I do not have one but was curious what people think. How much of a difference does it make? What does it actually do? What brand would you suggest?

 

its a must have for a 929. it elimnates the headshake at high speeds. also when doin stoppies and setting the front wheel down after a wheelie.
i got a gpr on mine. had it for one season of ridin. works great for me. youll get other replys on the brands, but mine works fine so far.

 

It helps prevent any unwanted movement of the front forks, so things like head shakes, tank slappers, or even just hitting a crack in the road wrong which could upset the bike. I just bought a matris off ebay and should be here soon. I posted something about this actually not to far back so take a look in the 929 thread you should find it.

 

I just got my 929 3 rides before the end of the season last year. Yeah, I'm in NY, so riding is a no right now. Anyway. I did alot of research on dampers before I purchased one.

Personally, I think the best, from what I read is a Hyperpro RSC. Next would be the Toby Piston style top mount (which is what I just bought and am waiting for). I read alot about the rotary style dampers and they don't have what is called active dampning. Rotary style works on directional resistance, while piston style with dual chambers work on active dampening, meaning the two chambers have counter resistence against one another (hence resistance and counter resistance). My friends have the gpr, scotts, what not, and they like them. I was going to go with one of them, but decided to go with the piston style. Rotary style is cheaper too. I have seen where the lock screws that hold the damper mount to the stem nut backed themselves out and people lose those little set screws. If ya get one make sure you use locktite. Either way, some will say the rotary style will be more protected in the event of a crash. But my theory is that if your gonna crash hard enough to worry about damaging a top mount damper, then style isn't the concern.

Anyway, from only riding the bike 3 times, I can tell where this will definitely help with this bike. It does have a considerable amount of headshake after 135 which will be removed by the damper. NO, nothing is wrong with the wheel bearings, head bearings, etcs... as they are brand new with zero miles on them.

What I'm betting is that with the style I went with, I should be easily able to just move my thumb from the left grip and turn the tension **** more or less with just a flick of a thumb. Easability and usage for this is what I want.

I'm not an expert by no means, and I probably read the same articles, etc as everyone else, but this is what I came to understanding of them.

EDIT--

I forgot to ad that I have tested the usage of different bar ends too. Stock weighted bar ends or the slider kind are way better than any of that bling-bling stuff for helping with this problem. Not knocking them, I have them, but I made sure they were very close to the weight of the stock ones.

 

thanks for the info. triaxx i will look at that post. illushun- i didnt know the weight of the bar ends made that big of a difference, i recently replaced the stock bar ends with aftermarket ones. they are smaller and do weigh a little less. i have not noticed a difference. as far as the damper, people i talked to say to go with the gpr because it is inexpensive and does the job just fine. I probably will but illushun has good feedback