steering stablilizer ??

Y

yortz

Member

May 16, 2004

35

0

• Jun 30, 2004

• #1

Anybody out there ever try a steering stabilizer for woods riding? I run into alot of boulder fields,and root strewn trails.I was wondering if they were worth the money,or not?

 

F

FLBusa

Member

May 29, 2003

82

0

• Jun 30, 2004

• #2

You can never go wrong getting a steering stabilizer. Every rider can benefit from one. Everybody from drag racers to trail riders and everything in between. Most people won't spend $400+ for a damper and that's why you don't see too many of them.

 

Wolf

doooode

Jul 31, 2000

2,487

1

• Jun 30, 2004

• #3

Most everyone I ride with runs one (including myself). Benefits are many, downfalls...$$, as usual.
Make sure and get your supension set up first though!

 

Y

yortz

Member

May 16, 2004

35

0

• Jun 30, 2004

• Thread starter
• #4

Yes I am going to get different fork springs first.Then I think I will go ahead and order one up. I see that there may be some clearance issues with the new 04 bike??[ gas tank and some bracket],but being a machinist, I should be able to make it work. Any how thanks for the input guys.

 

J

jnugent

Member

Aug 30, 2003

68

0

• Jun 30, 2004

• #5

I just installed the Scotts "kit" on my 03 and ride it last weekend. Everything fit great and is 1st class stuff. The trails were very dry and sandy and it made a huge difference. The only bad part was handing over $600.

 

J

john_bilbrey

Member

Mar 22, 2003

255

0

• Jun 30, 2004

• #6

Everyone I know that has one swears by them....say they won't rode again without one. It saves them from a spill at least once per ride, if not more.

 

M

Midhigh

~SPONSOR~

Jul 19, 2002

481

0

• Jun 30, 2004

• #7

One of the best bolt ons you can do for the woods. Well worth the $$$. I used a WER ($319) on my 96 KDX 200 and loved every minute of it. It won't seem like much at first, but after you ride with one all day, jump on a bike that doesn't have one and you will see very fast why you have a stablizer.

Just got the 22mm offset (rubber mount) Emig clamps for my 03 KTM 250sx and the top mount for the Scotts set up. Just have to recover from the clamps and the stablizer is next.

 

Y

yortz

Member

May 16, 2004

35

0

• Jun 30, 2004

• Thread starter
• #8

Well it sounds like its a no brainer. Aside from being punched into financial submission for awhile. Me thinks me will be putting in some over time.[ which I hate],Thanks again gentlemen.

 

H

Henk

Member

Apr 15, 2000

63

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• #9

It is indeed a no brainer. We have 3 dampers between the wife and myself and if I could find the coin I'd probably get another one, for the wifes TTR125 of all things. Don't think of it as an expensive accessory. Think of it as safety equipment. It only has to keep you out of hospital once to pay for itself (says he with a broken back).

 

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moridin

~SPONSOR~

Dec 30, 2003

257

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• #10

Totally agree with Henk. My "get-offs" on a particular outing have gone from common to uncommon overnight. One of those will eventually cost me a broken finger/wrist etc. $350 here or there.

FWIW - the WER does a very nice job on the KDX. Rocky Mountain gets about $300 for the setup - takes less than an hour to install.

 

C

canyncarvr

~SPONSOR~

Oct 14, 1999

4,005

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• #11

If your a machinist by trade you might consider the Scotts with a fender mount.

The why of that?

Well, because, for starters. Other than that:

The Scotts top mount requires probably more space between the clamp and the bars than you have. Certainly that's true with the oem bars with the welded crossbar. That means you will be in the market for a set of bars with a bowed crossbar. More coin.

The closer to the point of impact the damper is the less flex will be generated between the two points. The KDX bars are mounting thru some quite soft bushings. Consider what these bushings will be doing when asked to deal with the huge forces the damper is trying to regulate. They will get tweaked. Scotts lists such tweaking as the #1 cause for damper failure (in the last Scotts install procedure I read anyway).

The WER is fender mounted. Do some looking around this forum and you will find a number of problems that are common with the WER. For one, it commonly damps differently from one side to the other. Some have had WER rebuild their dampers only to get the same result! WER repeatedly says (they've told me repeatedly) it must be a problem with cable interference. I tell them the thing does it on the BENCH...and they REPEAT the cable interference blather.

