Quote:
Originally Posted by choneofakind
The whole point of a steering dampener is to dampen the motion of the bars.
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You should have just stopped typing here. That is the point of a steering damper, full stop. You don't have to adjust the steering geometry to extract any benefits of a steering damper. A properly set up steering damper will improve stability of the bike in nearly all conditions, even with stock geometry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by choneofakind
That's the only reason it's on some bikes. It is a band-aid to the boo-boo of being so aggressive to the point of being potentially unstable. This booboo is made more evident at high speeds, hence some of the super high tech electronic dampeners that do more dampening at speed, where the bars jerk back and forth more rapidly. The ninja 250 is not fast enough or aggressive enough for that to really be an issue.
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This is just flat out wrong. To give one example from everyday riding: anytime you accelerate on any bike regardless of power the weight shifts rearward and lifts the front wheel. Under the right conditions (including surface irregularities) the front wheel can be made to oscillate back and forth. This can happen at any time and with bikes without steering dampers frequently does. Most of the time it goes unnoticed or the rider is used to the behavior and the situation corrects itself, but depending on conditions it can be a more or less violent motion.
It has absolutely nothing to do with rider error or "aggressive geometry" at that point, although a short trail and small wheelbase can contribute, both of which the Ninja 250R has.
Finally you started with:
Quote:
Originally Posted by choneofakind
It is so stable that when I raised my tail 2+" and lowered my nose .25", it is still stable, even at 100+ mph and over bumps and WOT turns at mid-ohio and over the twisty roads of the Cuyahoga river valley.
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What exactly are you comparing this ultimate stability to? Have you tried a Ninja 250R with a properly set up steering damper back to back with the bike without one? Again, I guarantee you a bike with a properly setup steering damper will feel more stable and give you more confidence then the same bike without one. Full stop.