I had posted a while ago asking if anyone had put the daytona steering damper on their F4i. With no replies I took a chance and got one. I have never ridden with a damper before. I installed the unit, which took about a half hour, and took the bike out for a ride.

I think the damper looks like hell. The mounting position put me off quickly. It mounts on the left of the tank and really looks like an afterthought. The CNC machining makes the unit pretty on its own, and because my bike has so much polished aluminum it fits the colour scheme.

Like so many things however looks and function are two separate entities. Wow am I ever impressed at how much this little unit improved the hard cornering of the motorcycle. I really didn't notice it at first. Short city corners were really no different. It wasn't until I got onto "my roads" and started really running that I noticed the difference. No Wobbles at all. The pavement in some areas of my city leave a little to be desired. I have gone into some pretty scarey wobbles screaming through twists and hitting bad pavement. Not with the damper. I was able to increase my entry speeds at least 15km/h. My exit speeds were limitless as I quickly became confident in hammering the throttle out of the corner. No wobbles to be feared. Even when the front end lifted she set back down as smooth as could be.

If you don't have a damper, and you ride her hard, get one! The daytona is a popular one for racers because it is inexpensive, and very cheap to rebuild after a crash. It doesn't have the fancy paint job of the hyperpro, but it works!