What lower cost/inexpensive steering damper can my friend get for a kawasaki? | GTAMotorcycle.com

What lower cost/inexpensive steering damper can my friend get for a kawasaki?

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Phalanx

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everyone wants ohlins, but ohlins are like $1,000-$1,300 which is too much for him.

is there a more reasonably priced brand that is still decent he can go for, and what about the made in china from chinese sellers ones on ebay that cost like $80usd. apparently he feels he has to have one cus he's scared of a tank slapper or whatever its called

he's looking to spend a few hundred for one like 100-400 or as near that and hoping to get a "fair" or "pretty good" one. suggestions for his zx6r 2017?
 
Phalanx said:
everyone wants ohlins, but ohlins are like $1,000-$1,300 which is too much for him.

is there a more reasonably priced brand that is still decent he can go for, and what about the made in china from chinese sellers ones on ebay that cost like $80usd. apparently he feels he has to have one cus he's scared of a tank slapper or whatever its called

he's looking to spend a few hundred for one like 100-400 or as near that and hoping to get a "fair" or "pretty good" one. suggestions for his zx6r 2017?
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If he doesn't even know what wheel wobble is :/ I strongly doubt he really needs one other then for mental reassurance, so anything that he believes will work will likely work just fine.
 
I have to agree. Spending money on a "cheaper" product without knowing what it does or how it does it or why it is needed can be a recipe for problems. My 2 cents is do some research while he saves up the money, highly doubt he'll run into a "tank slapping" situation if he rides appropriately.
 
Let's just get this out of the way right up front :/ high performance motorcycles wiggle like crazy when you ride them really really hard,
that is just the way it is, be ready to learn to deal with it when it does happen. You are far more likely to encounter a handling problem by accidentally leaving an axle pinch bolt loose, or by not maintaining your steering head bearings adequately. Speaking of which, does his bike have taper bearings or ball bearings in the steering head? You can put all the steering dampers you want on the thing but if the steering bearing has play or weakness in it, the bike is going to handle like it has a rubber hinge in the middle.
 
2017 Kawasaki ZX6R (aka 636) comes with a non-adjustable steering damper from factory.
It also has caged ball steering head bearings which are (IMHO) the best setup there is.
ON THE STREET this is totally adequate.
Tell your buddy to stop worrying and quit trying to repair something that isn't broken.
 
steering dampers are for doing dope stoppiez yo
Trials said:
If he doesn't even know what wheel wobble is :/ I strongly doubt he really needs one other then for mental reassurance, so anything that he believes will work will likely work just fine.
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mistersouthpaw said:
Haha probably. ? Good luck getting a bolt that tight. My front axle takes 94 ft lbs and that’s a pain in the neck
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Trailer ball is 250 ft-lbs. That is the limit for my torque wrenches. Rebuilding hydraulic pumps in South Korea needed 600 ft-lbs but that was a two man job.
 
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I have an ohlins one for the track bike and a cheap ~$100 one for the street bike (MT09)
The cheap one works decent, but to get any real damping you have to crank it up quite high. I don't expect it to last more than 2-3 seasons but for ~$100 that's good enough for me. It does prevent wobble when landing the front down or if accelerating hard.
 
a typical tech with 3/4 drive torque wrench can pull 600 lb/ft
you're not gonna find a 1/2 in drive one that goes that high

riding a street setup sport bike you're not likely to need a damper
track bikes with less rake are prone to wobble = damper
 
there are better things to spend your money on, has anyone here actually had a tank slapper on a street bike?
 
I replaced my OEM damper with one from Hyperpro.

Home - Hyperpro

hyperpro.com

Does the job for me at a lot less cost than an Ohlins or Scotts and it’s fully adjustable. Had to wait a bit for delivery but that was years ago.
 
mbroyda said:
there are better things to spend your money on, has anyone here actually had a tank slapper on a street bike?
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yes many, but they all occurred at 80kph on decleration down to about 50kph when it would settle out, early generation GoldWings suffered from this and Honda changed nothing for 5 yrs. Trying to accelerate made it worse, it was often on a downhill and you didnt touch the brakes just let it work its way out.
It wasn't violent like a true tank slapper, but a lot of GoldWings in the early 80's crashed with it.
 
mbroyda said:
there are better things to spend your money on, has anyone here actually had a tank slapper on a street bike?
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Yes, once. A true tank slapper on an 83 rz350. The front tire was leaving skid marks ten feet long with 3 foot gaps in between. I was 17 and definitely didn't save it, first off on the street.
Second scariest speed wobble but not a tank slapper was on my brothers 82 cb900f. I was trying a top speed run and everytime I tried to slow down it went into the craziest speed wobble. I was scared as hell trying to get below 160 lol.
No issues with modern bikes at street legalish speeds.

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