Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hey everyone:

I'd appreciate some info and experience on Dampers and Stabilizers.

I read where there are Active and Non Active,,, I haven't a clue what that means, well maybe a clue.

Anyone have experience with both Damper and Stabilizer?

Do you think the 10R needs one? 06 10R it comes standard.

I have felt head shake a few times when I first got the bike, but now I just hold the bars a bit tighter....

Merry Christmas my friends and Thanks in advance for any info......

John

I know two people with '05 ZX10Rs and they both have Hyperpro steering dampers, if that says anything.

It's the type of thing that you'll unlikely ever get use from, but it could well save you from a big off. The thing is... you may never know it saved you as it can avoid a tank slapper to begin with.

I have one on my 10 and wasn't sure how much of an effect it had...until I set it back to zero and felt how unstable the bike seemed to be in comparison. It certainly helps with the feeling of stability through the turns, and as a result my confidence, so I reckon it was worth it for me.

Active and Non-Active...All I can think of is that the Fireblades have an active one that changes it's damping rates to suit the speed the bike is going. This is done electronically. A non-active would be the simple type like mine which just reacts to the bars swinging around when the front wheel is skipping along the road...which happens a fair bit

I have a Matris damper on mine and I think its a good addition. It may not need it but it certainly gives me a bit more confidence.
The difference between active and non active is the active damper has valving that increases the damping rate as steering speed increases. The non active you set at std damping rate. I have a non active and its fine, set it and forget it.. If I'm pushing it around the garage I'll turn it down if I'm on the road it goes up a few notches and on the track a few more notches..

Most late model sportsbikes come with one standard these days and you wont miss them till you need it.

My 046R has one and a lot of people would say you dont need one of these but if you get into it fairly aggressivly at the track in the lower gears over bumpy sections it will start shaking and wobbling at the front and if you dont heed the warning signs it will slap like a beauty.

Mine is a white power and when its screwed right up it provides some resistance but not as much as i think it should i got the actual damper off a web classifieds second hand and havnt got anything to check against to see how stiff it should be when wound right up and think it might need a rebuild which is easy enough to get done at a suspension shop and i can now try it against the one on hemis r1...just screw it up and give the bars a wiggle.
Would imagine a 10r would spend a lot more time with the front end unloaded like not enough weight on the front end because its trying to pick the front wheel up under acceleration so you loose a lot of the stability from the front and it wants to slap, on a 10r i supose you just lift the front wheel straight off the deck.

I put it on because it would wobble around a bit at high speed say over 180kph chasing blokes on 12rs and they where just idleing down the road and it made a fair diference to things in the stability department.

They are also suposed to be a good thing if you make a unscheduled excursion off road through ruts on the dirt and stuff where the front is going to be banging all over the place and your still hanging on.

the zrx can get a bit toey when you push it, and it lifts the front real easy due to the high torque of the motor. When I put the damper on it made the bike track through corners better as the steering holds a line alot easier and at high spedd the bike is a shitload more stable as the steering is not twithchy.
Also if you like some extra ride height at the rear of the bike, like I do, to make the big dog hustle a little better, it is a must have as the bike will want to turn in alot quicker and become twitchy.

A must have on any litre (+) bike in my book.

love the look of the "old school" damper

which reminds me, i've never seen one mounted on a GPX, where would it be put if one was to be mounted (out of curiosity that is)

i dont think stabilizers would look right on a zx10

half_empty1 wrote:i dont think stabilizers would look right on a zx10

More like,

one tip ive heard of over here in the uk for 10r stability,

from a freind whos partner is a race mechanic and also a race shool instructor,

is lowering the yokes (think you call them triple clamps over there) over the forks so 2-3mm is showing,

it does quicken the steering slightly, but also puts a little more weight over the front of the bike to give more stability.

ive not tried it myself yet, cos ive not had any head shaking from my 10r.

its worth a try, you might not need to spend loads of $ on a damper/stabiliser.

dave.

