Steering Dampner

redpaso · Post by **redpaso** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:54 am

Hey guys & Gals, I am just curious to know whether anyone has fitted a steering Dampner to their trusty Paso? if so how? If not do we feel that they even need one?

gasfireman · Post by **gasfireman** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:42 pm

Most of these older Dukes steer very well in a straight line and dont get out of shape enough for a damper. Despite pushing mine a bit hard its not really omething I thought was needed.

However if you want bling then fit one.

Finnpaso · Post by **Finnpaso** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:06 pm

If i load my 907 with heavy sidebags and sleeping bag, tent, etc, then i can notice very easily, that its horrible to shake in braking, when coming down from hill to tight curves and then steering damper would help alot.... That "weight point" goes totally wrongly, when hard stuff is loaded and then it start to shake, never, if drive without side bags with heavy stuff...

redpaso · Post by **redpaso** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:48 am

Got to agree gasfire I do not see a need to fit one as my 906 does run straight, I was just curious as to whether anybody had & if so how. I am too old for Bling

Interesting though to hear about adding luggage & weight, that certianly changes the whole dynamics when riding, that is why I like to travel as light as possible, ussually just a tank bag, not that I have the chance to get away for any longer than needs a change of undies & a tooth brush these days.

Desmo_Demon · Post by **Desmo_Demon** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:38 am

redpaso wrote:Interesting though to hear about adding luggage & weight, that certianly changes the whole dynamics when riding, that is why I like to travel as light as possible, ussually just a tank bag, not that I have the chance to get away for any longer than needs a change of undies & a tooth brush these days.

I'm sure there is always an added benefit to a damper. We put one on my wife's R1 with the idea that "it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it". An example of this would be this past Sunday.....

I've had my '98 ST2 for over 31k miles without any need for a damper of any type. I'd never run across a situation where I needed one, but......Leaving a motorcycle hang-out before a few of my buddies, they finally caught up with me in a long straight section and passed me. I nailed the throttle to limit the distance they put between me and them (the one was riding a 2007 GSX-1000R and passed me at over 150 mph!). There is a kink in the road and a slight hump, which I promptly hit with the ST2 at 90+ mph and nailed the throttle at the wrong time....I went into a tank slapper, but fortunately for only about 20 meters before it straightened itself out and I recovered.....just before going off the road and right into a utility pole, so....

Whether you have ever run across a situation where you needed a damper or not, you just may wind up in a situation where you could have probably needed one. I'm glad I didn't "need" one, but had I been going faster, or the road had more of a curve to it, I just may have needed one.

redpaso · Post by **redpaso** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:12 am

Desmo_Demon wrote:....I went into a tank slapper, but fortunately for only about 20 meters before it straightened itself out and I recovered.....just before going off the road and right into a utility pole, so....

Whether you have ever run across a situation where you needed a damper or not, you just may wind up in a situation where you could have probably needed one. I'm glad I didn't "need" one, but had I been going faster, or the road had more of a curve to it, I just may have needed one.

Sounds like you probably needed a new pair of trousers as well. Glad you got out of that one...ummm... ok!

That reminded me of a ride I had about a year ago when I hid a bump in the road exiting a bend & it created a tankslapper that dented & chipped paint from the tank on both sided & left me with 2 extremely sore & bruised thumbs, I guess a dampner could have saved my thumbs

very good point though, better to have something & not use it than need it & not have it

Desmo_Demon · Post by **Desmo_Demon** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:28 pm

redpaso wrote:very good point though, better to have something & not use it than need it & not have it

In the case of my wife's R1, we'd read that the damper was one of the most popular modifications to the bike (the new bikes have them from the factory). A buddy of mine that raced an '03 and '05 R1 said that there had been some really nasty tankslappers on the track due to not having a damper, so........with my wife already being handicapped from a motorcycle accident, we decided to follow the "better safe than sorry" rule-of-thumb. Fortunately, she knows a guy who works at Ohlins, and he gave us a great deal on a damper for the bike....

If you can fabricate a way to mount it, the dampers from the 748/916/996/998/749/999 bikes tend to go pretty cheaply on eBay...often with the mounting brackets from the bike, also.

Post by **paso750** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 2:43 pm

...often with the mounting brackets from the bike, also

I thought of this myself longer time ago, but didn`t have a chance to realize this. The mounting brackets of other Ducs won`t help as the damper is either mounted infront of the tank or on the side frame rails which normally are round.
Sticking to the idea to mount it on the side I found a matching bracket to be mounted on the fork tube (I think it came from an older Guzzi), but didn`t find any square bracket to mount the damper on the frame yet. Guess this will have to be machined.

G.

Finnpaso · Post by **Finnpaso** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:21 pm

"sometimes" i drive my ST4S very hardly (it have much better fork and rear damper, than Pasos have) and i feel, especially just, when front of bike try to be very light ( :laugh: :laugh: ), it start to shake (just, when coming back to street surface)... :laugh: I searched some time ago dampers and find some Toby making damper to ST series bikes. :lick: It comes to left side, between frame and left fork. If i have one day money, ill buy such to my ST....