Careful walking past the bike, broken indicator

Learned a valuable lesson today. If you are a bit of a klutz like myself be careful when walking past the bike. The rear indicator stalks stick out a bit and I managed to clip one with my thigh and snapped the bastard off. Thankfully they have a break away design and can be reattached after quite a bit of fiddling. I swear all the workers at the KTM factory must be petite women with tiny hands or midgets (child labour maybe?).

The rubberised stalk of the indicator is housed via a rubber grommet holding onto a hollow bolt. The hex head of the bolt has a groove around the middle. the grommet (o-ring maybe if being technical) on the stalk sits in the groove.
You need to completely remove the stalk/bolt via a retaining nut under the tail tidy. You then have to remove the lens/bulb/reflector. The +/- wires need to slide out through the hollow part of the bolt. The electrical clips need to be squashed down a bit or removed completely in order to get them through the hollow bolt for removal.

I then used boiling water on the stalk to soften it up. Bit of pressure and some jiggling and it went back on without to much drama. I would have provided some pictures but only thought of that after I had put it all back together. Never the less boiling water is the trick, without softening the rubber a bit it is nigh on impossible to re-seat the grommet.

Just thought I would share this (cough) adventure with my fellow superdukers

just a quick edit I have drawn this diagram to hopefully add a bit of clarity

I love those "ah crap!" moments

I have knocked mine off before a few times. There is a much easier way to refit them however, can't remember how exactly but I ermember by removing the lens of the indicator you can snap it all back together very quickly.

what model SD do you have ?, have they changed the rear indicators from year to year? I pushed and poked for about half an hour ,could not re-seat it. just couldn't get the required leverage while it was still attached. Also while the rubber was cold it just wasn't giving and I was worried that forcing it too hard would damage it and make the joint weak. I am 6'3" and a rather large bloke and like to think I am not limped-of-the-wrist. I was applying what I thought was a fair degree of force and couldn't even get it close to going back in. I guess you could poke a slim and small flathead screwdriver or similar tool to leverage the opening but again I was worried about damaging the rubber and making the joint weak.

All tips and tricks are very welcome since I knocked one of my indicators off with my knee when I got on the bike a week ago. It is still hanging on by tape. So this tread came up at the right time for me.

I wish I could remember, mine was snapped off at indicator end of the rubber bit rather than bike end. Once you take off the clear lens its much easier for some reason.

Mine was an 09, wish I still had it Just got a very temperamental RC8 now

All I remember was it wasn't as much of a PITA when that lense was off

I snapped mine at the bike end, flush with the fairing. The design of the bolt and grommet gives a firm hold but allows the entire blinker unit and stalk to break away without any damage. Kinda glad they designed it liked that. Was fiddly the first time I did it but now I know how its done probably only take me 10-15 mins to fix . Having to buy a new (and knowing KTM, expensive) replacement after only a months ownership would have really shat me off

from your picture mine broke further down the stalk, flush with the bike, not nearly as simple a fix unfortunately.

I popped my left rear indicator off at the base of the stalk two years ago. I did manage to get it back in to place, but it didn't take much of a bump to knock it off again a month later. I was happy to discover the factory replacement part was less the $20 US

Kuerbis

Thanks Rob! Exactly what I needed!

Not Screwed, can be fixed. Both parts can be reattached as per my OP just thought I would clarify which section was broken

oops double post

Well, this happened to me on Friday night, what a pain in the behind! I would have been lost without this page though - thank you Mick75 if you ever read this, you saved me a trip to the dealer I think

Additional Observations:

* Boiling water really is the way to go. I tried silicone lube and got nowhere before reverting to the sage advice of the OP.
* The earth connector has a small piece of excess metal that sticks out at 90 degrees away from the blade of the connector. If you're careful, you can cut this away and end up with a connector that's still functional but also able to pass through the hollow bolt.
* The live connector is a bugger. I think the best way to deal with it would be to put a break in the wire with a connector that can pass through the bolt. I ended up cutting it off and soldering the wire back together. If you resort to that method be careful with your soldering - I used so much solder trying to create a secure connection that there's now a bit of the wire that won't bend and fitting it all back into the housing then becomes a challenge because it's very space limited...sigh. Ah well, it may see out the summer and that would be enough