I have only had my bike for about a week. The first 3 days the steering seemed somewhat stiff over 40mph. I thought this was due to the HESD and it actually made the bike feel more stable as I could not turn the wheel (wobble the bike) at high speeds (as in high speed, I mean 35 - 60). The last couple of days, however, the steering has seemd very loose, there is no stiffness (dampering) at all when doing 35 - 50 mph. It seems as if I could just flick the handle bars with very little effort. This only seems to be a problem because leaning into turns really felt more stable when the steering was stiff.

Is my HESD not working or do I totally misunderstand what HESD is supposed to do?

 

As it states in the owners manual, if there was a malfunction with HESD, the HESD indicator and malfuntion (MIL) lamp will illuminate. But if you think its not working I would take it to the dealer and have them check it out, it's still under warranty.

 

Youre psyching yourself out. Its most likely working fine as designed.

The HESD is not "on" all the time. It takes into account different parameters such as speed, throttle position, etc.
If youre fartin along at 50mph steady, there probably wont be too much damping.

(onto a different topic) So...if youre not on the throttle and you somehow induce headshake, you could be fakked!
Depends on the other parameters. Good luck!

 

Test it yourself.

This only works with no MIL lamp errors indicated.

Step 1) Lower the side stand
Step 2) Shift into any gear besides N
Step 3) Open the Throttle FULLY
Step 4) Turn the key "ON" which doing steps 1-3

This will give the HESD full current (full stiffness).
You should notice a difference if you wiggle the bars
back and forth quickly before and during the test.

If you don't see a difference, go to your Honda dealer
and tell em your HESD might be broke.

Note: Do not start the bike during this test... duh.

 

Previous poster (who posted 6 seconds before me lol!) is correct.

There is a graph (non-linear) of the resistance given by the HESD.
Depends on Speed / and throttle settings. With low throttle settings,
there is less resistance.

Try doing 100+mph at full throttle through a series of "S" turns, and you'll see
why most racers chuck the HESD as far as they can and install an Ohlins etc.
(Its way too stiff btw).

 

Has anyone tried plonking in a nice big resistor in parallel with the circuit going through the HESD to cut down on some of the current going through it and ease off the strength of it's damping? It would be cheaper than yanking it off and replacing with aftermarket.

 

If you remove the hesd fuse, it will be none operational if you wish to disable it.

 

The HESD is actually programmable with the HRC Ecu and programming link / software.
Obviously not practical for anyone other then 3-4 guys on the planet, but interesting the same