Steering Damper Install?

[JoDuc]

Everyone says it's a piece of cake....

What's involved?

Thx!

[teddy037.2]

depends on which you buy/available for your bike.

top mount, sidecar, under triple.


they all are pretty much just bolt-on, so I wouldn't worry 


:edit: the trickiest bit I recall is setting everything so the rod doesn't bottom out against the damper's body at either end of travel. that said, it's still a one beer mod 

[JoDuc]

Going top mount, Arrow or Matris. Looks like a couple of bolts and whalah.....

[teddy037.2]

pretty much.

a damper was by far the easiest install I've had for my bike 

[Jordan]

For side mount don't you need to take off the front wheel to mount the bracket (slide it up) on the shock arm?

[johnster]

Funny you ask!!!  

I literally, just minutes ago, finished installing my Matris M3 I ordered from OnCycles on clearance for $290!!   All they had was blue left, but hey..I figured mixing it up a little color-wise never hurt anyone....

-Bolted right on, no problem....I used High-Strength Loctite to connect the damper to the mounting brackets....I had to play w/my steering stops + the positioning of the pinch bolts on the damper itself to clear the tank, but the whole thing took me 20 minutes.....VERY easy!! And I'm extremely happy w/the finished product:

[teddy037.2]

For side mount don't you need to take off the front wheel to mount the bracket (slide it up) on the shock arm?

mine didn't... the part that mounted on the fork was two pieces...

that does bring up a good point, though.

[Jordan]

Yeah looks like Ohlins side mounts have a one piece clamp.



Here is a random picture I found



So I'm guessing you would slide that up from the bottom of the fork, or top?  Either way looks like a pain.

[teddy037.2]

drop the forks, slip collar over, then put forks back up in the top triple.

[Jordan]

drop the forks, slip collar over, then put forks back up in the top triple.

Is this something a novice could do with some basic tools?  Or is this more of a bring it to a shop deal?

[Augustus]

A novice can do, wait he already did.  I put an arrow top mount on and it was a piece of cake.  Make sure you torque properly and use thread lock where needed.

[Jordan]

A novice can do, wait he already did.  I put an arrow top mount on and it was a piece of cake.  Make sure you torque properly and use thread lock where needed.

For a side damper though? Taking part of the fork apart?

[opp750]

I'm pretty sure Motowheels sells a two piece clamp (or a hinged) you can swap out with the one piece Ohlins clamp.

[teddy037.2]

I'm pretty sure Motowheels sells a two piece clamp (or a hinged) you can swap out with the one piece Ohlins clamp.

that does sound familiar...

For a side damper though? Taking part of the fork apart?

it's not bad as long as you have a way to support the bike's front end off the ground.

make a match mark on the forks where it meets the bottom of the lower triple (felt-tip pen, ring of tape, whatever).

loosen the bolts on the sides of the triple clamps to release the forks.

slide forks down until you can get the clampy bit of your damper onto it.

slide forks back up until your match mark meets the underside of the tripe, and tighten bolts to correct torque value.

[Jordan]

it's not bad as long as you have a way to support the bike's front end off the ground.

Is there some stand I can buy or is there a cheaper way to do this?  Jack?

make a match mark on the forks where it meets the bottom of the lower triple (felt-tip pen, ring of tape, whatever).

What is this step for?

loosen the bolts on the sides of the triple clamps to release the forks.

What type of tools do I need for that?  Anything special?

Thanks for the info, I would really like to do this myself, but I'm new at wrenching as you can probably tell.