Setting for Ohlins Damper

[deathblow]

For those of you guys that have the Ohlins damper, how many clicks do you guys use for the track or Palomar. I tested it out at Palomar last weekend, and I couldn't feel it. It was like it wasn't there, or is that how it is supposed to be?

TIA!

[CjrJAM]

Nice Allen, when did you get that and how mush?

[deathblow]

I got it for $400 shipped from a guy who was racing his RC51 in North Carolina. It is the end of the season now so he was parting out his racebike. He had many more goodies for my RC, but I couldn't afford the rest. I received it last Friday.

[CjrJAM]

NICE!

[Arnold_R1]

I have mine set to 6 clicks from full soft! It doesn't give me any resistance when pushing it from left to right.

[deathblow]

Originally posted by Arnold_R1
I have mine set to 6 clicks from full soft! It doesn't give me any resistance when pushing it from left to right.

Is full soft full counterclockwise or clockwise?

[Arnold_R1]

Originally posted by deathblow
Is full soft full counterclockwise or clockwise?

Counterclock wise is full soft. So 6 clicks toward youself is how mine is set up.

[deathblow]

It was set at 4 from full soft. I changed it to 6 and I will try that out for the first session. Thanks!

[dre_2k2_f4i]

Recommended setting for the R6 is 12 clicks from full in (or 6 clicks from full out). Full in is the tightest setting.

[kc1717]

the idea is to get as little damping as you need to prevent unwanted headshake. The r1 shakes like crack addict, so when i push it i have mine pretty stiff.

i would basically set it at the track, start from 3 clicks out from full stiff and back it out from there, and there should be a point where you dont know its there, i usually give it 1-2 clicks tighter than this point for the given riding conditions.

[Bryant]

Originally posted by dre_2k2_f4i
Recommended setting for the R6 is 12 clicks from full in (or 6 clicks from full out). Full in is the tightest setting.

I have my Ohlins damper set at 6 from full out as well.

Be careful not to make the mistake of using the steering damper to "solve" handling issues with your bike. All it does is dampen the effects of an ill handling bike... or of excess rider input, etc.

If your front gets light and you experience headshake going over the crest of a right hand turn like turn 6 at WSIR, you can either try short shifting at that point, tapering off the throttle a bit to keep the front down, move forward on the bike more, or change the rake/trail to get more weight on the front of the bike... or change tire pressures or use different profiles, alter your suspension to compensate for mid corner bumps, etc..etc. Lots of things u can work do...

You don't want to be "feeling" the damper as you are riding.. it just makes the task of hitting your turn points, etc.. much harder. Ideally, I think you would not want to "feel" your damper "working" but rather allow it to do its job to settle your bike in case you get into a situation where your bike gets into a tank slapper or gets too much headshake from trying to power out on the infield to Nascar banking transition at a track like CA Speedway. Or on the street.. if you land a wheelie crossed up.. a damper can help to settle the bike as well.

But nothing is as important as how a rider reacts to such situations as a tank slapper, headshake, or how the bike is set up as well. In situations where you don't have the time to sort out your bike... a damper is a simple "quick fix" that can help to some degree but it is definately not the solution to the root of the problem you may be having.

bk

[Philo]

Since they're about the same price, which one is better? Does anyone have experience with both??? I'll be picking one up pretty quick and I was about to order the Scott's, since it has high speed and low speed settings as well as adjusting degrees of action from centerline. I have no experience with dampers and they're pretty expensive, so your help is much appreciated.

[Bryant]

Originally posted by Philo
Since they're about the same price, which one is better? Does anyone have experience with both??? I'll be picking one up pretty quick and I was about to order the Scott's, since it has high speed and low speed settings as well as adjusting degrees of action from centerline. I have no experience with dampers and they're pretty expensive, so your help is much appreciated.

I've heard nothing but great things about the Scott's dampers so in terms of quality, i don't think you can go wrong with either. The Scott's dampers are probably less prone to crash damage should you go down since it's footprint on the bike is so small and it mounts on top of the triple clamp. I have a top mount Ohlins damper that has survived a couple of get-offs without a problem too.

In terms of rebuilds... I think rebuilds on an Ohlins damper is a bit cheaper than a rebuild on a Scotts. PPSRacing.com (Stig Petterson) will do a rebuild on an Ohlins steering damper for $55.

In terms of "portability" between different models of bikes... the same Scott's damper can be used on any bike that Scott's has designed a mounting bracket for... To move the Ohlins damper from bike to bike, you will probably need to fabricate your own custom brackets to get it to fit on another bike since a lot depends on the stroke length of the damper body.

If I had to choose between the two dampers... I would go with the Scott's damper.

[deathblow]

Other people who are supposed to be more knowledgeable say the the Ohlins piston type are better because they are pressurized and they give a more linear damping curve. I really don't know if that is the truth, but I just hate the way the Scotts damper looks. Looks like a damn brick sitting on your triple tree cover.

[Bryant]

Originally posted by deathblow
Other people who are supposed to be more knowledgeable say the the Ohlins piston type are better because they are pressurized and they give a more linear damping curve. I really don't know if that is the truth, but I just hate the way the Scotts damper looks. Looks like a damn brick sitting on your triple tree cover.

If it helps any, I know that the Factory Yamaha Racing team used Scott's steering dampers on their supersport bikes. But yeah, dunno much about "pressurized piston types" in these dampers and such... all I know is that they both seem to work pretty well in practical applications. :)