Quote:
Originally posted by Shazaam!
The only reason for a steering damper is to control headshakes, a.k.a. tankslappers, a.k.a. wobble. If you’re not having a problem, you don’t need (or want) a steering damper.
Headshake is basically a dynamic instability. Once it gets going it’s hard to stop, so a velocity-dependent damper can be used to progressively decrease its severity. If you’re not familiar with it here’s an example.
http://www.randtclub.com/Video/cedwa...pper_tt99.mpeg
Headshake is caused by a combination of factors: too steep a steering angle setting , too little trail in the design of the bike, too little weight on the front wheel (usually under acceleration exiting a corner,) a certain bike speed, lean angle, rider weight, and of course a bump or series of bumps in the road to start it all going.
But unfortunately a damper just doesn’t work just during a headshake (high velocity oscillation of the handlebars.) You also reduce the bike’s ability to transition into corners (low velocity bar movements) and more important, you increase the tendency of the bike to weave from side to side at high speeds. So, by its very nature a steering damper will spoil your bike’s steering to varying degrees.
That’s why there are adjustable steering dampers. The trade-off between handling feel and steering stability is a personal choice.
Track surfaces are smoother than typical roads, so often less damping is needed. Also, the steeper steering head angle is less stable (less self-correcting) so more damping should be considered when this setting is used. |
That's one hell of a scary crash, and I would also guess that the rider had a steering damper fitted to his bike for the TT course!
Good example of a 'headshake' though (and arse/leg/belly/rectum shake)
