Ok, if you have doubts about the effectiveness of a steering damper try this little experiment: 1. Find your favorite two lane twisty road and on a nice high speed sweeper place one 2x4 in the road, say 2 or 3 feet long. 2. Ride a bike without a steering damper and hit the 2x4 at 60+ MPH, preferably leaned over a bit. Do your best to stay loose and calm as the handlebars are nearly ripped out of your hands. 3. Ride the same bike with a steering damper over the same 2x4 at the same speed and lean as in #2. Notice how the handlebars stay relatively calm. Now ask yourself if the steering damper makes a difference. Think this is an unrealistic experiment? Well this happened to me on the freeway on one of my bikes without a damper and I came very close to crashing in heavy commute traffic after hitting said 2x4 and having the handlebars yanked from my hands. I don't know how I managed to control the bike, but I was lucky the pavement was dry. It scared me to death. I too never thought I needed a steering damper until after that incident.... Headshake is not why I bought my damper, it is the ability to hit an object in the road and live to tell about it. If you have ever had a big tank slapper from hitting something you will know what I mean. I consider a steering damper a safety device, just like ABS. I'll never have a bike without one again.
Gotta say; Just today fitted a Hyperpro RSC to my well abused/looked after '04 1200. Went for a good flog around some local twisty tar/dirt roads and tracks....We are in love again! I could never have imagined the improvement in what already is an incredibly stable motorcycle. I was able to seriously attack turns, both tar & dirt, under brakes, like I couldn't remember. Fookn' amazin!! To the naysayers; TRY IT. (To those who have and say no diff; get a car...) Falling in love again......
I recalled reading about this feature of the Scotts damper but their site explains it better, and I can reduce my typing. From their website: Why is our Stabilizer so much better than others? One of our dampers most important features is that the Scotts Stabilizer only dampens as the handlebar turns away from center. The handlebar "free-valves" back to dead straight. That makes the bike want to go straight, all by itself. This is a huge advantage over other stabilizers. It also boasts a damping control this is adjustable on the fly. It only takes two seconds of one handed riding to change the damping, similar to the time it would take to pull the string on your roll-off lens. Even more importantly, the Scotts stabilizer has a "high-speed" damping adjustment, similar to the high speed adjustment in your shock. Since the stabilizer is literally a little shock absorber controlling the unwanted left to right motion of your bars, it only makes sense that you would want to have a circuit that absorbs the impacts that exceed the normal range of hits, similar to the high speed valving your shock. Most impacts and head-shake at the front wheel are high speed" movements, where on the other hand, turning is generally a low speed movement. If you don't like the feeling the stabilizer provides in turns or while flying a SX jump, you can adjust it out and still retain its ability to absorb high speed impacts. NO OTHER STABILIZER HAS THIS FEATURE. Why? Because its expensive to build and we own the patent on this concept. Not only is the damping rate and high speed circuit adjustable, but the arc of movement over which it operates is also adjustable, we call those sweep controls. So in summary, the Scotts Stabilizer has 3 fully adjustable circuits all of which are critical to any stabilizers ability to function correctly.
I have an 08 GSA1200. Recently installed the Touratech steering stop. Does anyone know if the steering stop will interfer with the HyperPro install? Where is the hyperpro installed....skill level?? Also, any suggestions for the best HyperPro price? Thanks for any input. dave
+1 As I read the thread I was begining to think I was not pushing my bike enough... Even though I am usually going the quickest and usually riding two up and more often that not I am over packed. This being said the bike is rock steady and compared to anything I have riden in the past. It is by far the most predictable bike I have ever riden. Most of my riding is on back roads and a little gravel and dirt. The bike is equiped with ESA and conti trail attacks. In my opinion a stearing damper on a GS is kinda like tits on a bull... However to each his own... If others believe it makes their bike better... I also believe it makes their bike better... Like a placebo...
I put on the Hyperpro stabilizer on over the weekend... Money well spent! The bike handles sooo much better and stable at high speeds. Less than 15 min to install, didn't require the dremel tool to make it fit and it's basically hidden. 9 clicks in totally smoothed out the shake above 85mph.
I just grabbed this one of ebay for under $500 V4 Version 4 GPRV4 Sport http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GPR-...torcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_2286wt_930
Sweet Very interested to know how you go with it, how the install goes and what you think Please keep us posted cheers
I have a rallye moto going on tomorrow, and I'll let you know how the bike (08 GS) responds as the weekend comes and goes.
Im intrested! I'dlike to get my "wobble" out of the frond end when i land after takeoff when crossing railwaycrossings at 80miles/h
...the PO of my '05 GS did that very railroad crossing thing and tanked it. End result was me getting a salvaged R12GS that I otherwise could not a afford. I never had a satbilzer on a bike outside what came on my 77RS so didn't know what I was missing. Now I have one on both my bikes, dirt and street. The subtle benefits will outweigh the cost. In other words, you won't know what your missing until it's gone...
Steering dampner would more than likely solve this issue. I'm convinced you won't want another bike without one.
What setting was your brother using on those curvy roads? Could he have dialed it 'down' to 1 or 2 to resolve the problem there? Would that have worked? -ceej
Well at first it was at 10 (that is the setting I always use it). He wasn't happy, so he dialed it down to the lowest setting. After a while, he suggested that event though the damper is at its lowest setting, it still has some effect and he decided to take it off in the middle of the trip and he is happy ever since. Myself, would not ride the bike without it. There is one drawback I think the damper is causing though, at higher speeds, e.g. over 140km/h and higher, the back of the bike starts to wobble. Sometimes at 140km/h sometimes at 180km/h. But the back wobbles and I don't feel as comfortable as without the damper at higher speeds.
Just installed a Hyperpro RSC damper on my new-to-me 08 GS Adventure and I think it makes a huge difference in the way the bike rides. This is my first GS and my only complaint with the bike is that the GS is more susceptible to turbulence from high profile vehicles, and irregularities in the road surface (tires perhaps?), than either of my fully fared R1100RT or FJR. The Hyperpro damper set on 12 clicks has straightened out both of these conditions. First ride with it on the freeway I followed the aerodynamic equivalent of a brick (cargo van) at 80 MPH and felt absolutely no effect from the turbulence it produced, whereas before the turbulence would have been felt substantially. Although I purchased the Hyperpro for offloading the GS in loose stuff, it's improvement in the GS's slab manners alone are worth it. When I put my Scotts damper on my KTM 640 Adventure it also make it a LOT more freeway palatable in the same way.