Bang for the buck, suspension or steering damper

If I would win the lottery it wouldn't be a question but funds are tight right now, I really shouldn't do either but I will likely do one or the other sometime in the not too distant future. For those of you who have done one or the other or both, please share your insight.

The damper could be shared with another bike if needed but the suspension wouldn't, of course.
Enough of my rambling, lets hear from those in the know..

suspension.

Suspension, far and away and by a longshot. :)

I see a steering dampener as a kind of insurance that might save your butt someday. Suspension upgrades will benefit every minute of every ride and may well lower your risk of getting out of shape in the first place, hence needing a steering stabilizer.

I'm seriously thinking about doing my suspension this winter. Someone fill me in on what situations a steering damper might help with the x/r. I've had headshake on my cbr on the track even with the stock steering damper. My offroad experience is limited. Has anyone felt the need for one on this bike? Is needing one related to how much power the bike has?

Mr. Fisherman wrote:

If I would win the lottery it wouldn't be a question but funds are tight right now, I really shouldn't do either but I will likely do one or the other sometime in the not too distant future. For those of you who have done one or the other or both, please share your insight.

The damper could be shared with another bike if needed but the suspension wouldn't, of course.
Enough of my rambling, lets hear from those in the know..

Steering damper resists the "terrain pressure" on the front tire from ripping the handlebars out of your hands and throwing you over the handlebars. This also gives you confidence, particularly in loose sand, to do where you want to do and power steer with your body and the rear wheel. Yammie doesn't offer this because of cost, I guess.

Suspension mods allow the shocks/forks to soak up the bumps more effectively and keep the tires on the ground better than stock equipment. Why Yamamie doesn't hire a suspension expert and do this during manufacture I will never understand, but they don't... so Travis has job security. Anyway, it makes the moto more comfortable, especially for long rides over rough terrain, like rocky roads in the mountains. This also gives you confidence to go a faster, in control... You can also tune the suspension depending on circumstances and load with more predictability.

If you ride on pavement most of the time...or do mild off-road riding, not sure I'd do either one.

Both are needed to do even semi-serious off-road riding... you'd probably "notice" the improvement from the steering damper immediately if you ride desert/rocky mountain stuff; you'd probably "notice" the improvement from the suspension immediately if you try to go faster off road. I got the steering damper going first because all I needed was the adaptor for the WRR... I already had the Scotts damper. I got the suspension stuff coming and haven't installed it on this moto but have had suspension mods on prior motos so I know what to expect.

Another BIG factor is tires and tire pressure, especially for suspension. You can dramatically improve the stock suspension by running 12-15 psi tire pressure off road. It increases the risk of a flat if you hit a rock really hard but improves the handling dramatically.

Kinda depends on where you're gonna ride, how you ride and what you expect to do in the future. If you can find someone who has already done some of these mods, take a short ride on their moto and find out if you want/need the mods.

I really have no choice because of my back---either do the mods to protect my back or stop riding.

If it was me, suspension right off the bat. The damper will fine tune it thereafter.

Without a doubt.

You do all the weight lowering, and go fast mods, but if you can't put it down, it just doesnt matter.

I well suspended bike, is a happy bike (and rider).

You'll work less, and get less beat up.

Too many folks overlook the true value of a tuned suspension.

Suspension for sure. Just put in my first hour of very cold riding tonight - 29.7 Fahrenheit to be exact. Froze my arse off but loving the new Go Race suspension! It's amazing.

-feet

My Motopro tune made all the difference in the world. See the back of your AMA magazine for ad. Everyone should be an AMA member.

What kind of suspension mods were made?

Go over with you your expectations, and riding style. As well as how you intend to operate the MC.

From that they determine the valving requirements.

Typically revalving is adding.deleting the valve stack, polishing of the valves, proper levels of oil, and weights, as well as spring rates.

bikepsych wrote:

What kind of suspension mods were made?

Motopro website

Custom springs front and rear with 1 inch lowering. In house custom made valve stack front and rear. Set sag. Enduro leaning for my riding and weight.

Just had my shock revalved by fastbike ind. The guy posts on the smj site,he also owns a wr250x. With all the mods i have this was the best bang for the buck,all 109.00.The stock shock is just plain junk.