What a day for Reggies return!

[andybaggies]

Well, I picked up 'ol rejuvenated Reggie today and did I pick the right day or what ? Couldn't have planned it better if I tried!

After spending an inordinate amount of time fitting a steering damper, yes I know but after he spat me off & broke my collarbone I couldn't bring myself to put him back on the road without one, my local bike shop has done the business and he's running like I remember. You just can't beat cubes or grunt.

Couple of photos showing his best & not so best sides along with steering damper mounting for those who may be interested. Still a couple of things left to do mind but, wooohooo, Reggies back !

[andybaggies]

Last damper pic

[Spyke]

Looking good - do you mind if I ask you what you paid for that damper?

I thought it was traditional that boats/cars/bikes were females, glad to see someone who's happy to go their own way!

[andybaggies]

Looking good - do you mind if I ask you what you paid for that damper?

I bought the damper 6/7 years ago after the off & I can’t really remember how much I paid for it. It’s pretty good quality mind, 7 click adjustable, and was part of a kit sold specifically for the Raptor (not the V). It came with a fork & damper clamp the latter of which would have been bolted to the Raptors existing head stock mounting lug.

And if you want I could bore you to death with the trials & tribulations I had mounting it...

I thought it was traditional that boats/cars/bikes were females, glad to see someone who's happy to go their own way!

As for the name, nail your head to a coffee table Reggie (Kray) seemed quite appropriate after he broke me collar bone.

[V4mp]

Does it make a big difference to steering ?

[andybaggies]

Does it make a big difference to steering ?

Depends on both the number of clicks dialled in & the 'type' of steering done i.e. town or A road.

Up to around click 3 & you don't really feel it but it then gets steadily more & more noticable until at click 7 you'd need arms like a gorilla to comfortably ride around town. And I suspect you'd also notice it on an A road or track but man you must have one unstable bike!

Never understood why dampers can be adjusted that hard.

[V4mp]

Does it make a big difference to steering ?

Depends on both the number of clicks dialled in & the 'type' of steering done i.e. town or A road.

Up to around click 3 & you don't really feel it but it then gets steadily more & more noticable until at click 7 you'd need arms like a gorilla to comfortably ride around town. And I suspect you'd also notice it on an A road or track but man you must have one unstable bike!

Never understood why dampers can be adjusted that hard.

Okey, so you think steering damper has made Raptor better bike to drive ?
I dont think Raptor is unstable bike, but I've only little experience with big bikes...

[Spyke]

I don't think the raps are unstable, the Xtras came with dampers to help support their "all the bells and whistles" claims. The TL/S got the Widow Maker reputation, but I seem to recall that that was because it had some sort of trick rotary damper that didn't always work correctly for big and small riders. I've had my damper on and off over the years but it's usually on as a kind of insurance policy, in my own head at least! I was out chasing big bikes on my little Monster one day, and she's got good standard suspension but a real nasty tank slapper saw me heading off road for way too long. With no control whatsoever I thought it was all over red rover, thankfully she came good just in time and luckily I was able to stay focused on looking the way I wanted to go. After changing my undies a close inspection only came up with a leaky fork seal. WA is huge and we've only got a small population so some country back roads are badly paved - a little divet in the road can set off a catastrophic chain of events if you're unlucky. It doesn't seem to make a difference to the steering, (my) normal everyday input is just fine, it's more like one of those articulated slow-release automatic door closers that prevent you from slamming doors shut, if that makes sense?

[V4mp]

I don't think the raps are unstable, the Xtras came with dampers to help support their "all the bells and whistles" claims. The TL/S got the Widow Maker reputation, but I seem to recall that that was because it had some sort of trick rotary damper that didn't always work correctly for big and small riders. I've had my damper on and off over the years but it's usually on as a kind of insurance policy, in my own head at least! I was out chasing big bikes on my little Monster one day, and she's got good standard suspension but a real nasty tank slapper saw me heading off road for way too long. With no control whatsoever I thought it was all over red rover, thankfully she came good just in time and luckily I was able to stay focused on looking the way I wanted to go. After changing my undies a close inspection only came up with a leaky fork seal. WA is huge and we've only got a small population so some country back roads are badly paved - a little divet in the road can set off a catastrophic chain of events if you're unlucky. It doesn't seem to make a difference to the steering, (my) normal everyday input is just fine, it's more like one of those articulated slow-release automatic door closers that prevent you from slamming doors shut, if that makes sense?

