Steering Damper Questions

I am thinking about the value of getting a steering damper. I am medium pace most of the time...sometimes go a bit quicker. My bike is a little older i guess, i ride 05 te450. I am thinking of getting one when i order few other bit n pieces.

1. Under bar vs regular. Is the only real difference the bar height? I prefer not to raise the height of my bars at all if possible. I prefer to keep my original 05 bars. They are so comfy and have survived a lot of crashes.

2. I dont need or want an $800 kit. Whats a realistic cost for good quality? Which brands to consider and which stay away from.

3. Motosportz have a good deal on them for Huskys. Is this product honestly worth buying?

Any other medium skilled/paced riders moved to a damper and liked it? Which one and why did you like it?

Really keen to hear from anyone running the 45mm zokes who got one.

I have used the Motorsportz damper and disliked it. It may be the cheapest in price but I also found it to be the lowest in usefulness. I found that it was difficult to get a consistant and accurate setting. I have tried a Scotts and found it to be a much better product and worth the money. Sorry but that is my honest opinion.

I recently purchased a Motosportz damper. I am in love with it, and would highly recommend it. My bar mounts had a factory spacer, I could have replaced them with the underbar mount, and kept the stock bar height, but I elected to stack them and raise my bars about an inch. I am VERY VERY satisfied.

Do a search here and on ThumperTalk. There are very very positive reviews of the Motosportz damper.

I have the Motosportz damper it works extremely well.

I used to have the Scott's, it was overly complicated and all I used was the slow speed damping adjustment.

The MZ damper rocks.

Later,

About a month ago I bought a new to me 2006 Husky WR250 (it was totally blinged out) and it came with a Motosportz damper..
Haven't ridden it much yet (other than around the block few times) but the damper seem to work pretty sweetly..

Thanks for the offer Kelly. But I didn't like it from the first ride. No big deal. Not everyone has to like all products. The Scotts is just a better fit for me.

Yeah... three clicks of a mouse shows Scotts as one of your sponsors...

Sounds like you had a poor performing damper, hard to pass judgment on something without making an effort to make sure it is functioning correctly. Manufacturing defects or assembly errors happen.

I had to send my Scotts in twice and they made it right.

Later,

Hey guys,
I have only used Scotts on my bikes. I currently have one on my 08 WR 250. Can anyone give me a comparison between Motosportz and Scotts? I like the scotts because of the high speed valve. I have tried a GPR and did not like because it did not have a high speed valve. I just bought an 09 TXC and I am debating between moving the Scotts from bike to bike or buying a Motosportz for the TXC.
Thanks

WTF are you talking about? Scotts sponsor?? I wish buddy, you need to check your facts before making such statements.

And I actually have 2 MZ dampers and they are both the same.

So I have a feeling that an honest opinion is not wanted here? I say that I do not like the MZ damper and I have received a PM from Kelly asking why I hate him, I have been accused of having Scotts as a sponsor (which is insane) and now I have to provide more details as to why I don't like?

You want the real truth? I think it is a piece of shit. Poor quality, trying to get it set accurately and consistantly is impossible when compared to the GPR and Scotts and it took foooooorever to get it. That is the real truth. IMO

I am still allowed to have an opinion, right?

Unbelievable!

I am sorry if I misunderstood seeing Scotts performance on the banner under Sponsors on your page... I thought that would mean they were one of your sponsors....



I can see how you would think I was confused seeing it on your page, under sponsors...


Later,

i could personaly go off about waiting for parts from Motosportz, but why give dirty bikes grief about his opinion? i agree if you want the best performing stabilizer buy the scotts it is easy to operate once you take the time to read about the high and low speed dampning and then experiment with it. i will not own anything else.

I want in! This looks like fun…Motosportz sent me a Damper claiming to have a clamp for the IMS tank. Kelly never did get it together and I forwarded his Damper to another customer for a full refund plus shipping. Motosportz/Kelly ROCKS in the customer service department. (No idea how the damper works as I never got to try it out).
GPR claimed to have a Damper that worked for my bike with the IMS tank so I ordered one. Guess what? It did not fit either. (No idea how the damper works as I never got to try it out). They took it back plus shipping! GPR ROCKS in the customer service department. Up-tite/George has been working on one that is a Scotts Damper and his clamp. (It’s been a year in the making but hopefully this weekend we will be mounting it up perfection takes time I hope). Up-tite ROCKS in the Research and Development, Service Department.

Buy the one that fits and works. IF IT FEELS GOOD, DO IT!

I was just in your position ie. deciding whether to spend money on a damper or not. I'm going to compete in Vet pro this year so I would say a med. pace rider as well.

I had a chance to ride a very similar bike to mine I ride an 08 Ktm 250 XC and I had chance to ride an 09 version with a damper (Scotts)

I rode the same course for about an hour. Its a singletrack trail thats about 15km long mostly tight bar banging rooty stuff found here in southern Ontario. After 2 laps my friend offered to switch bikes so I could see the benefits of the damper.

Easiest and quickest way to describe it, its like power steering in a car. (not sure if you're old enough to have ever driven a non power steering car) It isn't something you can't live with out, but after riding with one you likely won't go with out.
All the trail trash is absorbed and you can ride with a lighter feel on the bars. I've clipped the occasional tree with my bark busters and ended up off the trail due to the rapid change in direction. With a damper, it is a small tap with little change in bar direction.

As for the best damper....... only you can decide that for you. I believe that the biggest difference between Scotts and Motosportz is that one of them dampens both toward center and away and one does just away from center. But I'm sure someone can answer the differences better than I.

Bottom line is, a damper is a great tool for enjoying your racing more. It's well worth the investment. Hope this helps

That is not Dirty Bikes site. It is a shop in Ontario. 2 completely different places/people.

Again I am sorry, I assumed that since it was in his cafe husky profile under "home page" and the web site was "dirtybikes.ca" matching his user name that it was his website.

How silly of me.

Later,