steering damper

yeah ive never seen the need to have one either,always kind of figured it was one of those well the road racing guys use em and they look cool so i need one too items! unless you start jacking up rear of bike and lowering front to speed steering up i dont see a need for one on a 900-1000 anyway;)

I'm pretty sure my 550's have a quicker geometry than most of the older KZ's. Accelerating quickly over a bumpy stretch shows why you need it. When the front wheel is very light and just skimming over bumps, hitting a tall bump at an angle can really pull the bars on you. The steering damper eliminates that.

I installed a fork brace before the damper which helped, but the damper made the night and day difference. I also replaced the tires, swingarm bearings, wheel bearings, tapered steering bearings, front springs, fork seals, fork bushings, rear shocks, and aligned the frame, but it happens the same on all of the 550's I've ridden. I have done all of this on three different frames and the results were the same every time. (That's one advantage of having several of the same bike.)

If it wobbles on a smooth road it's usually the rear tire. But if you get single wiggle as you go over longitudinal exspansion joints in the road at high speed, the steering damper really helps reduce that too.

I can't say what would happen on an 82 1000 LTD, though.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2008/03/01 14:27