| Author | Message | ||
     Vonsliek |
doing 180kmh around a sweeping somewhat uphill section & suddenly ..... violent headshake!!  took a couple of seconds to register & another couple to consider losing it & hence me & decided to gradually roll off throttle .. it worked .. i survived!! that bloody race kit definately makes the xb12r somewhat more lively upfront on hard acceleration! anyone else have this?? i thought these things didn't need dampers .. now i think perhaps they Do .. if i am riding one! paul. | ||
| M1combat |
I don't think they do... Were you hanging on tightly? Was you upper body relaxed? No offense intended at all, but, maybe YOU need a steering damper  . | ||
| Vonsliek |
dude .. i was very relaxed .. as far as i felt .. perhaps u are right .. i had been hammering the local twisties for a couple of hours at average 140kmh .. so perhaps i was a little bunched up .. i guess u never turned fast over bumpy ground before? no offence. i have 6 1/2 lines of preload on front .. 5 on rear & weigh 170# .. cld this be contributing to fast steering instability over bumps? | ||
| M1combat |
Certainly could. That sounds pretty steep. Just for the record, yes, I've made some pretty fast runs over bumpy ground . | ||
| Vonsliek |
cool .. thanks for confirmation .. | ||
| New12r |
I had the same problem, set up suspension and it went away. | ||
| Dagwood |
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| Vonsliek |
hahaha! | ||
| Buellj79 |
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| Xbolt12 |
Yeah, it happened to me and many on this board tried to deny or blame my riding skills. My advice is get a good damper. Innovation sells a nice one as does LSL and I know American Sport Bike sells the latter. I have the former and it is a pain to install on a street xbr because of interference with the wiring harness. It is definitely worth the effort though and makes the bike easier to control without screwing up handling. It also makes it less tiring on the freeway. The one I'm using has 24 positions (Hyperpro linear) and I am only on position 6 on the street. Formula Extreme probably requires more.... | ||
| Vonsliek |
xbolt12 .. hehe .. we have similar thoughts & experiences & u r honest enough to confirm or, push hard enough to have experienced .. usually ppl degrade others based on their fear of appearing inexperienced or, lacking in courage .. so i have that one figured! i like the sprint rotary damper - similar to the one on honda cbr1000rr .. fits on top of yoke ... w/ the geometry i run w/ my susp. settings, it appears a solid idea to get a damper if i keep riding the roads i do as hard as i do .. anyone in alberta knows the non-govt roads are •••••• & suffer greatly in the big freezes! thanks for the intel, old bean! | ||
| Xbcrazy |
This is a very basic suggestion, but check to make sure that the fork tubes are seated correctly and evenly in the triple trees. We had one customer who had a violent head shake at 55-60 mph and it turned out that the left fork tube was not pushed all the way up in the upper triple tree before being tightened. | ||
| Vonsliek |
thanks .. bike DOES feel odd since i took it to dealership for service .. infact, when i took off body panels to install muffler, a bolt was missing from the sprocket cover & another was loose?!?!?!? i find it very squirrelly up front & i am running a more relaxed susp. than i was before i installed kit. feels like front tire is running over bearings a lot of the time. maybe the mechanic wheelyed it & landed hard? they only take of the fairing on the xb12r to access the ecm, right? | ||
| Xbolt12 |
Vonsliek, Thanks for the complement. Your last post makes me wonder if you are experiencing a suspension or wheel/tire problem though. That's different than what I was referring to. I wasn't having any issues until I hit some depressions in the road on hard acceleration on an uphill at about 70-80 mph. After that experience I decided having a little extra insurance of a damper might be a good idea in the long run and I still feel it was the best decision on the xb outside of better tires (M1's and later changed to Diablo Corsas). xbolt12 | ||
| Chaconas |
storz makes an affordable and easily installed damper.Actually available in 2 lengths,1 for 12s and 1 for the 12r. | ||
| Monorad |
I had the same problem, especially accelerating hard out of turns on rough/wavy/patched roads. (anyone who's ridden the BQE knows what I'm talking about LOL...). Bought the LSL damper. Installed in 10 minutes. Works perfect and haven't had a problem since. An experience rider and racer friend of mine went down at 100mph because of sudden headshake (broken pelvis and roadrash everywhere). It isn't about skill, its about the physics of motorcycles. Yes riders can and often do make it worse, but in my opinion, unless you are content to ride well below the limits of these bikes, everyone should get a steering damper. | ||
| Buellin_ri |
No problems with my lsl, works great. | ||
| Bruceclay |
Might be a worn out stock front tire. I had some problems like that with only 3000 miles on the tires and when I replaced them it corrected the problem completely. Now with the Pilot Power i have never had the problem again. Worn out or otherwise. The other thing that may help is to tighten up the head bearing (sorry if somebody already said that). | ||
| Bruceclay |
could be a worn out stock front tire. I had some problems like that with 3000 on my stock tires. Replaced them with Pilot Power tires and have not had the problem again (worn or otherwise). could also be the head bearing needs tightening up. | ||
| Vonsliek |
lots of tread on front tire (spent a lot of time in the air) .. but strangley a few cold nites (around 40 deg) & i see cracking in all treads .. so new tires due .. whats the stickiest? | ||
| Buellin_ri |
My dunlops have cracks in the treads too. Putting on my Pilot Powers soon. |
