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Steering Damper, what's that?

Just kidding. I keep saying that one of these days I'll put one on my Husky, but just haven't gotten around to it. Thankfully I've never had a bad enough case of wobbles on any of my dirt bikes to make me want to run right out and buy one. But it would be interesting to ride a similar bike equipped with a damper up a rocky climb or through some tight technical trail with lots of rocks and see if that would improve my pinball wizard approach of bouncing from rock to rock up a hill :wacko:

Sport bikes are a different story - had one on all my road race bikes and even my street bound R1 ('99).

Very true what Sandiegoland said about dampers masking other suspension/rider tuning problems. Sometimes they'll even cause problems of their own. Back when I was racing, I actually saw a couple of crashes in the pits due to a rider having cranked their damper way up high during a race then forgetting to back it off before entering the pits - very strange to watch :wtf:

I almost had the same thing happen to me the first time I was testing the damper installation on my '96 GSXR - quite scary.

Usually if it took more than 4-5 clicks or so in my damper (Ohlins) to keep wobbles at bay, I knew that I had other issues going on. In many cases, just a simple change in body position - usually a shift towards the front end - would make the wobbles go away.

Sometimes there doesn't seem to be much you can do to eliminate a bit of headshake over a spot in the track. Usually it would be a transition of some sort where the front end gets light due to change in track elevation, plus throttle, plus a patch or something. Generally with a light touch on the bars and a bit more throttle, the shakes subside quickly.

Have had some violent tank slappers before though, in each case it was due to hard braking and loss of traction on the front end from which I recovered, but with the front tire no longer tracking straight. Bad enough to knock both feet off the pegs and one or more hands off the grips. In one case all I could do was grab the nut on the triple clamp. Not fun at 120+ mph! <_<

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Well, let me add my shout to GPR - well a loud "Thank you" at least.

I took my quarterly pilgrimage to Chula Vista yesterday to get my leaking (after one ride again) GPR V2 stabilizer rebuilt. As I handed it to them I let them know this was the fourth time I've had it in for leaks in the past 2 years. I settled into my familiar couch and waited. In about 20 minutes, the guy came back with a box and an explanation for why it kept leaking.

He asked a few questions about my bike (year, model, etc) and showed me on the arm what the problem was:

img1121medium.jpg

If you look at the end of the arm (the black part), you can see the wear from the pin all the way near the end. What happened was that KTM changed their top triple clamp to a cast piece, and in doing so, relocated the handlebar holes. This caused the GPR they had been selling for the KTMs to be off-center from the steering stem.

The pin would ride ride about here:

img1122medium.jpg

Every time I would turn the handlebars, the pin would slide up and down (due to the stabilizer not being centered) and hit the end of the slot in the arm, causing it to pull on the internals of the stabilizer and wear it out. He showed me the insides of the old stabilizer and it was all worn down. This constant tugging elongated the hole in the bottom where the control arm attaches and the fluid leaks out.

Their solution was to give me (under warranty) a rebuilt V1 unit with a different set of fatbar mounts. I don't remember which mounts he gave me, but there were two. He said to try both (and told me which holes to use on the triple clamp - the KTMs have two different mounting holes so riders can adjust the position of the bars) and see which one causes absolutely no movement in and out of the pin in the arm.

Well, here's the final installation:

img1124medium.jpg

Now when I swing the bars back and forth, lock to lock, the pin stays put in the control arm and he assured my me leaking problem is solved.

Those of you with stabilizers (especially those of you with leaks) should check and make sure that your pin doesn't slide in and out as you turn your bars. He assured me that I had what they thought (at the time) was the proper kit for my bike and that the problem was KTM changed their triple clamp design and they didn't catch it. Well, there's no pin movement now, and I should be good to go. The only cost to me was four trips to Chula Vista from north county (but at least I got a few hours off work out of the deal <_< )

I'm looking forward to giving it a true workout this weekend up at Big Bear!!

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......He showed me what the problem was.....

Good, now that you're a recognized subject matter expert you can look over my C-Daddy/custom install job this weekend and let me know if mine is balls'd up........though it seems like it would've starting leaking by now if it was... :blink:;)<_<

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I see the "leak" issues have been noted as to "why"... :lazy:

All too often, I hear how GPR sucks and they leak.

... if people would just call'em, they know... and bite their tongue.

GPR is one of the best in customer satisfaction.

... due to seals, and certain fluid issues... they'll re-service and correct any foreseen problems (usually free).

At times, I've been handed a brand new unit.

Love those guys!!

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Good, now that you're a recognized subject matter expert you can look over my C-Daddy/custom install job this weekend and let me know if mine is balls'd up........though it seems like it would've starting leaking by now if it was... B):lol: :lazy:

No problem... I'll take a look...

For everyone else - just turn your handlebars back and forth, lock to lock, and see if the pin slides up and down in the slot of the arm - if so, the stabilizer is not on center and you'll need a different mount. The problem is that the V2 has the bar mount built into the stabilizer so there are no options. That's why they replaced mine with a different unit with a separate bar mount.

In my case, I bought the stabilizer new from 3 Brothers in Temecula and they installed it for me. They did everything right, but like I said KTM changed their top triple clamp and GPR did not catch the change.

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I see the "leak" issues have been noted as to "why"... :lazy:

All too often, I hear how GPR sucks and they leak.

... if people would just call'em, they know... and bite their tongue.

GPR is one of the best in customer satisfaction.

... due to seals, and certain fluid issues... they'll re-service and correct any foreseen problems (usually free).

At times, I've been handed a brand new unit.

Love those guys!!

I've never run into an issue with the rebuilds. They do them on the spot and without any charge. In my case it was simply a design that should have fit that wound up not fitting.

To "make it right" they gave me a new (rebuilt) stabilizer, two different fatbar mounts (so I could use whichever one was right - they don't even want to other one back), all new bolts (I had buggered mine up from repeatedly pulling the old stabilizer off to have it rebuilt), and a thorough explanation of why I had the issue. The only thing it cost me was my time and gas to drive down there four times.

I've been looking at stabilizers for the 950, and the GPR has been at the top of the list. The units for the 950 are quite expensive since they require replacing the top triple clamp. I have been holding off buying to see how the 450 issue works itself out. If all goes well, GPR has just made another sale to me...

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