Steering Damper

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B737driver
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Steering Damper

Post by B737driver »

So, I recently rode a friend's orange bike which had a Scott's Steering Damper mounted on top of the upper triple clamp.
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It was dry and there was a lot of deep sand. I think this thing actually works. Does anyone have any experience installing one on a kdx ('04) with kx ('01) forks.

It appears they make one for the KDX.
http://www.scottsonline.com/Stabilizer_ ... BI_ID=7296

I wonder how it would bolt up to the kx front end. Or should I say kx forks and clamps with a KDX stem and RB spacer. Common sense says that it should be the correct size, length, however you want to look at it, because it is the KDX stem. Am I missing anything?

Thx,
Don
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wbdisco
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Steering Damper

Post by wbdisco »

i was curious about this also, because of the fork swap.
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kawagumby
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Steering Damper

Post by kawagumby »

I have the scotts on one bike the WER on the other. Both need to be mounted similarly; fender-style or you get into a nightmare of allignment issues, which the Scotts guys really didn't want to get involved with.

The Scotts requires the actuating arm designed for that kind of mount be purchased from scotts in addition to the damper(about $40). You need to fabricate or buy a mounting plate and stanchions (upright supports) in order to mount the scotts. I made my own base plate out of 3/16 aluminum, but you can get the WER plate setup for whatever kind of triples you use along with the frame mount bracket and link tube for the KDX - then mount the scotts to the WER plate. I also fabricated my own stanchions. Drew Smith of WER will set you up with a mounting kit for the WER plus the actuating tube (just don't tell him you're using a scotts!) total cost about 150. Drew seemed like a really nice guy to work with -

Or, you can just get the WER, it'd be a lot easier!

Scotts used to make the kits for fender mount style but doesn't anymore (they said). If you do a google you can see how their setup works, some places still sell the Honda or Yamaha scotts fender mount kits (a little over $200 as I recall). Here it is: http://www.mxsouth.com/scottsperformanc ... ount-1.htm

This is how I've set up my 220 and it works great.

If you really want to use the bar mount setup, it would work if the KX bar height is similar to the KDX, so the frame bracket and tower pin will allign properly with the link arm vertically. Then you have to make sure that the kx triple bar mounts are the exact same fore-aft distance from the center of the steering stem. If you get on the Scotts site, they have an instruction sheet on critical dimensions for their mount. For example; if you have the reversible bar mounts, the exact bar mount positioning must be known. For my setup, the frame-bracket tower pin height would have been too much to provide a strong enough base to actuate the link arm, and the bar mounts only about 1/2 higher than stock with a fatbar adaptor.
Last edited by kawagumby on 06:56 pm May 17 2012, edited 1 time in total.
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Steering Damper

Post by Julien D »

I use a WER damper. I like it alot. Mounted down on the front fender, out of the way, and it really does make a big difference.
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Steering Damper

Post by B737driver »

am I correct that the WER dampens the deflection and return to center, and the Scott's dampens only the deflection but not back to center?
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kawagumby
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Steering Damper

Post by kawagumby »

Neither the WER or the Scotts off-road version dampen back to center.
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Steering Damper

Post by rbates9 »

There has been post in the past of people mounting the dampener on the upper triple with no issues. I think inda even reused everything from his stock bike even with a fork conversion.
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Steering Damper

Post by B737driver »

Thx, I searched but the only thing I found was one that required welding. :shock: I'll look again. I like the idea of having the hardware on multiple bikes, then just moving the damper from bike to bike as needed.
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