How important is a steering damper and what is the best most reasonable steering damper for the zx14r?

Not very important, IMO. Save your money and only get one if you're having headshake issues and you're positive that it's not caused by something else, like tires or suspension.

I don't have one, and don't plan on getting one.

No shakes or anything. I was talking a member of club who swears by his. I dont feel like i need 1 either. Madonna responds just the way i like her to at slow and fast speeds. Thx for the input Jtemple.

Is required if you ever want to LSR it.

Not very important, IMO.

I'd say the same but it's a cool piece of equipment to have on the bike. If you ride hard a lot, it would be a good failsafe. I don't think it's nearly as important on the 14 as it is on the smaller bikes.

http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=53154A1B-1372-66AE-3BA26B3E4111DD87&page=1&searchTerm=which%20steering%20damper#17

http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=240583DE-D56B-84E2-107E58599580A501&page=1

I feel a steering stabilizer is cheap insurance. Sure the 14R is stable stock but until you ride with a stabilizer you won't know the difference. It turns the stable bike into something even more. I also feel it gives some extra insurance for that unseen hazard such as a pothole at highway speeds. I put about 4,500 miles on my 14r before I installed a GPR and its most definitely better with it. Just my opinion of course!

Under hard acceleration where wheel comes up or down I would experience minor head shake. Stretched my bike so I went with a GPR to keep things stable. WELL was I in for a surprise!!! Hit a bag of gravel at 160 KPH just to the right of the tire. The bars went full left and full right at speed. I fought with her into the shoulder and pulled it out without spilling or dying. I was covered with a soupy grease, and the visor had spray all over it - cockpit and Marc1 windscreen was covered in oil. Turns out steering damper Exploded!!!. The impact was that violent. I am sure if I did not have my GPR I would not be here. The steering damper helped save my life. I paid about 500 Canadian for it.

FOK ME!

Holy !!!!!! Whew, glad you make it through. They should give you a new one as a testimonial to how well their product helped.

Hey Wolf, GPR has great customer service. You should call them and tell them what happened. I bet they would rebuild(if possible) or replace at a discount. I had an issue with my first GPR and they took care of it fast!

Told em what happened boys sent em a copy of the police report and pics of damper. They repaired it and resent it - free of charge!

Nice. Gotta love great customer service. Seems to be a rarity these days.

In related story, I went down on my Husky when my front tire spun on the rim under braking, ripping the valve stem off of the tube. I emailed the manufacturers of my various aftermarket parts and most of them replaced or repaired my damaged stuff at little or no cost to me. Total cost of repairs was about $250 on the bike. Keep in mind it's a dual sport, it takes a crash a lot better than a street bike.

, I went down on my Husky

I had that coming. :D

All in good fun JT.

So, the moral of Wolf's story seems to be:

"How important is the steering damper? Save my Ass important, that's how..."

I read earlier about the pot hole effect on the interstate, and how that might be the scenario that I should pay attention to, but somehow it did not register on my Oh Sh*T" meter. So, I was gonna blow it off.

But this story, this one... Hitting a bag and deflecting at speed, That might be a fair emulation of a pothole on an interstate freeway.

500 bucks huh? I'll bet you *and your loved ones* (if they know about it, mebbe not...) think thats pretty cheap, now.

Good story, I learned something...

* Last updated by: mebgardner on 10/8/2014 @ 1:25 PM *

Ummm, and lest I forget.

It speaks to the skill of the Wolfman.

Congrats to you for your superior skills on this cycle. Ride On!

I was just envisioning the internals of a rotary versus linear damper.

I'm currently pondering whether a linear based damper would've faired better under the same circumstances. My little grey cells want to tell me the linear damper is mechanically advantaged over the rotary.

I'm going to do some digging and see if anyone has conducted a relevant spearmint.

Seems like a rotary would have to deal with a lot more force than a linear. I'm no mechanical engineer, though.

I was lucky because I stayed calm, did not tense up and rodeo bull rode her to the shoulder. In any situation where gravity and centrifugal force overwhelms the rider, all you can do is relax and ride it out!

But Meb, thanks for the vote of confidence.

The family knows how close I got to the edge. Wife was real pleased when I added another, in her words "instrument of death" to the stable. That 500 was worth my life and the motorcycle gene in my chromozonal make up is here to stay.
Mad Love

Hey wolf did you order up a stabilizer for your new ride yet? If so did you go with the same one?

Fox, I removed my GPR and sent it out. They re packed it and sent it back.

The unit was refurbished. It was split and broken, the seals too were obviously gone.

I meant did you get one for your zx12.? I did read you bought a zx12 didn't I.?