Right, so because I dont commute so much just trashing b-roads I should consider buying steering damper to prevent unwanted shakes

[ozzraptor]

Well, I picked up 'ol rejuvenated Reggie today and did I pick the right day or what ? Couldn't have planned it better if I tried!

After spending an inordinate amount of time fitting a steering damper, yes I know but after he spat me off & broke my collarbone I couldn't bring myself to put him back on the road without one, my local bike shop has done the business and he's running like I remember. You just can't beat cubes or grunt.

Couple of photos showing his best & not so best sides along with steering damper mounting for those who may be interested. Still a couple of things left to do mind but, wooohooo, Reggies back !

That looks like a 190 rear tyre ?

[Spyke]

I dont think Raptor is unstable bike, but I've only little experience with big bikes...

The Xtras have higher spec suspension, and I'm by no means an expert, so I can only really give you my opinion on how my bike performs for the way I ride it. Mucking about with the steering geometry made her far too responsive for comfortable lane splitting, but the damper never seemed to damp excessively (till 2015). The damper initially got blamed for my head bearing issues, poor thing, but that was remedied. Theoretically everything is fine if you have a pit crew maintain your bike and you only ride well surfaced tracks but unfortunately I live in the real world where B roads have a surface that you wouldn't call consistent and fork seals decide to give up at just the wrong time. My damper has done me no harm - yeah it's "probably" not necessary all of the time but having no control whatsoever over which way your bike is going is one of the scariest things I've ever experienced.

[ozzraptor]

Best way to check the damper operation is to lift the front off the ground and turn the steering lock to lock just to make sure the damper is working correctly , these are a weird setup which doesn't help there cause if not in perfect alignment and setup correctly. If your bike is being serviced by a mechanic you should always check it has been refitted correctly and there are no parts "missing" I should have said the x raptors have a quirky damper setup, need a lot of care!

[andybaggies]

Nope, the rears a 180/55 (BT021) perhaps looks bigger because it was brand spanking new.

I think many modern motorcycles can be prone to head shakes if circumstances combine to create a 'perfect storm'. They all run, what used to be though of as radical steering geometries (24/25 rakes & sub 100 trails) to allow for quick, accurate steering but with modern/better/stronger forks/tyres/chassis to keep things in check. However they can all tip over the edge if any/some of these components is not up to scratch - even misaligned wheels can cause head shakes (& don't rely on the swingarm notches to be measured the same on both sides).

As an example I noticed even a BMW R800ST runs a steering damper as standard which is the sort of machine you don't really think of as a tear arsed super sports bike.

As regards 'ol Reggie I wasn't doing anything silly just bimbling along at 50/60 at low revs when we hit a bump and it went straight into a lock to lock slapper, high sided & then spat me off. I did get back on, after the collarbone had healed, but only after fitting a damper & to be brutally honest I don't think I'd ever be confident enough to ride it without one.

In my case I think it was a combo of race oriented Dunlops, the standard firmly damped & sprung forks, a particularly sharp bump and my own low weight (over the bars). It must be said the Raptor forks aren't the most sophisticated units around and even now the front 'jumps' over sharp bumps.

Go steady all,

Andy B

[andybaggies]

Best way to check the damper operation is to lift the front off the ground and turn the steering lock to lock just to make sure the damper is working correctly , these are a weird setup which doesn't help there cause if not in perfect alignment and setup correctly. If your bike is being serviced by a mechanic you should always check it has been refitted correctly and there are no parts "missing"

I can certainly confirm the weird setup & alignment of dampers. The damper will track the movement of the forks when the steering is turned but not in the same 'flat' plane. The damper end on the 'outer' of the forks will lift higher than the other end which is the reason the damper clamps have gimbaled sleeves to allow for this movement.

And the plane of this movement will also depend on where the damper clamp is bolted in relation to the centre line of the motorcyle i.e the point around which the steering rotates. If the mounting point is not on this centre line then you have two different planes of motion, one for the forks and one for the damper. And in addition to being 'kin hard to explain it is even harder to figure out when trying to fit it.

In my case I must have spent a good 40 hours fiddling about trying to find the optimum mounting points for the damper and moving either of them a couple of mill either way will cause it to lock or pinch due to these angle being wrong.

Andy B