Steering Damper's for noobs?

[Paul the 6th]

I've just picked up my new sv on friday and I noticed when coming back on the motorway, cruising about 85-90 I got a slight bit of a wobble on. I considered the wind buffetting my upper body so did the gripping-bike-with-legs-whilst-relaxing-upper-body trick which seemed to ease the wobble and eventually make it stop. I've been riding 6 months so I'm still learning new info/concepts etc but would a steering damper help with this sort of thing?

A mate of mine explained them to me saying that they stiffen up the steering as speed increases... this reduces/prevents any wobbles under hard acceleration or high speed. Would it be worth me looking into this sort of thing or do I just need to re-assess my riding style (since I came from an up right honda cbf600's' which never gave me any wobbles or weaves)?

If they are generally a good accessory to have & use, how hard are they to fit? all rants/advice/knowledge welcome...
Tia PT6^

[pmapp]

I wouldn't really say one was needed. I've had the odd head shake over bumps etc, but nothing to upset me.

Maybe a wheel balancing issue?


Oh, and I noticed you're from Dewsbury in your alst post - we'll have to meet up when the weather gets better.

Phil

[Lozzo]

I ride my SV like a **** on some terribly surfaced roads, and so does my ex, and we've never seen the need for a steering damper on either her SV or mine.

[Paul the 6th]

Just one of those things, to be honest I've only ridden the bike for half an hour (rotherham to mirfield when I bought it on friday) and in that time I covered motorway and town centre roads plus had a shunt up the **** so not had chance to acclimtise to the bike yet.

sent you a pm phil, think we've met twice at squires? I'm a mate of lukes (he's sv_to_gsxr on here)

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

Probably just the wind - I've pushed way too hard coming out of bends on rough surfaces and the most I've ever felt is a light shake of the bars. It's generally only higher powered stuff that goes into tankslappers - SS1000's (and SS600's sometimes)

[Lozzo]

I rode a mate's near new TL1000S once for about 5 miles, even accelerating hard from 50mph in top gear on a smooth surface was enough to send it lock to lock. Not my idea of fun at all. We stopped and I demanded my Firestorm back, which wasn't the most stable bike but a damn sight better.

[Biker Biggles]

The SV doesnt need a steering damper,so I would check other stuff.First port of call is tyres.Are they worn and are the pressures correct?
That usually sorts it.

[gettin2dizzy]

You def don't need one. If it has got a high speed wobble that's not something you want a steering damper for they're for under hard acceleration. You may have something else wrong with your bike it's that bad

[the_lone_wolf]

85-90 is rock solid cruising here, i've only had the sv shake once, that was hitting a cats-eye whilst leant over and giving it the beans, and holding on too tight. as others have said it's not really needed on the SV...

the bike wasn't involved in a prang before you got it was it? if anything was bent it would certainly have affected the handling

[Samnooshka]

You don't need one on an SV ;) don't lean on the bars when riding ;) Build up those tummy and thigh muscles man!!!

[Dangerous Dave]

The SV does not need a steering damper, if anyone thinks it does then you should be looking at your riding instead! From smooth and fast to man handling it around the bends, never had a problem on bumpy country roads with standard or modified suspension on either curvy or pointy SV's.

[northwind]

Mine is stood on its nose and high at the back, makes more power and used to be downgeared, and with the stock shock in it slapped like an absolute ba****d. It only ends up like that for a week a year while the Ohlins's getting serviced and I just don't use anything above 2/3 throttle or so. But that's a ludicrious extreme of course, the only time it was ever unstable otherwise was when I made an absolute botch of the damping on the shock. It'll still wag the bars over crests on the power and out of the 1st gear hairpin at knockhill, but there's a big difference between a waggle and a slap. I've considered a 916-style transverse damper on a very low setting, just as insurance, and also because they look ace.

But then, that is not a typical SV, and I could tone it down easily just by shortening the shock- I just like the geometry as it is. If you do find a shortcoming, I'd personally say don't spend money to put a patch on it, spend money to fix the problem.

[ASM-Forever]

As others have said, i never thought i needed a damper when i rode my SV. If i was ever going to spend money on it, then it would have been on front end suspension.

I'm hardly in the position to say don't get a damper if you feel you need/want one, as i have one on the R6. Whilst it was pretty well behaved as stock, i do quite like the 'feel' the damper gives to the steering and under hard acceleration.

Not the cheapest mod though at circa £350 new and they are usually in such high demand, that second hand bargains are few and far between.

[ejohnh]

I'd check the wheel alignment if I were you. Also, if the rear tyre is squared off, any tendency to weave will be magnified as the diameter of the tyre in contact with the ground increases and decreases. (that is probably blx but it seems logical to me lol!)

[ELR4ever]

I'm not a racer, but, I've known a few. Steering dampers were designed to prevent tank slappers induced by ultra hard acceleration, where the front wheel can't spin up fast enough and they start shaking their head, esp on rougher surfaces, but, at speed, even the smoothest can seem rough. 2nd, as a bonus, it can prevent slappers from happening when you come down from a 100mph wheelie, causing the same event, front wheel doesn't spin up fast enough and headshakes occur. Not a likely issue for most people on an SV. So yeah, it can't hurt. You'll never have one so damped that you can't turn the bars quick as you need to. It may give some a good feeling of confidence, so it's not a bad thing. Lots of guys in the US put unwanted stock gixxer dampers on ZRX's etc, they just put in better oil, maybe automatic transmission fluid etc, and call it good.