adjusting the steering head?

My R has a sorta too-loose feeling steering. It has ~3500 mi, is ~80/20 street/trail, & I don't want a steering damper. The manuals say it needs maint often, so that's no surprise.

But geez, there's gotta be an easier way to tighten up the steering a bit than what the svc manual sez...I hope! Removing the upper bracket looks like a royal PITA. Is that necessary?

I know that ya'd have to remove it to check the bearings lube, but I'd like to save that for later since it has lo mileage. Thanks.

Yes, it's necessary because underneath the top triple clamp, there are two slotted spanner nuts.
These two slotted nuts are locked together with a special retainer, and getting the retainer off means the top triple clamp comes off.

It's really not difficult, just will take longer than you hoped.

In my experience, even with the WR250R (and WR250X) steering head bearings snugged right down properly, the steering has less resistance and a "looser" feel to it than the off-road-only bikes in the Yamaha line, such as the YZs and WR250F.
I, too, wanted to crank the bearing tension down on both my WR250R and X, and after I tightened them both as much as I dared, it still wasn't as firm as I have always preferred with my dirt bikes.
So, I got used to it.

I wish but i have not driven enough miles to get a good feel for the steering yet due to the cold weather and snow conditions.


Are you shunning steering damper use because of the cost... the size of the thing or just the type of feel it gives when driving?

Well they do seem to be kinda $$$$$$$. It's another gizmo aboard that can break or need attention & adds weight.

The feel ain't really bad & I've never had a tankslapper. If I can improve it with a "tighten up" - remember that tune?! - that'd be swell.

Paulie wrote:

Well they do seem to be kinda $$$$$$$.  It's another gizmo aboard that can break or need attention & adds weight.

The feel ain't really bad & I've never had a tankslapper. If I can improve it with a "tighten up" - remember that tune?!  - that'd be swell.

To each their own.

Never would have thought of putting a steering damper on a bike and then I bought a KTM 450 EXC that had one.

Now I have them on all my DS rides and am looking to put one on my 2 stroke trail/enduro bike.

I don't have enough seat time on my DS (or dirtbikes for that matter) to distinguish if I would need/want a Damper on my WRR however I had a Ohlins on my R6 Sport bike and it saved my life a few times over I'm sure. They are adjustable (so if you are on the street or rocky terrain) you can adjust how much dampening you want and they really aren't that heavy that you would notice.

Caldsy wrote:

I don't have enough seat time on my DS (or dirtbikes for that matter) to distinguish if I would need/want a Damper on my WRR however I had a Ohlins on my R6 Sport bike and it saved my life a few times over I'm sure.  They are adjustable (so if you are on the street or rocky terrain) you can adjust how much dampening you want and they really aren't that heavy that you would notice.  

I would say the steering damper on my WRR has saved me from a few get offs. Not sure about saving my life though since I seldom ride it at life threatening speeds and when I do it usually is on some pavement.

If you ever get to the point of getting one just make sure you are getting one that is intended for off road riding - that have different versions for street and dirt.

a scotts steering damper is pretty savy off road. Also..  dont be shy about buying a used unit ...all the scotts dampers are the same as far as i know.. and they just use "adaption kits" to adapt the unit to a specific bike.

->this-< only shows one parts list for the scotts damper so it looks like just one unit.

I looked at the wr250r set up ->HERE<- and it appears the the cross bar on the stock bars is too low.. so another set of handle bars is required....

being a cheap bugger i bought a scotts damper off craigs list {from a crotch rocket}and made my own adapter.. ->HERE<- ...  but at the end of the day just buy a new adapter to go with a used damper to cut  way down on costs.

GlibGuy wrote:

rsteiger wrote:

Caldsy wrote:

I don't have enough seat time on my DS (or dirtbikes for that matter) to distinguish if I would need/want a Damper on my WRR however I had a Ohlins on my R6 Sport bike and it saved my life a few times over I'm sure.  They are adjustable (so if you are on the street or rocky terrain) you can adjust how much dampening you want and they really aren't that heavy that you would notice.  

I would say the steering damper on my WRR has saved me from a few get offs.  Not sure about saving my life though since  I seldom ride it at life threatening speeds and when I do it usually is on some pavement.

If you ever get to the point of getting one just make sure you are getting one that is intended for off road riding - that have different versions for street and dirt.

And which one(s) would work best for off road riding)?

If you get a Scotts unit used make sure it is for off road riding. They have different calibration than a street unit.

Street units dampen back to center, off road units do not. You don't want it to dampen back to center on an offroad bike.

Thanks for the replies regarding Scotts.  If I hit the lottery I'll buy one!

Guys thanks for pointing out the two Scotts damper units for on and off road. I emailed the company to get a few stats on the difference ..i'll post on a new thread so all can see by topic.