stabilizer ?

kennym4

Registered
I just found out what is loose in the front end, it's the steering stabilizer. Can it be tightened up without taking the front plastic off ? Or do you guys think it's damaged ? I can grab it, and move it up, and down quite a bit.



Thanks AGAIN
Kenny
 
Kenny, depending on how it is serviced, it may just be very weak. You don't need to take off the nose, but if you remoce the inners and the plastic pan under the nose, you can get to it fairly easily. On the piston end, there is a rubber boot, it is a bear to remove - but you need to to be able to see what is going on...

MCM
 
You're saying take it apart, and look at it ? How is it mounted to the bike, is it bolted on ?

Thanks MC
 
No, you don't have to take it apart, and it is bolted on... it is actually fairly easy to remove. let me look aorund for my book so I can send you a reference guide :)
 
Okay, I can't for the life of me rememeber the sized, but you will need an allen head wrench or socket for the inboard side and a socket and open end wrentch for the outboard side. The out board is a stud and the top is under the rubber boot; youll need to pry the boot up and turn the stud with the nut until you can get the wrentch on it to secure for removal.

As I mentioned, you don't have to remove the nose, but it would make it a good amount easier :)
I hope that helps.
 
Are you sure there's something wrong with it? The mount on the frame has a spherical bearing in it so there can be play. When you puch your handlebars left and right is there some resistance?
 
The factory damper is pretty much useless when it is new. Do yourself a favor and buy an after market adjustable on the fly damper. It is the single most important piece of safety equipment you can install. No one that has one would give theirs up. The hard part is believing how much they help stabilize the Busa.
 
The factory damper is pretty much useless when it is new. Do yourself a favor and buy an after market adjustable on the fly damper. It is the single most important piece of safety equipment you can install. No one that has one would give theirs up. The hard part is believing how much they help stabilize the Busa.

Yeah.. and then send me yours so I can break it in and save on a aftermarket one..

But I will look into one... since Uncle S calls it safety equipment. It's worth a look. Might make it into my wish list..
Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk
 
Kenny, go to your zuk dealer and order the two little plastic cups that support the damper. One goes on top and the other goes on the bottom of the mount where the bolt goes through the damper. Replace these little bumpers and you'll be back to new.

When your bike is new the damper is designed to have up and down movement. These little bushings made of plastic wear out and the damper becomes pretty sloppy and eventually will have metal to metal contact. Just replace these little bushings and you are good to go for a few more years.

You don't really need a new or aftermarket damper unless you are racing or stunting your bike. The one you have works just fine for everyday life on the road. Although an aftermarket Ohlins damper does have it's advantages and makes the bike steer a bit stiffer, it's certainly not mandatory. Heck, I know guys who track their bike and the odd racer who had no damper at all.

You need a 6mm hex wrench if I remember correctly to remove the stabilizer mounting bolt and I think it's either a 10 or 12mm socket to remove the bolt in the end of the rod?

Not a big chore but it is easier to do with the upper fairing removed which is not much of a chore either.

Have fun! If I were close buy I'd come by and have a beer while I watched you do all the work :laugh:
 
Hope I'm not thread jacking.

But I was just thinking about stabilizers just the other day. Looking to go after market myself, but I don't want the one that covers the TT but rather one that replaces the stock one. Is there such a creature for the busa?
 
If you have a gen II Ohlins has a replacement. The Gen I has no replacement without a spendy mounting kit!
 
Houston,
Just wondering what you have against running it up on top?

Rick
 
So how long do the stabilizers last? Also Ohlins sale dampers w/o mount. Has anyone tried to mount one in the stock location on a Gen I?
 
Re: stndabilizer ?

Kenny, go to your zuk dealer and order the two little plastic cups that support the damper. One goes on top and the other goes on the bottom of the mount where the bolt goes through the damper. Replace these little bumpers and you'll be back to new.

When your bike is new the damper is designed to have up and down movement. These little bushings made of plastic wear out and the damper becomes pretty sloppy and eventually will have metal to metal contact. Just replace these little bushings and you are good to go for a few more years.

You don't really need a new or aftermarket damper unless you are racing or stunting your bike. The one you have works just fine for everyday life on the road. Although an aftermarket Ohlins damper does have it's advantages and makes the bike steer a bit stiffer, it's certainly not mandatory. Heck, I know guys who track their bike and the odd racer who had no damper at all.

You need a 6mm hex wrench if I remember correctly to remove the stabilizer mounting bolt and I think it's either a 10 or 12mm socket to remove the bolt in the end of the rod?

Not a big chore but it is easier to do with the upper fairing removed which is not much of a chore either.

