Steering Damper - how do you check if its actually working?

[KAus]

Hi team, I'm wondering about the the steering damper on my 2021 Transcontinental. The bike has only done 21,000 km and the damper looks fine, moves freely, and no obvious signs of malfunction; but it doesn't seem to have any resistance on rapid steering movements. How do I know? When the front wheel is off the ground (up on the Kern-Stabi, for example) I can move the handlebars from side to side pretty quickly - no resistance at all. My K1300, K1200, and K100 all had OEM steering dampers and you could feel the resistance to rapid steering movements and none on slow movements.

Any idea how to inspect and check the damper? Anyone rebuild one of these yet? Given the cost of the part a rebuilt might be in order. All advice gratefully received. Thanks.

 

[Petrus]

take it off and feel with your hands

should move rather freely but ´dampen´ when you bump one end down on the work bench

 

[Noelpolar]

Whilst riding for a fair bit the other day with no hands, for the first time the front end did a little shake (some road irregularity no doubt). I applied my high school physics/math brain and determimed that might have been worse without the dampener..... so that's my process.

 

[Petrus]

Whilst riding for a fair bit the other day with no hands, for the first time the front end did a little shake (some road irregularity no doubt). I applied my high school physics/math brain and determimed that might have been worse without the dampener..... so that's my process.

Not experienced that but my BMW would not have fitted one with cruise control if there were no such potential tendency.
I do perceive the steering damper supressing the onset of ´sidecar wobble´. Quite chuffed with that as mine does not have cc thus no damper and I retro fitted it for the sidecar thing.

 

[KAus]

take it off and feel with your hands

should move rather freely but ´dampen´ when you bump one end down on the work bench

Yep. Sounds like a plan.

 

[KAus]

Whilst riding for a fair bit the other day with no hands, for the first time the front end did a little shake (some road irregularity no doubt). I applied my high school physics/math brain and determimed that might have been worse without the dampener..... so that's my process.

Thanks mate. I come a similar conclusion. Having had the death wobbles, on several bikes, I rather have a functioning steering damper than a highside trip over the handlebars. However, I suspect mine is just pretending. Will need to pull it off to check that will actually do something when called upon.

 

[Petrus]

Yep. Sounds like a plan.

be aware though that it is not a shock damper. The idea is that it only needs to shifts the frequency of the front end in relation to that of the bike itself i.e, the rear. It only needs slight resistance.
A too hard steering damper will put stress on all fixtures of the front end; the front should turn as freely as possible around the head stock. The steering damper should not affect normal movement.

 

[KAus]

Not experienced that but my BMW would not have fitted one with cruise control if there were no such potential tendency.
I do perceive the steering damper supressing the onset of ´sidecar wobble´. Quite chuffed with that as mine does not have cc thus no damper and I retro fitted it for the sidecar thing.

Nice; wouldn't have guess that it would that, but there you go.

 

[KAus]

be aware though that it is not a shock damper. The idea is that it only needs to shifts the frequency of the front end in relation to that of the bike itself i.e, the rear. It only needs slight resistance.
A too hard steering damper will put stress on all fixtures of the front end; the front should turn as freely as possible around the head stock. The steering damper should not affect normal movement.

Good point, but there doesn't seem to be any resistance to rapid bar movement at all, which in my limited experience not normal for the OEM dampers. Will need to pull it off and check it, and report back at some point.

 

[Petrus]

Good point, but there doesn't seem to be any resistance to rapid bar movement at all, which in my limited experience not normal for the OEM dampers. Will need to pull it off and check it, and report back at some point.

The R18 front end is rather heavy so ´rapid´ is relative no?!

Indeed just check; two easy to get to bolts