| Author | Message | ||
     Mmthefish |
Should i spend 400 at ebr store or is there a cheaper option ? want too | ||
| Dhays1775 |
i bit the bullet and bought one for my CR. Al Lighton at American Sport Bike suggested i get one as soon as i could. he put one on his 1125r track bike and swears by it. a few other guys that have 1125s told me that should be the first thing i buy. i had one on my 12r and loved it. do you really feel you need it? | ||
| Timebandit |
> do you really feel you need it? The EBR damper is high on my to-do list for the winter off-season. Every time that I get enthusiastic enough with the throttle to unweight the front tire on irregular pavement the squirrely front end makes me wish I already had one on the bike. It's particularly annoying when you're passing someone on bumpy / imperfect pavement and the front end gets squirrely. I don't want a tank slapper when I'm staring down oncoming traffic. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
The day I had massive headshake on the bike with my wife on the back was the same day she told me I could get one. Trust me, I feel the same way about the oncoming traffic. | ||
| Timebandit |
I don't want to come off as if I'm dis'ing the bike as a headshaker -- I love mine. I admit that I've never experienced head wobble with this bike unless I've applied generous throttle in conditions that are a set-up for it. My problem is that the bike's got enough power that I can easily induce head shake pretty easily if I'm not really careful. For me, there are more situations than I'd like when I feel like the steering damper would be helpful. Situations like: * Opening it up when coming out of a lean on an Interestate on-ramp, to merge with fast-moving traffic. If I encounter seams in the road, tar snakes, paint lines, etc. while under a decent amount of throttle, the frond end can start to do the nasty ... at the worst possible time. * Vigorous passing on bumpy pavement. Between the 'noid and the headshake, this bike can put a rider's skill to the test. For safety, I'd rank a steering damper right up there with de-noiding. | ||
| Avalaugh |
Have a read of this thread, I love my GPR, it really can be a life saver. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290 431/630138.html?1304270844 | ||
| Xodot |
I like the feel my GPR damper makes on the steering under all conditions | ||
| Jdugger |
No one will believe me when I say this, but a damper isn't intended to help the bike when on the gas. Using a damper in this fashion will make the front more prone to push in a corner. Bad bar inputs cause the headshake under throttle. | ||
| Duphuckincati |
My CR would start the bar wiggle at 90mph, had to back off at 130. With the GPR it's rock steady to over 140. Buy one. | ||
| Timebandit |
> "No one will believe me..." Actually, I agree with you completely. I understand the physics well enough to know that the common wisdom that says you always need to apply throttle to stop the oscillation is based on incomplete understanding of the mechanisms that caused the problem in the first place. I'm not at all worried about a eliminating little wobble. What I am concerned about is preventing harmonic oscillation from developing to the point that it gets out of control. That's what the damper is designed to do. | ||
| Rallyrays |
400 dollars eliminates the fear of tank slapper crash... piece of mind/repairs/injury is well worth the cost of the GPR. | ||
| Nm5150 |
better to have it and not need it than need it and not have itIMHO | ||
| Timebandit |
You sound like Charleton Heston.  | ||
| Ogobracing |
"better to have it and not need it than need it and not have itIMHO" Nm5150 -- My thoughts exactly.} | ||
| Jdugger |
Like I said, no one will believe me. Raise the front end 5-7mm and save yourself $400. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
If the front forks were raised 7mm, I'm aware that it would slow down the steering a bit by giving the bike more trail. But how much would it realistically add? I know that there are bearings that add 1 degree of rake and adds nearly an inch of trail. I was there the day Al Lighton put them in his track only 1125R. But, he also had a steering damper in conjunction with the "kicked out" front end. Would dropping the forks add THAT much trail? | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Making the top of the fork tubes flush with the top of the triple enhanced stability and also made the bike steer more neutrally. Win / win. That said, the front end can still occasionally get a little twitchy under power. The cold weather seems to wake up the bike--second gear WOT can get.. interesting. Poor inputs? Not in my case, thanks.  There was some guy who was talking about making steering damper mounts so we could use OEM Ohlins damper mounts from other bikes, but I don't recall hearing anything coming of it. | ||
| Froggy |
JD, I believe you. | ||
| 01fxdx |
I believe as well. I have been in plenty of shake as well, it's because i get a little carried away with my "chicken arm" upshifts!! They have been manageable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't proper suspension setup improve the chances of avoiding the slapper? | ||
| Jdugger |
It seems counter intuitive, but raising the front also increases swing arm angle, which helps the bike steer. In particular if you have gone to a taller rear tire it works really well on these bikes. I wouldn't go flush, personally, but start with a 4-5mm change (push the tubes DOWN in the clamp, raising the front) and tell me what you think. | ||
| Eaton_corners |
Unfortunately, Most racing organizations require them. | ||
| Nattyx1 |
Jdug: I believe you man. AND I have found it's also true that IF you have a bumpy corner exit and the bike has weight-shifted to the rear because you're on the gas, then the CR I own with the upright bars is absolutely prone to unpleasant wiggling that tells my hypothalamus to panic, resulting in my right hand rotating forward as I get off the gas. I noticed this far, far less on 1125r models that I rode in the past. This tendency disappeared entirely when I affixed the GPR Damper. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
I installed my GPR damper this afternoon and left it on 0 and tightened it from there. I rode it pretty hard, pretty much TRYING to get the head shake. I ended up stopping at 6. 7 felt like it slowed down my turn in too much. There is still a little bit of shake, but it never gets worse, and it let's me know to ease up on the bars. So far, I love it. I'll play around with the settings a little more as I need to tweak it. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread. | ||
| Ezblast |
I'm enjoying the GPR - set at 5, the bike is still way harder to heal around the tight stuff than a highly modified Blast, but now it is much more stable feeling in the corners, allowing my confidence in the bike to build, and me deeper into the corners. I know Thomas can ride Morgan Territory much faster, but at least I feel enough confidence to start getting the bike leaned over more, switching to Road Pilot 3s will probably help even more. I bought it for distance and then twisties - working on the twisty part - lol EZ | ||
| Chessm |
id look into suspension set up 1st before getting the GPR. that and/or bad riding technique getting the GPR to fix headshake on a bike with improperly set up suspension is just a band aid to hide one of the symptoms. best to deal with the root cause first | ||
| 99buellx1 |
FWIW I do not have a damper on my race bike. It has helped me to learn what I'm doing wrong as far as inputs to the bike. | ||
| Froggy |
Well the thing is, most of the time that is the cause. Know it all or not, facts remain the same.
