongly assumed that the damaged is caused by the impact or bend bolts .. it isn't. The damage to the thread is caused because the bolt overhangs the end of the mount. The thread is then damaged by wet heat corrossion and proximity to the exhaust .. when you have a crash or drop and you need to unwind that thread you then have to wind that thread BACK through the alloy damaging it .. do it a few times .. and the thread is fucked. The answer is to either never crash .. or risk removing the bolt and cutting away the protrusion and re-fitting with copper slip or grease .. Thanks to this protrusion and removal of R&G bolts is a risk to the integrity of the mount thread. Nice work R&G .. Will be sending them an email shortly .. Thankfully .. mines savable and takes full torque no issues .. Good Luck peeps .. and if this has been done to death already .. forgive me .. I thought you should all know .. PS .. Honda Original is recessed substantially ..
That's worrying. So just to get this right. When the bolt is inserted it over hangs on the outer side of the mounting hole. The over hang gets corroded etc, so the damage is caused when this get passed through the mount threads again?
It is worrying ...take heed everyone .. The inner part of the bolt overhangs the inside of the engine mount just around the top of the engine near the exhaust headers .. this overhang gets corroded with heat and water .. if you screw up your crash bung by what ever means .. when you unscrew that bolt and wind that exposed bit BACK through the alloy engine mount thread .. it damages it .. after a few times .that thread may need replacement .. i urge everyone to use plenty of grease .. ideally cut the overhand off the bolt .. In fact .. if I had a bike recently fitted .. I'd unfit the crash bung and fix the problem .. if its an old fitment .. dunno what I'd do .. plenty of WD40 on the outter part and prayer .. I'd certainly not remove it unless I had to .. Read a few threads of on this and other forum .. and its the exposed part of the bolt causing the issue .. not the damage from crashing ..
Possibly ... but the R&G bolts are designed to bend at a rate that doesn't damage the frame nor engine mount .. AND Stainless and Alloy react very badly indeed. Possibly causing even more thread damage.. a 10mm shorter bolt might be ideal .. I think its actually only 5mm oversize to be exact .. Need to see the new one fitted before I can comment on that .. I've emailed them .. see what they say .. Also consider that if you got a badly corroded one .. from an early fitment to say a 2008 bike it might be better to leave it altogether or get an engineer to drill it out .. gasp ..
Those crash bung bolts have to come out each time you want your side fairings off.... In other words, at least every year or each time you want to do a proper clean. I hate them now for that reason alone and will not fit them to my bikes ever again. I had a scare with an old rr8 of mine where thread started to muck about even when block supported. It torqued up fine so it was ok but I dreaded the day I ever had to get them out again just in case.
this is useful info, hopefully they will sort this out pronto...let alone the poor beggars who have corrosion already!
UPDATE >>>>>>>>>>> I've phoned R&G .. They were really pleased to know and are actioning the problem with their R&D team ..probably supply a mod'd bolt .. I suggest cutting down the bolts you have .. Using a chaser and finisher to repair threads .. plenty of oil on the corroded bolt end .. And lastly ... Have you seen the cost of plastics? Stripped threads can be heli coiled but acres of plastics and no claims? I still think they are a great product! There is a definite issue with blades and gixxers and R&G users with stripped threads .. I'm guessing they'll get this sorted ASAP. SHIT .. I'd forgotten about cleaning ...! .. Another excuse to avoid it and never ride in the wet!
Another problem with R&G crash bungs, the ones that run through the fairing 'and the water expansion tank' such as on my old ZX9, but likely includes other bikes too is.......... When a bike simply falls over (as in my case) or crashes (on the side with the expansion tank) is that the bung expands at the area where it passes though the expansion tank and splits the tank. This happened to me the other year while in europe. The split wasn't serious but I was unaware of it until I returned home. Not only does it split the tank but it becomes impossible to unscrew, or was in my case and had to be sawn off bit by bit. To be fair though it saved the fairings totally. This is why I've just ordered a set of Gilles crash bungs which don't require fairing drilling.
Yeah .. on all accounts from the dealers I've spoken to .. the company is pretty slack also .. I guess they are isolated enough from their customers to get away with sending orders to dealers out second hand post .. I spoke to several dealers who've give up a few times and ridden / driven down to Alton themselves to pick stuff up. I think the design and attitude is shoddy tbh .. I mean this design problem with the standard bolts and the cost of their plastic crap .. drives me nuts companies like this tbh.. can't be arsed seems to be a motto of theirs.
As you will see from my sig I have a fair bit if their kit on my rr7. Doubt I would buy again though after they couldn't be arsed to respond to a simple email question.
Yeah I think its time to publicly say how slack this lot are .. Its taking them forever to send parts from Alton to a town just literally down the road .. Had I have known where they were I'd have gone and gotten them. I was told they didn't like people slagging them off on the internet .. basically .. but it seems .. tbh .. with those prices for **** plastic bits .. and lack of attention to detail .. I'll not buy any more for any subsequent bikes ..
Wow this is a well spotted problem and thanks for the heads up! I noticed something strange going on with one of the bolts (slightly damaged threads on the R&G plated mild steel bolts) and decided on replacing them with stainless steel ones. For those who decide on doing the same be mindful they are fine thread and therefore fairly special and as mentioned above it'd be worth using 5 mm shorter ones. Bimetallic corrosion IMO shouldn't be a major problem if assembled dry and threads packed with Copaslip. The original Honda bolts are stainless too.
Good to know mate .. I think it needs to be a little more than 5mm .. I think I'll get stainless myself and take a little off and use copper slip .. It has been said to me by several really experiences mechs that copper slip might be NOT as good as Silicon in this situation .. and that even thread LOCK may provide a solution as some brands lock and protect .. I know exactly who to get a definitive answer from .. and being a boring mechanically meticulous type .. who uses this obsession to demand top dollar for second hand bikes he sells .. I shall find the f- out
