Last night, after a few hard launches and a lot of head shake during shifting, it has come to my attention that a steering stabilizer would be really nice to have. I've shopped around a bit and have found a few varieties of damper, and I prefer the ones that look like a block on the upper clamp, over the ones that look like a steering shock on a jeep. I'm on a budget, and I don't mind making things work, so the big $400 name brand stabilizers are out.

I really like the idea of an electronically controlled damper like the HESD, which i think uses the speedo signal to adjust the valving: more damping a higher speeds, less damping at lower speeds, which would be ideal. Plus, they only go for like $30. the problem is, the HESD only came on the 1000rr. What will it take to retrofit one of these dampers to my bike?

 

you can't retrofit them.

 

....why not? i said what will it take, not can i do it. make a bracket on the tank, drill the triple clamp, tap into the speedo signal, etc ..anything can be done; it's just a matter of how much work it takes to do it.

 

Because it's just not that simple. it's electronically controlled by the ECU, since the ECU from your 03/04 doesn't support the HESD from the 1000RR (go figure) you will need to make a device that will. with all the crap you'll need to get that HESD working, you would have spent four times as much as a scotts damper, with very little payback.