Steering Damper

Ha!

Our first day to Corsica was 500 miles (Annecy) in one hit.

Thank feck for cruise control!!

I was able to pick my nose, play dead to Rosy, experiment with Rossi's dangle, flying (A la Titanic pose), and steer with fingers, toes and anything else that grabbed my fancy to relieve the boredom.

I can tell you that steering and the effect of drag with dangling arms, is much more effective than dangling legs. (I may well write to Valentino and suggest this to him ... )

:)
 
Why on average speed secions

So you don't need to keep looking at your speed and making adjustments makes it a lot easier:thumby:

Great on roads you know they do speed traps on I just set the speed and forget it without the erge to go a bit quicker:rolleyes:

I did 430 miles on the motorway on Sunday to get home from holiday didn't use it all the time but very glad of it on several sections:cool: Seems odd riding with only your left hand on bars at 130kph though:eek:

I think it is a great extra to use on certain occasions!
 
Why on average speed secions [1] :nenau

Andres

[1] Apart form the Cat & Fiddle :thumb

Yes, I had read that they have ruined the Cat & Fiddle with average speed cameras.

I was thinking more about the average speed cameras on motorways down south - set and forget -easy :beerjug:
 
So you don't need to keep looking at your speed and making adjustments makes it a lot easier:thumby:

.............

Ah, but av. speed cameras read front mounted (car) number plates - except on the Cat & Fiddle DAMHIK :o

I must say though, I do like the idea of cruise control on a bike and would have great fun 'doing a Giles' :D

Andres
 
I was riding down a german motorway last week, cruise control set a touch under 100 mph, when I rode over a black stripe of tar they fill the cracks in with, then a massive tank slapper which fortunately didn't throw me off but did give me a scare, spoke to southport superbikes my local dealer yesterday, they said its the 1st they have heard and can I bring the bike in to inspect it, I would like a damper

Tony, what tyres do you have?

I was going over, the over banding on German roads and getting slight wobbles too. There was a lot of it about!

+1 for CC :thumb
 
Tony, what tyres do you have?

I was going over, the over banding on German roads and getting slight wobbles too. There was a lot of it about!

+1 for CC :thumb

A slight wobble is NOT a tank slapper :D

Rode lots of rough roads in France in August, both two up and solo, fully loaded and unloaded - never even a hint of a wobble, I was using Tourance Nexts, set to 36/42 PSI, I am a gnats under 13 stone and she is 8.5 stone.

I always set the pre-load and rear rebound damping to suit the load and conditions, max out both when two-up and loaded, back off down to half settings when solo.

Perhaps the clever electronics suspension doesn't quite get it right and maybe this can give you the wobbles under extreme conditions - one reason why I prefer manual adjustment.

The only time I have can promote the slightest of slight headshakes is when accelerating really, really hard up through the gears, each gear change unsettles the bike ever so slightly as the clutch goes out and the next gear takes up the drive BUT it really is a small effect and nothing unusual for any quick steering motorcycle being pushed hard.
 
I was riding down a german motorway last week, cruise control set a touch under 100 mph, when I rode over a black stripe of tar they fill the cracks in with, then a massive tank slapper which fortunately didn't throw me off but did give me a scare, spoke to southport superbikes my local dealer yesterday, they said its the 1st they have heard and can I bring the bike in to inspect it, I would like a damper

Or you could turn the fecking cruise control off which might encourage you 'ride' the bike instead of being taken for a ride:augie
 
I feel a lot of owners on here have little idea what a "tank slapper"is.Ive been riding for40 plus years, done some racing as well. I have only ever had one tankslapper. That is bars going lock to lock. Very scary. A slight twitch through the bars is not a tankslapper.:blast
 
I've had only one in nearly 30 years of riding - on a pan 1300 at about 130. I remember thinking to myself ..'ahhhh, so that's what all the fuss is about ... Yeah, fair one ..' !!
 
A (huge) tank slapper is what a (little) wobble has become by the time a biker hits the pub that evening ;)

I have had a huge slapper in a pub one evening if that counts. I think there was more than a little wobble involved though.
 
I feel a lot of owners on here have little idea what a "tank slapper"is.Ive been riding for40 plus years, done some racing as well. I have only ever had one tankslapper. That is bars going lock to lock. Very scary. A slight twitch through the bars is not a tankslapper.:blast

Got it in one.:thumb If I had one of them, I'd be crying and rocking by the side of the road.:comfort:D
 
Ive had squirms and wriggles on various bikes but the GSA just rocks sideways and back again. My only real tank slapper was on a luggage loaded MZ250 Saxon at about 20mph. That was a short wheelbase frame that looked designed for offroad use but had short rear shocks to make it into a road bike. I'm fairly sure a longer rear swing arm would have made the bike a lot more stable.

I was accelerating out of a motorway services car park when a car came from my right and didnt stop. I shut the power, hit the brakes and got an almighty tank slapper that broke the lock stops and gave me sore wrists for 2 weeks.

The same bike had another, what some would call a tank slapper, when I allowed the oil tank to run dry at 70mph on the M4. The engine seized solid locking the back wheel. It was all I could do to hold on never mind reach the clutch lever. It eventually spat me off at about 20mph. That was a serious snake but not a real tank slapper. Also 100% my fault for not properly checking the oil level. Two lads in a Transit who watched it all happen (and ferried me home) were amazed that I'd managed to ride it out for so long.

The 900 Yamaha would squirm unpleasantly on wet over-banding but it never got out of hand into slappers. New steering head bearings cured it.

The snag with steering dampers is they can hide the snake which some people call a tank slapper. If that snake gets bad enough it can overwhelm the damper and flick without warning into a proper tank slapper. Steering dampers are prophylactic at best and potentially harmful because they hide the warning signs of more serious instability.
 


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