Have fun! If I were close buy I'd come by and have a beer while I watched you do all the work :laugh:

Have to disagree with you on this one.
And forget about Olins, you cannot adjust it on the fly.
Ask anyone with a GPR what they think.
Until you use one - you will never understand.
I was the same way. How good could it be?
Then I tried one.... ask others. It will save you in bad times and make the good times better.
 
Re: stndabilizer ?

Have to disagree with you on this one.
And forget about Olins, you cannot adjust it on the fly.
Ask anyone with a GPR what they think.
Until you use one - you will never understand.
I was the same way. How good could it be?
Then I tried one.... ask others. It will save you in bad times and make the good times better.

I can't say I've ever disagreed with a better man! :beerchug:

The rotary dampers are secondary to rod type dampers when it comes to function. You'll see track day guys with rotary dampers because they look cool but you will rarely find top racers with a rotary damper! Not that Rotary dampers don't work they just aren't as effective as the rod dampers!

I see no real need to adjust the damper on the fly. Set that puppy and forget it! My Ohlins dampner has been set on 5 clicks out from full stiff for most of it's life. Same setting for street or track. Most guys set the damper too stiff from the get go. To stiff can be just as unforgiving as no damper at all.

It's extremely rare that any street rider ever gets to actually use a steering damper as the need for it rarely comes along in a street riders entire life time. These bikes arrive in our hands so stable that the bike will straighten itself out if the rider will just relax his grip or turn the bars loose if he get the bike out of whack. Wasn't it the ZX10 that never came with a dampner for the first few years? The average street rider would be just as safe with no damper at all.

Adding an adjustable damper to solve an existing issue is never a good idea!
 
Re: stndabilizer ?

I can't say I've ever disagreed with a better man! :beerchug:

The rotary dampers are secondary to rod type dampers when it comes to function. You'll see track day guys with rotary dampers because they look cool but you will rarely find top racers with a rotary damper! Not that Rotary dampers don't work they just aren't as effective as the rod dampers!

I see no real need to adjust the damper on the fly. Set that puppy and forget it! My Ohlins dampner has been set on 5 clicks out from full stiff for most of it's life. Same setting for street or track. Most guys set the damper too stiff from the get go. To stiff can be just as unforgiving as no damper at all.

It's extremely rare that any street rider ever gets to actually use a steering damper as the need for it rarely comes along in a street riders entire life time. These bikes arrive in our hands so stable that the bike will straighten itself out if the rider will just relax his grip or turn the bars loose if he get the bike out of whack. Wasn't it the ZX10 that never came with a dampner for the first few years? The average street rider would be just as safe with no damper at all.

Adding an adjustable damper to solve an existing issue is never a good idea!

tuf let me throw a couple of thought in here....

Let's make sure that we are talking about street / track bike

I run my GPR at 15 on the track and 20 on the highway, when I am in traffic around town I run it about 8

Now I agree with once you set it leave it alone if you were doing just one thing but if you are using the bike for multiple reasons then the settings need to be adjusted....

I think that this discussion is like many other topics out there... I can't explain to a blind man what the color red looks like its something that you just have to experience to understand. I can tell you that a closer anology would be braided brake lines. I was a non believer telling myself that there was no way changing brake lines would make that much of a difference. After having folks tell me what a difference it made I bought a set of Galfers and the first time I squeezed the brake I noticed an immediate difference.

I'm not sure that rotary are secondry to rod anymore. I know years ago there were attempts to make rotary's work and problems were found but over the past few years I think the rotary's have caught up...

I didn't put my GPR on my bike for looks either, Uncle Steve told me it would offer a better feel when cornering, maybe Tuf its a the difference in confidence levels or your years of track riding that you wouldn't notice a difference... Personally I know that I am not a great track rider and on the busa I absolutely feel more comfortable with little feedback on the front end.

As a beginner to the track I can tell you that it made a huge difference in my confidence and being able to corner better. Maybe as an experienced rider you just don't even notice the difference and you can adjust to it much better. I know that I need all the help I can get, that is why I put a softer tire on my bike all the time and not run hard touring tires..

There isn't anything wrong with disagreeing and we could both be right just from different perspectives.... From my experience the GPR was in the top three mods I did to the bike.....

CAp
 
I disagree and agree with everybody! I think the validity and value of mounting a high end damper varies greatly with the user. I can go on an all day sportride with buds in the twisties and probably wouldn't know the difference.....however, when in maximum velocity and maximum lean mode on the track.....that space in motorcycling where the tires are on the edge, you are (bodily) way down off the bike with a lot of corner throttle....that's when I really can feel the boost in steering precision because of my top mounted damper(especially when there is rough track induced occilation). It's wonderful to own that thing. Notice its mounting location on one of the below pics, never in the way, yet fully accessable. Doyle

ps another great post, this stuff needs to be talked about.

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Bump cuz I wanted 2 C if there was any more discussion left B 4 this thread falls off the edge of the earth.
 
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