I like steering dampers on my bikes and invariably fit 'em irrespective of what anything else thinks, but fitting one on the Mutleystraddler, has lead to a chorus of chunters, like those usually only expressed when seeing a fat bird bending over in a very short mini skirt. So I have gone discrete now. I have taken off this setup using Ducabike bits which kinda looked OK, but was in my face a bit, plus I was never keen on fixing to the plastic tank, even though it gave me no issues...it did stop me fitting a tank bag though - which I can now do .... cos I managed to find an under-yoke setup. I did look for one of these ages ago, but could only find the OEM enduro rig... and that meant a non adjustable damper. I wanted an adjustable Now it is all discrete ... the fat sort has put on a longer skirt hopefully ? I get me damper and you ladies don't chuck up quite so easily Its from an outfit called CNC racing in Italia, albeit via a place in Holland cos they wouldnt supply direct... The kit came lightning fast to be fair from G&G racing but needed a bit of work to make it fit. Holes that should be drilled at bolt clearance, either weren't or were tapped out for some reason. Two fixings in a plate that SHOULD be tapped out to 5mm... weren't. so I had to do a bit of rectification work. The instructions were as much use a tits on boar too, there were several spacers unneeded. Not a G&G issue - a CNC Racing issue. I also swapped the crappy hex bolts supplied, for some allen headed replacements that weren't half an inch longer than they needed to be
Surprised to hear about the adjustments necessary. I had rear-sets for my 1299 from them and they were spot on.
Steering dampers: Got one on the RSV4 (but it came with it) - never ever switched it on...never had to, when i have ive left it on slowed up, gone to turn and then cant....which then got me looking around (just now) - hyperpro do one which stiffens up if a jolt/wobble/whatever happens (and RSC unit - reactive saftey control)....that could be a good thing from a safety point of view....
I was almost thrown off my sp1 years ago in a very violent tank slapper, first stop was a sprint steering damper and no more issues. I was riding my 1098s and something felt really really wrong and i discovered one of the damper bolts had loosened, i couldnt believe how it effected the handling. Iv an ohlins on my sport classic and find you dont need much resistance in the settings for dampers to work.
Yeah it does. It mounts in the same way as the Multi Enduro damper does, on the steering head. As I said at the top, I always fit steering dampers if its at all possible. I genuinely like heavier steering...it did work OK when it was tank mount to be fair, but I did find if I wound the damper up towards really firm, the mount could start to flex the tank a little...and I was not sure that was safe, let alone desirable. Mounted as it is now, underneath, I can wind it up a couple more clicks and nothing flexes. I can even take it to the near solid setting and nothing flexes that shouldn't, although I would not ride at that level. I did once on a Z650 back in 1980 and almost put the bike into my in-laws house wall when going up their drive a little too exuberantly This is the bare mount, it is pretty well made, aside from the hole sizing and them tapping and threading the wrong bits. To be fair anyone with a bit of common sense and the tools we all likely have in their garages can sort it. I always do a dry build first so it wasn't a major glitch, just a tad surprising it could be wrong. The instructions are a total joke, most of the supplied fixings are too long too, but I had some stainless fastenings that I swapped in. CNC wont sell to the UK, they wanna go through a UK distributor that doesn't even list them if anyone is interested. I bought mine from Holland and it was here in 48 hours here https://gegshop.nl/en/ (It was cheaper than CNC direct too)
I think I paid £202 delivered for the mounting kit. It was about £220 if I had bought from CNC direct (which I couldn't). I already had the short stroke damper...The Ducabike kit costs about the same. If anyone wants one of those - clearly I have one I dont use now
I had the Hyperpro RSC on my 996, dialled down so fairly light resistance (7 clicks from about 21 IIRC). Unobtrusive and confidence inspiring. So much of an improvement on the standard (non Öhlins) unit. And it looks cool too.
Its about this time that I would be getting damper envy... But I have an Ohlns too! I have it set low, and now I don't really notice it, but I won't ever have a steering issue either.
Full lock on both sides is no issue. It needs an Ohlins OH168 68mm stroke damper or equivalent to make it all work. Wish and others have some lookalike units that may do the job if you are on a budget ? I have seen favourable reports on some of these, at around 30 quid, they surely have to be worth a shot unless you already have the real Mccoy? https://www.wish.com/search/steering damper/product/5ec247640bcaf0ac1914925f?source=search&position=17&share=web Not unless you have arms like an Orangutan lol. That is the downside of the discrete mounting, if you want to fiddle on the move (ooerr missus ) you need the Ducabike rig I took off that is now sitting unloved in my garage
That does look sweet and is exactly what I am after. I am not one to add the damper bling on top of the tank either. I heard the Enduro Ducati model comes with this setup. Strange how they would have it for that model but not on their top of the line Pikes Peak that is already scattered with bits and pieces of Ohlins.
Just fitted the CNC steering damper kit as per Hoot Owl's post, took about 30 mins, though I also did a dry run on my desk with the install schematic and instructions in front of me. Its a nice piece of kit.
