Subject: Steering Damper Follow-Up
Author: joe jump
Date: Jun 20, 2005, 7:31 AM
Post ID: 1719046693
Last night I finally got some time to work on the steering damper
insallation. I did use a 2-piece split collar from the bearing house
($5.32) to mount the damper body to the L/H crashbar. I had to mount an
L bracket to the collar to bring the mount about 1 1/2" below the
crashbar for correct alignment. I made a dog-legged bracket that
attached to the bottom of the lower triple clamp. Got it set up so it
uses about 3" of the 3 3/8" stroke going from left to right steering
stop. Easy access to the damper adjustment knob from the saddle.
Results seem good, although the test run was limited to my drive into
work this morning (14 miles), which included a short 3 mile jaunt on the
interstate. There wasn't much chance to get up to the real problem speed
in rush hour traffic, but with the damper set on the third of seven
positions (seven being the stiffist) there seemed to be no sign of the
weave I was experiencing before. And driving around town with the damper
left in #3 position did not seem to cause any ill handling effects. So
far it's thumbs up!
Sorry, I don't have a digital camera, but I might see a pal today that
has one. If I get some images, perhaps Greg could post them at his site.
I'd like to do a little more development on the mounting design. Seems
to me that rigidity is important since a small amount of movement/flex
of the mounts can cause a lot of movement at the handlebars. The triple
clamp mount is like a rock (1/4" plate). The crashbar mount seems solid
but need a little more refinement. If there is any interest I could
possibly put together a kit for a modest fee.
Interesting note: I used a V700 lower triple clamp to pattern the
trialgular bracket, but had to make mods to the bracket when I tried to
fit it to Junkyard's (Ambo) triple clamp. There is a difference between
the two with the size/location of the boss that the big stem nut seats
against with respect to the ~3/8" hole located at the inboard end of the
slit in the lower triple clamp. There are differences in the frame at
the steering neck too - no news here. More Loop Trivia!
Joe in St Louis
850T-Powered Ambo
"Junkyard"