Just put on a Bitubo steering damper recently and had a few questions.
1) Can you actually tell much of a difference with it on while riding? Since it's cold, I've only putted around town and whatnot, but even on hardest setting I barely notice it at all. I detached it to check and make sure it was working, by hand it is extremely harder to pull it in and out compared to lightest setting. I just hear people saying they set their dampers to lower settings for around town stuff cause it makes it too hard. Maybe because I have handlebars instead of clipons its just easier?
2) Did they grease it up like mad? Seems like they did. After a while some of the grease builds up and drips off a little. Maybe after a while the excess goes away, just seems odd
1. Makes one hell of a difference on my 1098, and I always wanted one back when I had my S4R. based on your description, your damper is working fine and You will truly notice the difference once your able to hit the gas, and that front wheel comes off the ground. With your damper you will be much safer from tankslappers, and your bars should stay relatively straight with no effort on your end required. A good damper will not be noticed when it is not needed.
2. I can't speak for yours, but every one I have received/installed/sold has been clean - no grease, but simply try wiping it off and see if it comes back, if it keeps coming back you may have a problem, but I don't know what it could be since these are gas charged dampers.
