2021 Steering Damper Options?

[Jtmofo]

Gday all,

I'm putting together a VTR1000f race bike, and I'm at the stage where I need to spec a damper. I know some will say "why do you want a steering damper" , well, its a race bike, and it will be ridden enthusiastically.

I'm looking at options, and reckon my best option (without blowing the bank) is to pick up a universal fit for a right side mount and 41mm fork clamp.

Has anyone fitted an Ohlins SD 004? It's a 140mm stroke with 375mm Max eye to eye.

Any first hand experience with current market options?

Cheers
Johnny

[MK_WF]

I'm using a LSL kit and it had initial issues with a bend damper rod.

The issue was that it felt strange when steering into slight corners at the German Spreewaldring. For debugging I loosend the steering damper fork clamp and viola - effect was gone.
At home I had a closer look at the damper and found it had a tight spot around mid-stroke. Then I measured the rod and it was bend by a few 10'th mm.
A guarantee claim was dismissed which left me a bit disappointed and motivated me to repair it on my own.
After a bit of pressing and a few tender hits with a mallet I brought it down to a few 1/100's.
This made the damper slide equally over the whole stroke ; the tight spot was gone.

Generally I'd say the "classic" mount of the LSL is very prone to this kind of problems as the mount with a clamp to the fork stanchion has a rather high force lever around the steering axis. So even small friction or "disturbance" forces have a rather high effect.

The "modern" kind of mounting perpendicular to the vehicle longitudinal axis with a small lever under the central steering head nut will be less prone to this.

[8541Hawk]

I would say why do you want a damper before you have even ridden the bike? Sure you might find you need one but I really doubt it.
In the 24 yrs I have had a VTR, I have encountered head shake a total of 1 time. Even then it was more my fault than the bikes as I was on the gas through some pretty thick mud that had washed over the road. Even then she cycled left to right 1 time and then stopped.

IMHO you would be better served with a good fork brace if you are running the stock forks as the stock lower triple is pretty wimpy or go the full monty and swap in a better set of forks.

Another tip or thing to watch out for is in right hand turns, the header is the first thing that will touch down. Even ridden hard enough to put so good sized scars on the header....no head shake.

After all that, If I decided I needed a damper I would run a Scotts unit https://www.scottsonline.com/Stabilizer ... BI_ID=1515

[Jtmofo]

I would say why do you want a damper before you have even ridden the bike? Sure you might find you need one but I really doubt it.
In the 24 yrs I have had a VTR, I have encountered head shake a total of 1 time. Even then it was more my fault than the bikes as I was on the gas through some pretty thick mud that had washed over the road. Even then she cycled left to right 1 time and then stopped.

IMHO you would be better served with a good fork brace if you are running the stock forks as the stock lower triple is pretty wimpy or go the full monty and swap in a better set of forks.

Another tip or thing to watch out for is in right hand turns, the header is the first thing that will touch down. Even ridden hard enough to put so good sized scars on the header....no head shake.

After all that, If I decided I needed a damper I would run a Scotts unit https://www.scottsonline.com/Stabilizer ... BI_ID=1515

As I said, it's a race bike and for safety, I'd rather have one than have an "incident" and then fit one.
I'm fitting a height adjustable shock and fork internals, so I expect that geometry and handling won't be that same as a stock road bike. This can and will cause knock on effects on stability. A damper is a good idea.

I'll see how fork flex goes, but I don't have the budget to go full fork swap at the minute.

A scotts or similar rotary damper would be my preference, but there are very pricey. Unless you feel like selling yours cheap

[Jtmofo]

I'm using a LSL kit and it had initial issues with a bend damper rod.

The issue was that it felt strange when steering into slight corners at the German Spreewaldring. For debugging I loosend the steering damper fork clamp and viola - effect was gone.
At home I had a closer look at the damper and found it had a tight spot around mid-stroke. Then I measured the rod and it was bend by a few 10'th mm.
A guarantee claim was dismissed which left me a bit disappointed and motivated me to repair it on my own.
After a bit of pressing and a few tender hits with a mallet I brought it down to a few 1/100's.
This made the damper slide equally over the whole stroke ; the tight spot was gone.

Generally I'd say the "classic" mount of the LSL is very prone to this kind of problems as the mount with a clamp to the fork stanchion has a rather high force lever around the steering axis. So even small friction or "disturbance" forces have a rather high effect.

The "modern" kind of mounting perpendicular to the vehicle longitudinal axis with a small lever under the central steering head nut will be less prone to this.

Some very good points there. Especially on a race bike that has the potential to be dropped... often.
I'll look into options for across the triples damper.

[8541Hawk]

As I said, it's a race bike and for safety, I'd rather have one than have an "incident" and then fit one.
I'm fitting a height adjustable shock and fork internals, so I expect that geometry and handling won't be that same as a stock road bike. This can and will cause knock on effects on stability. A damper is a good idea.

I'll see how fork flex goes, but I don't have the budget to go full fork swap at the minute.

A scotts or similar rotary damper would be my preference, but there are very pricey. Unless you feel like selling yours cheap

Well again, you might want to ride it first but just because my bike is mainly for the street, don't think she hasn't seen the track.
Also my rear shock does have ride height adjustment (I can go up to 10mm longer than stock) and when I had the stock forks they were pulled up 10mm.

So yes I have tried many combinations and have had the rear up much higher than recommended. I have also messed around with shortening the wheel base. While I have found the "sweet spot" for how I ride (which is only slightly different than stock) I haven't had any issues with head shake.....even through the corkscrew at Laguna Seca.... though I was actually more concerned about the "carousel " at Sears Point A.K.A. Infineon but again no issues.

I truly meant no offense,run whatever you want, just trying to help out with your budget...... As for "selling mine cheap" I have never had a damper on this bike and never will.