Trying to stay within my budget, I bought a used GPR Damper- V1. The guy claimed to only have 2k miles on it, but for good measure I changed the fluid on this past weekend. Going off of GPR's website, I put 20 wt. fork oil in it when refilling it. I called this morning and the guy said that if the fluid that came out was clear then it was 10 wt! WTF...

Anyways on to the problem. It feels like now the bike doesn't want to hold the road when cornering. There is a pretty good set of twisties by the house that I hit up every chance I get. Usually the bike hauls *** through this area and sticks in every corner. I run Pilot Powers so I have good tires on the bike with less than 2k on them. Yesterday was a different story. I was riding with a buddy of mine who is a newbie and it was his first time through there. I kept the speeds pretty low so he could keep up and follow my lines. On the way back I wanted to go ***** to the wall. As soon as I turned into the first corner I knew I was in big trouble. At first it felt like the rear wanted to kick out and I was going to lowside. Luckily I was able to keep things stable and worked my way out of it. The next corner I went in a bit slower than usual b/c I had a feeling that something was right. This time it felt like the front end was pushing and wanted to wash out in a low side. At this point I backed way off and pushed it a little harder in each turn, but every time i was pretty much the same result. The bike feels like both the front and rear want to push out and low side. The only thing that has changed since the last time I went through there 2 weeks ago is the steering damper. Any ideas about this? The damper was set on the lowest setting too. I have tried a few other tight corners and it is basically the same result everytime... I can't carry any speed through them or else the bike feels like it is going to wash out. On the flipside, the high speed stability is great. The high speeds sweepers I cant easily go through 10-20 mph fast than before!

I just don't get it! Is the damper throwing me for a loop here? Do I need to take it off or maybe go to a thiner WT oil? Honestly when it is set on 1 or 2 you can't even really feel that it is doing anything when sitting still and turning the bars side to side. I did notice a difference while moving and it is what I wanted, but this cornering thing is not gonna work for me!!

 

The tech guy with GPR seems to think something is wrong with the damper. He offered to send me a brand new V1 if I send in my damper and $100. This means I get a brand new V1 for $350 so that saves me about $150 ahead of the game. I will also be getting all the customer service options that they offer for someone that is the original owner. That means free services once a year! Plus he is sending me the upgraded pin instead of using the old one and some other stuff that I didn't get from the first owner. I feel like I'm getting a good deal in the end. I should have it some time next week since my damper should be there tomorrow.

GPR's customer service is great IMO. The guy was nice to me every time I called this week and seemed like he really cared. He even knew that I was the 2nd owner and he assured me that I would get the same customer service as the original purchase. He basically said, "It's our name on the damper and we will back it no matter how many times it has changed hands." I give them an A+! More companies should be this way!

 

Amen to that. I hope it solves your issues for ya.