UncleSam wrote:I have felt head shake a few times when I first got the bike, but now I just hold the bars a bit tighter....

You need to losen your grip on the bars and if possible accelerate. Don't back off and load the front up. Holding on tighter can make it worse as you'll end up transferring the head shake through the bike and get the rear unsettled as well. Bikes are self correcting by design, the less input you give it, the easier for it to self correct. Holding on tighter is an input.

half_empty1 wrote:one tip ive heard of over here in the uk for 10r stability,

from a freind whos partner is a race mechanic and also a race shool instructor,

is lowering the yokes (think you call them triple clamps over there) over the forks so 2-3mm is showing,

it does quicken the steering slightly, but also puts a little more weight over the front of the bike to give more stability.

ive not tried it myself yet, cos ive not had any head shaking from my 10r.

its worth a try, you might not need to spend loads of $ on a damper/stabiliser.

dave.

Pulling the forks up through the triples / dropping the triples does quicken the steering. But there is a trade off - less stability. Not more. The quicker the steering the less stable it is. The slower the steering the more stable it is.

Also more weight over the front when in a headshake can make it worse and have it turn into a full on tank slapper as the front has more traction. Loose grip on the bars and keep accelerating will the the bike self correct as I mentioned earlier.

at the risk of being howled down, only poorly-handling bikes ( read poor set-up) require a steering damper. (*runs and hides* from ZX10 owners )

Steering dampers are used as a *solution* to poor handling, which itself can have a myriad of causes:

Bad/worn/incorrectly inflated tyres;
Loose/incorrectly adjusted steering head bearings;
Worn wheel bearings;
INCORRECT WHEEL ALIGNMENT ( #1 cause)
Poorly adjusted suspension;
Incorrect weight/height of fork oil;
Stuffed rear suspension;
Worn swingarm bearings;
etc, etc, etc;

as you can see, there are heaps of areas that should be fixed up, before you just bung on a steering damper........

A bike with a good set-up will headshake over really bad bumps, but IT WILL CORRECT ITSELF.......Steve TLS hit the nail on the head - loosen your grip when the headshake occurs, and accelerate ( or keep speed the same,), but DON'T button off, this will make it worse.....

just imho of course.......

Gosling1 wrote:at the risk of being howled down, only poorly-handling bikes ( read poor set-up) require a steering damper. (*runs and hides* from ZX10 owners )

I don't think you'll get howled down. You're spot on.

What is happening is we're getting sportbikes that have geometry suited to billiard table smooth race tracks being used on public roads with bumps and other real life hassles / hazards.

Bad design for the street should be on the list with all the rest

Gosling1 wrote:at the risk of being howled down, only poorly-handling bikes ( read poor set-up) require a steering damper. (*runs and hides* from ZX10 owners )

Steering dampers are used as a *solution* to poor handling, which itself can have a myriad of causes:

Bad/worn/incorrectly inflated tyres;
Loose/incorrectly adjusted steering head bearings;
Worn wheel bearings;
INCORRECT WHEEL ALIGNMENT ( #1 cause)
Poorly adjusted suspension;
Incorrect weight/height of fork oil;
Stuffed rear suspension;
Worn swingarm bearings;
etc, etc, etc;

as you can see, there are heaps of areas that should be fixed up, before you just bung on a steering damper........

A bike with a good set-up will headshake over really bad bumps, but IT WILL CORRECT ITSELF.......Steve TLS hit the nail on the head - loosen your grip when the headshake occurs, and accelerate ( or keep speed the same,), but DON'T button off, this will make it worse.....

just imho of course.......

Well as usual, I think your right. I think in my case it was over inflated tyres, (spelled your way). I got the head shaking on the tires that came with the 10, inflated to the max according to tire pressure on side wall. Since then, I've put Pilot Powers on. and now the front wheel is off the ground with out the wagging. Now I want a Damper only because everyone else has one.....(kidding, of course)