The average owner does not know how to adjust their suspension. Many ride their bikes the same it was the day they purchased it. Also, the only person here to say they are morons is you. Many riders do not have a lot of experience under their belt, and as result do not know how to properly control their bikes. They think the bike has an issue, when the only problem is with the rider needing education and practice. I can't say if that is the case for you, but based on how defensive you are being about it, it wouldn't surprise me if you can't handle the bike and have an unrealistic opinion of your abilities.
Great, you are old, you have been riding a long time, and you have old bikes. Want a cookie? It doesn't mean jack.
Good, I hope that is the case, otherwise you are wasting cash. | ||
| Dhays1775 |
I've done everything I could to set up my suspension to the best of my abilities, but I never go on a track to actually push the bike to MY limits. Adding the damper might be my little band aid, but it allows me to ride more confidently. I think it was money well spent to me. If I had the time and means to get on a track, I might feel differently. Please, Mike was only asking a question. There's no need for insults guys. | ||
| Thunderbike |
If your going to get one,the EBR is the only way to go.The gpr is easy to install,but the ohlins is a much better product.And the EBR hardware is second to none. | ||
| Jdugger |
The damper is really for when the front tire gets loaded and an "unrecoverable" oscillation happens, as was mentioned earlier. It has the secondary benefit of keeping the brake pads in line, since a bad shake will tend to spread the pads and then low and behold no brakes into the next corner. In theory, hitting the gas hard or even leaning into a turn -- really just about anything -- should stop a tank slapper. In reality, if you ever get into a true lock-to-lock slapper, it's a pretty scary experience that's as much luck to come out upright from as anything else. The devices are required for racing because the riders are pushing it that much, do have the front loaded that hard, and a crash going into a corner has a true possibility of taking out more than one rider. (among other reasons) I think it's a reasonable safety requirement. I have one on my race bike, and it's set one click above minimum, even as I have quite a few mm of ride height above stock. Under throttle, the reason the head is shaking is bar pressure from the rider has twisted the steering to one side or the other and as the front tire skips along with each touch it's trying to correct itself. The reason you will see me and others be a bit critical of using a damper to correct this is it causes other problems. As a rider, having the bike do this in a near wheelie situation is completely normal, and the best advice I can give is "get used to it... it's normal". This is so especially true of the Buell. Steering heads DO naturally twitch across bumps, pavement issues, rocks, etc. When you tighten down a damper to the point your own input doesn't create issues under throttle you are also asking a front tire to deform instead of right itself. At some point, this compromises traction, and will make the bike more susceptible to a low side than a properly set damper or no damper at all. The Buell is a pretty twitchy by by nature, and the front wants to find itself. Let do so. If your goal is simply to slow down the Buells steering a bit, try raising the front ride height before you spend $400. I'm not saying don't get the damper, but for a street rider, you could do more to increase your safety with this geometry change and a great set of tires than the damper will provide. Advice that's worth what it cost you. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
Dear Froggy I just read your last post in this thread...and...I loved it. Great points, all of them. I agree, that many do not adjust their suspension. Heck, mine is barely adjusted from stock, just to the factory recommendations for my (heavier) weight. It was a good post, had some smart-ass-iness (which I dont mind), and knowledge. A good post. | ||
| Froggy |
It just irked me that in the middle of a civil discussion, someone comes in puffing their chest like they own the joint. He deleted his post, probably because he realized it was over the top and foolish. Regarding the suspension, I had several bikes before my first Buell and never touched the suspensions, I don't recall if they were adjustable or not. When I got my Ulysses in 2007, I rode it around for several months without touching the suspension once. I was at a local meetup with some fellow buellers and they offered to adjust it, 5 minutes later my bike was at the book settings and feeling great. I knew it had adjustments, but I knew nothing at the time of what to do or how to do it, and the manual, while printed as simply as possible, I still didn't know what it was telling me to do. Even to this day, I'm no suspension pro, between the manual and help from others, my bikes feel great. They might be able to be improved upon, but my greenness with the suspensions makes me not want to fix what isn't broken. | ||
| Two_seasons |
As to JDugger and Froggy's posts, I too believe that suspension adjustments may solve most street riding issues you have. I've come from the world of no adjustment, save internal valving in the forks/shocks, now having preload, compression, and rebound. It makes one heck of a difference. 1125's are twitchy at the factory settings. Once you dial the suspension in to your preference, not necessarily to the "book", you'll probably find that it's the best handling bike you own. |
