WER Ride Report

[Bryan Kimsey]

I put a WER steering damper on my '96 KDX 200 a couple of weeks ago and have ridden it several times, thought I'd report in. First, installation was easy- I threaded the bolt thru the big hole in the frame instead of drilling a special hole. The fit is a little sloppier than I'd like (the big hole lets the bracket sit out a little) and I'll probably just drill the dedicated hole next time I'm out in the garage with nothing to do. I bought the headlight relocating kit and dunno if I'd recommend it or not- you still have to chop the headlight shell up- and the kit aims the headlight down a little too much to make the light truly useful. Otherwise, everything went on very easily.

Out on the bike, the damper is totally transparent. The only way I could feel it was at max and then the bike felt like I was dragging the front brake- the front end felt a little "heavy", even though it was no different. That was just the damper at work. If you drag your front brake for real, the steering gets "slow" and that's the feeling that I was getting in the bars. With the damper set to "normal", I couldn't feel a thing. However, I noticed immediately that when crusing thru a softball-sized rock field, that the bike was much more stable (and it wasn't bad before). It's hard to deliberately clip a rock, but before long I accidently smacked a nice square rock at about 20 mph. The front end held straight and the entire bike jumped about 3' to the left. Nice. I noticed a difference in mud and sand, too, again with straighter tracking with less effort.

The price was expensive, but a used WER just went on Ebay for $250, and I figure I'll either keep this one forever or Ebay it if I ever sell my KDX.

 

[Fred T]

You can transfer it from one bike to anohter with another mounting kit, I did that to my KTM.

 

[Braahp]

How many turns out do you run your adjustment screw?

 

[Fred T]

I run 1 turn out.

 

[Bryan Kimsey]

1 turn out for now.

 

[Smit-Dog]

So then what exactly does the WER KDX headlight mounting kit really buy you, and is it worth it?

I'm getting ready to order one on Monday, and was going to get the kit, but if it really doesn't matter that much, I'll skip it.

Thanks...

 

[davidg]

I also recently put a wer on my bike, currently one turn out. The bike is more stable going through the rocks and mud. I personaly feel more confident in the front end, doesn't dance around as much. The headlight kit raise it about 1/2 inch or so. You need to remove the bottom bracket to mount the wer, so they give you two straps to use instead. I suppose you could swap the two upper brackets (raises the hd light) and just use some zip ties for the bottom if you wanted.

 

[Fred T]

Originally posted by Smit-Dog
So then what exactly does the WER KDX headlight mounting kit really buy you, and is it worth it?

I'm getting ready to order one on Monday, and was going to get the kit, but if it really doesn't matter that much, I'll skip it.

Thanks...

Nope. I think you will need it if you want to keep your head light on it. You have to raise your headlight about an inch and grind off some of the bottom of the headlight to make clearance for it. There might be some pics of it either in my gallery or on my website button.

 

[Smit-Dog]

Thanks Fred... glad to see you're still helping out in this forum!

 

[gooby]

i did the same as fred,got the orange mount kit and pod kit.i don't feel the wer but i know it's there when it saves me. ;)

 

[canyncarvr]

Good to see some specific input on the wer. I've got a couple rides on mine, now...and was curious what settings other riders found to be 'normal'.

I've been running mine 3/4 mostly, 1/2 in powdery base with brick-sized sharp edged rocks.

Not real sure about everything yet. Figure there is still some 'getting used to' to be done.

Oversteer seems to be a problem. Well, kinda. Front end starts to drift in some of that deep powder stuff, turn bars a bit more, then it cuts in like oversteer, but pushes like understeer. SEEMS like the 'bit' of turn/cut is right where the damper action stops. I dumped it about FIVE times this past weekend (I think that's a record, even for me!). Every time, the bike went down on the INside of the turn (bars to left, dump-it to left).
***edit***
It occurred to me that my error on this ride was pushing the rear tire a bit too far. This is an area I SAVE my not-so-good tires to ride in. Tire on at this point was WAY past what I'd use if I actually needed traction. I've concluded that a tire with some actual KNOBS on it would have made a difference! Isn't THAT amazing!!
****edit****


Then again, I've tried 1/4 turn out just to see what it was like. It's AWful, is what it's like! Continually re-correcting, trying to keep the front on-track.

I compared my riding buddy's scotts to the wer. With his exc front-end off the ground, the scotts presence is obvious. Yet, I didn't feel it when I rode his bike.

Conversely, even at 3/4 out, I can't readily 'feel' the wer with the front wheel off the ground, but CAN when I ride.

Anyone with a point of view about that? As wer says, if you can feel it, it's too tight! So why is the scotts so tight at 1 1/2 out?

Kinda felt like I had 20psi in the front tire. Had 10. The exc had 12, btw.

I didn't use the light remount kit, but I have a twin lite UFO. Has straps already. Still cut out a piece for the heim link.

Points of view???

 

[Bryan Kimsey]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Scotts has slow-speed adjustment, whereas the WER is high-speed only. That's why you feel it more on the stand.

 

[Smit-Dog]

Originally posted by canyncarvr
I compared my riding buddy's scotts to the wer. With his exc front-end off the ground, the scotts presence is obvious. Yet, I didn't feel it when I rode his bike.

Conversely, even at 3/4 out, I can't readily 'feel' the wer with the front wheel off the ground, but CAN when I ride.

I checked out a CR 250 w/ a WER that was on a stand with the front wheel off the ground. I don't know how many turns out it was, but I could definitely feel the damping effect when turning the bar back and forth. The guy changed the setting so that there wasn't any damping, and I could easily tell the difference.

I should be getting mine in the next week or 2 and I'll post my impressions.

 

[canyncarvr]

Bryan:

Now that you mention it, I'm quite sure UB right.

Thanks!

 

[jeffw]

I started using mine at one turn out and was completely happy.

A couple weeks ago at a race I figured I might be missing something by not having enough damping so I tried 1/2 turn and the results were not good. Steering felt heavy and unresponsive.

I tried this after practice because the loop was especially nasty and I thought the more damping the better. I guess this is not necessarily so.

Can't comment on 1 1/2 and 2 turns out because I haven't tried that yet.