Vit 701 steering damper...

Max Kool

Max Kool

pro rider
Joined
Oct 8, 2020
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City of Angels
Time to "make stuff" again. This should be fun. I got a fully adjustable Powerparts steering damper for a 990 Super Duke underway, and loads of other bits and bobs. The plan is to make this as clean as possible, and it should look stock once finished.

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Yes, that bolt right there is in the exact right position. It's M6 though, but we can change that.

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More as soon as I have parts. A bracket around one of the legs, steering damper clamp, and small stuff. To be continued.
 
May Sound like a dum question...
Did you replace the rubber on the tank mount with aluminum, or use some other way to make the aluminum threaded piece stiffly mounted to the frame?
 
Im not sure, we will see. Hitting bumps and ruts mid corner makes the bike nervous sometimes.

I’d be the first saying this is very much a “because we can” project.
 
Really interested to see how this turns out max and possibly copy on my vitpilen. I haven’t had a shake yet but my thruxton has a damper and I prefer the feeling of riding with one, hard to explain it but it just feels better steering with a damper.
 
Not completely finished but close enough to show. I have to locktite everything yet, the clamp on the fork leg needs replaced. Little things.

And yes, I bought the only steering damper in the world that's 24mm instead 25mm, so had to use some filler between the clamp and the damper body.

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Looks good! I might have to do something similar to this in the winter.. what type of space did you end up using to adapt the Mount to frame? Did you have to turn it at all to get the right diameters?
 
Actionabe said:
Looks good! I might have to do something similar to this in the winter.. what type of space did you end up using to adapt the Mount to frame? Did you have to turn it at all to get the right diameters?
Click to expand...
So I used an M6 to M8 rod, locked in place with a counter nut. M6 on the frame side and bolting the tank down. M8 for the steering damper. I'm not 100% confident this is strong enough. I need to test this. I may also need to change -limit- how far the bars go left to right.

To be continued....
 
Testing time!

I now have two dampers. One 30 click adjustable one from WP, and one from my buddy's SDR1290. The latter one is new and absolutely stiction free. The WP adjustable one however, the lower the setting, the worse the stiction gets.

Since the one I got from my buddy had the least (close to zero) stiction, that’s the one I installed yesterday. Damping felt a little heavy without a reference as to what's normal, but other than that: perfectly fine riding freeway speeds, onramps, flyovers, etc. The added stability makes you nearly invulnerable. But what a drama in tight canyons. Like the first time using a Mac (anyone remember that, when the computer just seems to have a slight will of its own?). It’s like the bike had two pilots. Me, and someone else slightly fucking up what I was about to do. Just unnatural. The brilliant, quicksilver superlight steering and balance was just gone.

And yes, the damper did what it needed to do, reduce unwanted feedback...

Sod that! I removed the damper on Tuna, and by the time we were down from Piuma I was hugging my bike. It’s so good, so pure, so brilliant. Rode without it the rest of the day, and haven’t been so happy lately. 🤍

I am going to have suspension expert Bobby Loo take a look at the adjustable one, see if he can eliminate the stiction. I still see benefit using a damper on the lower settings. But If even then it doesn’t feel right, I have a nice adjustable steering damper for an SDR someone else should try.

First verdict: at highway + speeds on smooth surfaces, yes get a damper. If you want your Vit steering as sharp as a razor, don't.

Will keep you posted, to be continued.
 
Max Kool said:
Testing time!

I now have two dampers. One 30 click adjustable one from WP, and one from my buddy's SDR1290. The latter one is new and absolutely stiction free. The WP adjustable one however, the lower the setting, the worse the stiction gets.

Since the one I got from my buddy had the least (close to zero) stiction, that’s the one I installed yesterday. Damping felt a little heavy without a reference as to what's normal, but other than that: perfectly fine riding freeway speeds, onramps, flyovers, etc. The added stability makes you nearly invulnerable. But what a drama in tight canyons. Like the first time using a Mac (anyone remember that, when the computer just seems to have a slight will of its own?). It’s like the bike had two pilots. Me, and someone else slightly fucking up what I was about to do. Just unnatural. The brilliant, quicksilver superlight steering and balance was just gone.

And yes, the damper did what it needed to do, reduce unwanted feedback...

Sod that! I removed the damper on Tuna, and by the time we were down from Piuma I was hugging my bike. It’s so good, so pure, so brilliant. Rode without it the rest of the day, and haven’t been so happy lately. 🤍

I am going to have suspension expert Bobby Loo take a look at the adjustable one, see if he can eliminate the stiction. I still see benefit using a damper on the lower settings. But If even then it doesn’t feel right, I have a nice adjustable steering damper for an SDR someone else should try.

First verdict: at highway + speeds on smooth surfaces, yes get a damper. If you want your Vit steering as sharp as a razor, don't.

Will keep you posted, to be continued.
Click to expand...
Refreshingly honest appraisal. It is too easy to get committed to any mods you do yourself.
 
ChainsawDuke said:
Refreshingly honest appraisal. It is too easy to get committed to any mods you do yourself.
Click to expand...
It is what it is. I'm trying to learn as I go. I just learned a steering damper can really dumb down a bike.

I poured a lot of time and investment into my bike to get it as it is now. I can honestly say I never had a bike that felt as pure, honest and direct as my little Pilen. I has this magic combination of feeling very direct, without feeling nervous. And with a steering damper -so far- it suddenly feels numb...

But as I said, a steering damper with very little damping may just be the recipe the doctor ordered. We'll see.
 
Did you lower the clamps to make space for the damper, or were you already running that setting?
 
Round two. The adjustable damper was sent out and serviced by a suspension specialist, but by construction, this model is just seems prone to stiction. There is an internal spring pushing the separator piston down. So there is always internal pressure buildup.

In round two I used the new gen 3 SDR1290 steering damper I mentioned a few posts up. A damper with very litttle stiction, but with too much damping. So I opened it up and carefully drilled the hole in the damper piston bigger. After three tries the damping was reduced to a point where it started to make sense on a light bike like this. Took it out for a longer ride yesterday, and for the first time in this experiment it didn't feel weird.

I have to admit, it still feels a bit remote, but that seems to be the price of riding with a steering damper. A buddy of mine has one (new, Ohlins) on his new Aprilia RS660. His description is exactly the same. The front wheel feels remote, but at the same time, it's also much calmer and tracks better.

I am going to try it out more this week.

And I need to see how to get the stiction out of the adjustable damper, after all, that's how this experiment started...

as always, to be continued.


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Last update on this project.

Short version: I've given up.

Longer version: I have tried two different dampers, on multiple settings, with different kinds of oil, all aimed at reducing the stiction as much as possible. What I noticed:

- heavier oil causes less stiction
- steering dampers are temperature sensitive and love to be cold-ish
- once the damper becomes warmer stiction increases, probably due to pressure build-up
- Even with a perfect damper it still feels weird, I described it to a friend of mine as shooting photographs with lower color depth and a slight gaussian blur... tipping in just feels strange
- and on some sections having a steering damper was plain brilliant, really. Especially at higher speeds, banked over with tree ruts under the asphalt.

Thanks for listening, I learned a lot. And if I ever have a bike that comes with one stock (hello Hypermotard SP), I will sure try it without one day.
 
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