Should I get a steering damper if I'm just riding on the road? Is it just for racing? What, if any, benefit would it provide for normal road riding? Thanks.

 

A steering damper will help for a smoother ride going down the road, It will pretty much prevent tank slappers and head shake. I'd recommend it for street and race use. The three name brands everyone tends to have are Ohlins, Gpr, and Scotts. It can be a bike a life saver, for many situations, and is and would be on my upgrade list for my bike if I already didn't have a scotts.

 

yea its on my list. My buddy just put one on his R6 and I love the difference in feel

 

they do tend to ride ALOT smoother.

 

what about it is "smoother" ive never ridden a bike with a steering damper. what can you relate the feel to?

 

Well you sold me. I will have to start looking for a deal. I passed up a Scotts on craigslist for $150 because I wasn't schooled on it yet. Thanks.

 

heck if you can find a scotts damper cheap, you can go online and get the mounting kit for like $80. maybe a little more. still better than almost $500 new.
GL

 

Just missed another one on ebay. Went past my $200 limit. Bummer.

 

Sorry to hijack this thread, but, my question relates to the same thing.

I've been considering adding a steering damper to my 929, and I have a vague idea of what it does, but this weekend, at the local motorcycle club I ran into a fellow 929 rider, with a Steering damper on his bike, so we got to talking about it... now, I usually ride with a guy that has an R1, and his bike has a damper fitted from stock, and you know, its just there... he never touches it... now, back to the 929 rider, this guy talked about the dampers use as something to tweak on the fly, and though I realise that you can, of course, I question his sanity...

He was saying that if he wants to lock the throttle on the highway, hell tighten the damper to the max, but he has to be careful if he has a need to turn, as he needs to remember to loosen it up or he wont be able to steer normally... that makes no sense to me... I figure (but I know close to nothing about dampers) its something that you just sprinkle on until you find that balance in between it working and still not getting in your way, and then just leave it the hell alone... ideas on this?

 

or you can just get a newer RR with HESD