Steering damper fitted

Message

fatboy · #1 Post by **fatboy** » Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:13 pm

Incredible transformation, bike now holds a line over surface deviations, no more wiggles and wobbles, box junctions, white lines ect. no problem any more, very pleasing result.
Two schools of thought here, some thing it dont need one some do.
If you are in the second category and maybe a racing snake like myself, then maybe you need a little extra help keeping it planted and on course due to lower loading on the suspenders.
For a cheap universal damper, results are good for a small amount of time and cash

wayno · #2 Post by **wayno** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:01 am

I used the silver sachs one, these seem to be pretty cheap

D-Rider · #3 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 3:04 pm

Wiggles and wobbles over surface changes ..... what tyre pressures are you running?

spiderwheels · #4 Post by **spiderwheels** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 5:26 pm

I'm 10st wet through and even now I'm running around on Keith's old OZ wheels I don't think it needs one.

But maybe I'm starting to take it easy in my old age... :smt015

fatboy · #5 Post by **fatboy** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 6:14 pm

PSI 30 front 32 rear, I did try 32 f 36 r but that was on my old tyres and seemed worse, no noticable play in steering head bearings

squadron Nero · #6 Post by **squadron Nero** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 6:53 pm

I fitted mine because under hard acceleration the front goes very light 😏 And it doesn't take much to start wobbling the bars. For the £100 I paid for the ohlins unit I think id rather have it than not. Plus it's a bit of extra bling.

D-Rider · #7 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:23 pm

fatboy wrote:PSI 30 front 32 rear, I did try 32 f 36 r but that was on my old tyres and seemed worse, no noticable play in steering head bearings

No wonder!

Mine squirms when the pressures are down (that's why I suspected yours may be rather on the low side). Pump them up to the tyre manufacturers specs and it runs true: 2.5 bar front, 2.9 bar rear (36psi / 42psi)

This is slightly higher than the Aprilia recommendations (see user manual):
solo: 2.4 bar front, 2.5 bar rear ( 35 psi / 36 psi)
with pillion: 2.5 bar front, 2.8 bar rear (36 psi / 41 psi)

fatboy · #8 Post by **fatboy** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 7:01 pm

Thanks, will give the higher pressures a go, have now sourced another set of forks which I can rebuild at my leisure and as budget allows.
No doubt I need to spend a fortune on re furb and set up of the suspenders, starting wirh the shock linkage plates, a section of the outer edge fell off today whilst doing a bit of pre mot work.
although the plates are fairly substantial, I'm still worried that a chunk fell off.

#9 Post by **mangocrazy** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:52 pm

fatboy wrote:a section of the outer edge fell off today whilst doing a bit of pre mot work.
although the plates are fairly substantial, I'm still worried that a chunk fell off.

Bits should not be dropping off the shock linkage plates. You need to have a good look at that before it fixes you...

If that happened to me I'd be taking an undamaged plate down to a waterjet/laserjet cutter and getting a set made up in stainless...

randomsquid · #10 Post by **randomsquid** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 1:21 pm

fatboy wrote: although the plates are fairly substantial, I'm still worried that a chunk fell off.

It's not unknown for the bearings to partially or completely seize which would cause stress in the plates, I'd suggest a strip, clean, grease and swap the plates.

fatboy · #11 Post by **fatboy** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 7:47 pm

It looks like a case of oxidisation, a piece about 0.75mm by 30 mm seems to have de laminated, replacement plates are on order.
The bike did not weather last winter very well at all, the neighbours cat trashed the bike tent then the storms finished it off, damp got to the bike in a big bad way.
Will now look for the required bearings,
Talking of having a new set of plates cut out, Willo ?
PS the bit that fell off is midway between the upper and lower mounting points

#12 Post by **mangocrazy** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 11:26 pm

I'd say that Will could probably sell a few sets of plates if they could be made out of stainless rather than alloy....

fatboy · #13 Post by **fatboy** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:19 pm

I'd second that !
Went out for a ride today and conducted a fairly crude test, constantly checking for heat in the mounting bolt which would indicate a siezed beariring, no heat over a 3 hour ride so it seems I'm looking at degraded aluminium and wishing for stainless.
Will, I'm sure this is a a good idea

randomsquid · #14 Post by **randomsquid** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:29 pm

fatboy wrote: Went out for a ride today and conducted a fairly crude test, constantly checking for heat in the mounting bolt which would indicate a siezed beariring

Mine did it and while the suspension moved if you bounced on the bike it was slow to respond and got bent out of shape running over ripples in the road to the point where the seat would be smacking you in the arse.

fatboy · #15 Post by **fatboy** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:05 pm

I should have added that I did some cursory checks before the three hour ride.
No noticeable impediment to suspension movement, no noise when compressing the shock first very slowly then with increasing speed and force.
Hopefully the needle rollers will be fine with a grease up, good job as that leaves me more time and money to investigate my MPL slave cylinder which seems to have failed after only a few months, now a noticeable drop in fluid level in the resevior