HELLO!! ANYONE HOME!!??? :bang:

I've ridden with a WER and a Scotts. The Scotts is hands down a better unit imo.

While the general idea is, 'If you can feel it, it's too tight,' I'd prefer at least being able to MAKE it too tight so I could then back off from that 'max' point. I'm running 15W in my WER right now..and it could be tighter.

Yeah...most 'racers' use 5wt. That's nice. I'm glad they like it.

Get the Scotts. Skip the mounting kits. Fabricate your own fender mount.

Have fun!

 

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Y

yortz

Member

May 16, 2004

35

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• Thread starter
• #12

Ok thanks for that info. CC. I will call scotts and see what they offer.

 

Y

yortz

Member

May 16, 2004

35

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• Thread starter
• #13

Well just got off the phone with scotts, they do not have a fender mounted unit. So I think I will order the unit, and give it a go. It would be nice to see another fender mounted unit to get some fab. tips. I like a good challange.This could be it.

 

C

canyncarvr

~SPONSOR~

Oct 14, 1999

4,005

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• #14

I know they don't have a fender mounted unit. That was the point of, '..being a machinist...'

But then I said, '..fabricate your own mount.'

But guess I could'a mentioned that Scotts didn't make a fender mount for the KDX.

Note that the pic attached to the earlier post the bike ain't green.....:think:

 

D

DougRoost

~SPONSOR~

May 3, 2001

720

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• #15

Yep, safety equipment is the best way to look at it. Saving a hospital trip or even a crushed radiator probably pays for it. Scotts, GPR, WER....they're all good.

 

M

marksharp

~SPONSOR~

Sep 29, 2002

69

0

• Jul 1, 2004

• #16

The whole kit

When I purchased the Scotts unit, they had a deal going, damper, top triple clamp, Pro Taper bars and bar clamps with machined mount for the unit--$600 total--not a bad deal for the whole package. Mounts up in about 30 minutes, everything fits great and works great. I'm no machinist so this was the best route for me... and I like to adjust the tension on the fly.

 

H

Henk

Member

Apr 15, 2000

63

0

• Jul 2, 2004

• #17

We've got a scott top mounted on Michelles KDX. Just had to take the cross bar off the bars and give it a "gentle" tweak in the vice to get the required clearance. have had no problems with it. I've got the WER off my 360 sitting on the bench ready to go onto my 400exc. Wonder if I had fitted it if I'd be nursing a broken back now. The scott is a better damper than the WER in my opinion having one of each but the WER is still streets ahead of no damper, if the price diference is a big issue get the cheaper unit, you soon won't know how you got by without one. After 30 minutes or so you'll be hitting roots and rocks just because you can.

 

D

dcg9381

~SPONSOR~

May 27, 2004

40

0

• Jul 2, 2004

• #18

I've got a WER unit too (fender mount) - came with the bike. My recommendation with it is to use a heavier weight oil for more dampening. They should issue them with heavier oil in them from the factory..

 

J

john_bilbrey

Member

Mar 22, 2003

255

0

• Jul 2, 2004

• #19

FWIW, Dad likes his GPR MUCH better than the WER he started with. The damping supplied by the GPR is better than what he got with the WER - even after a rebuild from WER.

 

2

23jayhawk

Sponsoring Member

Apr 30, 2002

675

0

• Jul 3, 2004

• #20

Just to clarify something I've seen mentioned several times in the last couple years - the WER is not fender mounted.

It fastens to the bottom of the lower triple clamp.

 

S

skipro3

Mod Ban

Dec 14, 2002

902

0

• Jul 6, 2004

• #21

Just in case anyone was considering a used Scotts off the auction sites: There are two and they look exactly the same. One for street and one for offroad. The main difference is that the road version has dampening both away from center and return to center whereas the offroad version only dampens on away from center. I got me a road version and called Scotts to see if there would be any other differences. They told me to set slow speed dampening 4 clicks snugger.
The main reason I went with the road version is that with my WER I had on the bike, I found that there were times when my bars were cranked when I hit an object and they deflected to center, sending me off into the woods. Since I put the road version Scotts on the bike, that problem has not returned.
Hope this helps.