Hi guys,

Just wondering what your thoughts on dampners / stabalisers for the F4i.

I notice mine is light at the front when I am really into it and have noticed the bars to wanna twitch a bit.... just want to try settle it a bit...
I have been told I can adjust the suspension a bit but it is setup really nicely otherwise and I dont really want to touch it there.

My questions are:

Do you have a dampner on yours?
What type do you recommend , I know there is a few out there.?

I was going to go with a Standard Ohlins type dampner but have seen a lot of scott
adjustable dampners & some cheaper Shindi or something like that type..

Thanks for your time & help guys.

 

I have an 02 600f4i with the same tires Pilot powers. Mine is smoth as silk high or low speeds. Hell I have run 150+mph with only one hand on the bars. No twitch or wobble.(unless road is bumpy.)

Im wondering is your front tire is balanced right??(I know dumb question, but hey you never know till you ask!!)

Good luck, and keep it shiny side up!

 

Your front wheel will feel light in some hard acceleration because obviously it might want to be in almost-wheelie mode. A damper will keep it straight (for the most part - obviously if you turn the bars it will move), but other than that it won't improve much for that situation. Putting more weight in the front and controlling how hard you accelerate will work much better than a damper.

With that said, they're still good investments if you're a good rider and like that extra precaution. But they're not magical make-my-bike-perform-smoother products.

 

i enjoy steering dampers. they make the bike feel more stable at higher speeds and reduce the risk of headshake/deathwobble. i noticed that i didn't get blown around by semi's as severely. can reduce flickability though but in some cases this might be a good thing. plus if you're doing stoppies they're almost a necessity. i guess the bottom line is they wouldn't put them on all new bikes if they didn't have a purpose.

 

As per Prime Directives comment, I have had the wobbles & shakes at speed on slight rough surface, this is what I want to try reduce or illiminate as much as possible also.

I just want it to feel more secure at the front pretty much.

Which dampners would you suggest?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmszB...e=channel_page

There is the link for my dyno video, prob not the best footage sorry.
Let me know what you guys think.

I love the F4i's so much.... top 600 bike i reckon...

 

the difference between a piston and a rotary type damper is minimal. from what i understand some rotary types have a very small dead space in the center and pistons are subject to leekage. i recommend scotts, ohlins, active pro RSC, GPR... all good names. scotts might have a bit more tunability but chances are you're not going to want to **** with it that much anyways. don't forget if you turn it up real high or you will probably drop your bike when you pull in for gas or at some other low-speed turn lolz

 

Thanks for that, I guess i should stop considering the cheaper Shindy brand... although it is made in Japan I dont want to cut corners... Have you seen the Shindy piston type.

 

i like'm like'm alot i had a gpr on my last 2 bikes. they are a little sense of security IMO but i tell you this all my bikes will have one. i recently changed my triple to an attack performance and my gpr wouldn't mount up exactly right so i got a used ohlins and i like it as well, so if you got the funds to get one i say do it.

 

What Aken said is perfect.

Mine came with the bike, the brand is Italian called Matris and they are very popular in Europe. The roads where I live are very bumpy and will give a motard a hard time, let alone the F4i so I'm justified .

One word of caution on ohlins - I read quite a few times that the ohlins dampers fitted standard on the Ninja range aren't very good and that plenty of good riders end up replacing them with equipment from "lesser" names.