Steering damper

Anyone have one on their WR?

My first real off-road adventure last weekend revealed a very twitchy front end in the lose sugar sand we have here. Thinking that a damper will tame that quite a bit.

If you have one, what are your impressions? What kind? Cost? Where to buy?

While I do not have one on the WRR yet, I have had Scott's on every other AZ bike I've owned & I believe they are the standard that all of the others are trying to equal.

I have a Scotts Underbar mount on mine. No hard proof but I think it made it a bit easier to ride in the sand.. either that or I got better about riding in the sand.

Will be putting one on the Beta soon.

Put a GPR on mine a couple of years ago (good price on a group buy at the time), and I actually like it better than the Scotts I have on my F800GS. It certainly helps me in very loose sand or bouldery conditions where my riding skills suck big-time.

I have a Scotts damper and while it does help a bit in the sand, it'd not going to make everything magical. This bike is not great in the sand.

Where the damper shines though is on rocks and roots where you would normally get a severe deflection. Tracks through / over them much better.

Stand in the Sand

I live in AZ so riding in deep sand is a given, other than having a bit less power, I thought the R2 handled better in the sand than my KTM450 and it has a stabilzer.

Chrispy1200 wrote:

I have a Scotts damper and while it does help a bit in the sand, it'd not going to make everything magical. This bike is not great in the sand.  

Where the damper shines though is on rocks and roots where you would normally get a severe deflection. Tracks through / over them much better.    

So far I like how the WRR handles in the sand we have in South GA and FL.

My Beta while more nimble in the woods was a bit more of a handful at the Polar Bear Rally in FL a couple of weeks ago. Nothing major bad with it but I just had to keep on top of it more. The WRR I pretty much just point in a direction and go.

I know it's apples to oranges as far as bikes go, but I got to ride my friend's KTM 450 EXC when we were out last weekend. He has a Scott damper on his. It was much less willing to follow the ruts in the sand than mine was at the same speed. Really liked the way it handled. Really liked the KTM too!

Think I'm going to save my pennies and get a damper. Good thing is that I can transfer it to another bike if I ever upgrade from the WR.

rsteiger wrote:

So far I like how the WRR handles in the sand we have in South GA and FL.

The sand around here is heavy / wet, if that's a good way to describe it. Maybe the lighter / drier sand makes a difference ?  

BuilderBob wrote:

Think I'm going to save my pennies and get a damper.  Good thing is that I can transfer it to another bike if I ever upgrade from the WR.

Keep in mind the Scotts dampers come in two flavors, road and off road. The road version damps in both directions while the off road version dampens in only one. Depending on what that next bike might be could affect your decision on which one to get.

Chrispy1200 wrote:

BuilderBob wrote:

Think I'm going to save my pennies and get a damper.  Good thing is that I can transfer it to another bike if I ever upgrade from the WR.

Keep in mind the Scotts dampers come in two flavors, road and off road. The road version damps in both directions while the off road version dampens in only one. Depending on what that next bike might be could affect your decision on which one to get.

Oh, it would definitely be another off-road bike. The KTM 500 EXC is mighty tempting. I'll have to get a lot better on the WR before I'd make that move though. I think a damper and suspension work on the WR will hold me over for quite a while.

If anyone's interested in a sort-of non-answer to the on-road vs off-road question:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2038182&postcount=1

sturgeon wrote:

If anyone's interested in a sort-of non-answer to the on-road vs off-road question:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2038182&postcount=1

Great info. Thanks!

Well, I ordered the Scotts damper. Big $$$, but from what I can tell, it will make quite a difference off-road. Should be here in time to try it out this weekend. Also have new Pro Taper bars to install.

BuilderBob wrote:

Well, I ordered the Scotts damper.  Big $$$, but from what I can tell, it will make quite a difference off-road.  Should be here in time to try it out this weekend.  Also have new Pro Taper bars to install.

Please keep us informed. Especially re; sand surfing.

The low end torque on the KTM 450 you rode was probably what made the biggest difference in the sand. I went from a RM 125, to a CRF450r and it just felt so much better through the loose stuff. A steering damper is a great piece of hardware, regardless of the intentions. It can fix mistakes and prevent you from deflecting into a tree on really rough single track. I hear they help with fatigue on longer loops/track days. Please post pics :)

mvonhatten wrote:

The low end torque on the KTM 450 you rode was probably what made the biggest difference in the sand. I went from a RM 125, to a CRF450r and it just felt so much better through the loose stuff. A steering damper is a great piece of hardware, regardless of the intentions.  It can fix mistakes and prevent you from deflecting into a tree on really rough single track.  I hear they help with fatigue on longer loops/track days.  Please post pics :)

Appreciate your input.

I realize that comparing the KTM's performance to the WR is a bit of a stretch.  It has more power and is more purpose built than the WR, but mine is no slouch.  280 kit and all of the mods necessary to make that work give it quite a bit more zip than the average WR.  It has plenty down low.  Not as much as the mighty KTM, but it does rather well.

So, maybe some of the wallowing is due to less torque in the lower RPM range, but I don't think it accounts for much.  I wasn't pushing the KTM that hard, being unfamiliar with it.  It was just more stable in the loose stuff, and that I attribute mostly to the damper.

Of course, it's all speculation at this point.  I'll post my real world impressions after the install and trial run.

Got the damper installed today. Between interruptions and looking for that damn tool THAT I JUST HAD IN MY HAND, it took longer than I thought it would. Got it on though.



Also installed some solid mounts for the Zeta hand guards. They keep the guards from wanting to turn when they hit something.



And, because the Zeta solid mounts preclude the use of the stock front turn signals, I finally installed the LED signals that I bought for the Zeta handguards 3 years ago. They're pretty sharp.



Hope to test out the new damper this weekend.

Looks good   
I might have to pick up some of those handgaurd mounts...