k5_750,
Everyone here is right to an extent...
The stock damper is working, will it work as good as an aftermarket one? Probably not..
Are you experiencing headshake (i.e. tank slappers) because you are on a liter bike vs. your old 600.. Probably.. Tank slappers are caused by the front wheel not being aligned with the ground properly. Meaning, you pull a wheelie and the front wheel comes down with the bars turned slightly to one side, it will tank slap. You hit a good sized pot hole or bump in the road and it causes the bars to tweak to one side or the other while simultaneously causing the front wheel to “become light” meaning it actually leaves the ground or possibly doesn’t even leave the ground, just unweights itself enough to allow the bars to get tweaked to one side or the other it will tank slap. Again, what is causing the tank slap is that the front wheel is not straight when it is weighted again.. When it makes solid contact with the ground. Forward momentum wants to carry you straight ahead, the wheel being turned when it makes solid contact whit the ground again is violently thrown back to center. The more the wheel is turned, the more violent it will be thrown back to center. It usually works like a pendulum… meaning it will not stop at center, but will go past center, and then the same thing happens again.. Thrown back the other direction.. all the while it is usually being slowed down by the damper.. Sometimes you can ride thru them, other times, the end in some of the ugliest crashes..
On the street, we find ourselves dealing with tank slappers much more often than guys who race.. Race tracks are smooth, racers are more skilled, they tend to not overweight the bars as much, they tend to run better steering stabilizers ( for those that do use them to compensate for their own lack of smoothness).. It really is hard to explain in a email or a forum, sometimes talking and using body language can help others to understand it easier.. I hope this is coming thru in a understandable way for you.. But we find ourselves in this predicament on the street because it is so unsmooth.. Regardless of how well you ride, the power of a liter bike is enough that at times, we hit even a reflector in the road at the right time, the right gear, the right throttle, and the front wheel goes light.. light enough that if you are pushing on one bar slightly harder than the other, you may slightly turn the wheel, even if it’s for a split second, it is sometimes enough to cause that tank slapper.. But more often than not, it wasn’t necessarily you, but the angle at which the front wheel hit the reflector, or the bump in the road, or the pot hole that twisted the wheel out from under you.. and combined with you being on the gas just right and the front being light enough to get jerked to the side, you get your tank slapper… Is the solution in anything other than a steering damper.. probably not.. your suspension may be off, your sheels unbalanced, etc. etc. are they going to cause tank slappers, the simple answer is no. The guy who said a steering damper is a band aid is correct. It is. Is it needed if everything is set up perfectly, no. Is it needed even if your bike isn’t set up perfectly? No. It is needed when you have those odd moments that you misaglined the front wheel from center while the wheel was “airborne” for lack of a better word.. Yes.. It is a band aid. It is going to help you on the street much more than you think. The stock one works, does it work as well as a $300 ohlins? Does it work as well as a $400 Scotts? No.. the aftermarket ones are better.. If you ride hard enough and your roads are rough enough that you are experiencing tank slappers, you should invest in the aftermarket damper. It will work wonders for you. I ride a k7, I had 3 near crashes (on the street) within my first 300 miles.. I bought an Ohlins shaft style damper and run it nearly ¾ full hard.. It is night and day different compared to the stock damper.. I race the bike as well.. I can back it off some on the race track.. I don’t have as many instances that I need a damper on the track.. Or if I do, it usually isn’t as bad of an issue as on the street.. I can have mild tank slappers here and there and usually ride thru them..
The guys that say they don’t get tank slappers and run stock dampers just ride on smoother roads, or don’t twist the throttle quite as hard as you do over anything rough. (including reflectors on the road) The liter bike issue doesn’t help matters any.. Your answer lies in the aftermarket damper.. Start at the ½ way point in the 18 clicks of adjustability (Ohlins shaft style = 18 clicks) If you have a slapper happen, crank it up a click or two.. If they never happen, back it off a click or two.. Ultimately the ideal setting is going to be as light as possible but hard enough to suit your style of riding.. If you crank the thing to full hard you’ll probably never have another issue.. but you are going to get quite the pump in the forearms over time. To fully understand what a damper is for, once you mount that aftermarket damper, set it full soft and just sit on the bike and turn the wheel from lock to lock and see what it feels like.. Now set it full hard and turn the wheel from lock to lock and see the difference.. compare to a stock damper and you will see your answers for yourself…
Good luck, hope this helps…. Just one fellow rider to another that has been riding for 20 plus years and has experienced everything talked about first hand hundreds of times… take it for what it’s worth..
