should I instrall a steering damper on a 1972 rebuild?

Is a steering damper recommended and if so what type?

cbacejr said:

Is a steering damper recommended and if so what type?

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I think they are ok for high speed but can be detrimental in traffic. If your are racing then maybe, but if not it's more for show IMHO.

Look out here it come.

cbacejr said:

Is a steering damper recommended and if so what type?

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Have you had the bike out on the road yet? If not why do you think you need a damper?

Mac.

Steering dampers are often fitted to try and mask a problem with the frame assembly which is not what their designed for. If you intend to ride fast through bumpy bends then they can be useful. They don't cause a problem in traffic 'cause they're adjustable. If your going to fit one the telescopic type with adjustable hydraulic damping are the easiest to fit.

I wouldn't ride a bike without hydraulic steering damper. They might feel all sweet and lovely without it, however if you lose the front end you can get a lock to lock tank slapper in which the handle bars become a blur. With a very lightly set hydraulic damper, you usually won't know it is there. However if the steering starts to react quickly to forces from a front wheel out of control the pressure will build up just as quickly to stop it. A friction damper is next to useless. With hydraulic damper you can usually recover from the worst situation and ride on unscathed.
If you ride without the damper and lose the front end and get into the tank slapper, I'd immediately get my hands off the bars, and grab the tank - wait for it to settle. I've been flicked over the front of my old racer about four times in 12 years racing. The first time I ever used a hydraulic damper was on my Triton in the 70s in an historic race. The idiot organisers squawked and insisted that I remove it. It is a major safety feature, if you ever want to ride fast.

lots of opions on this one.

wobble-and-weave-t19025.html

cbacejr said:

Is a steering damper recommended and if so what type?

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If you do want one, Norton had this as an option at the dealers. Uses a Kawasaki NHK (made in Japan) damper with Commando specific bracket. I put one on my '72 last year. Once in a while depending on road surface I dial up the damping. If you don't want to pay the high price for one of these....they aren't really needed. Look nice and again once in a while you might want to use it.

I wouldn't ride a bike without hydraulic steering damper. They might feel all sweet and lovely without it, however if you lose the front end you can get a lock to lock tank slapper in which the handle bars become a blur.

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While I have never felt the need to have a damper on other bikes, my Commandos yes

Commando swing arms especially can have loose or worn rear isos, and there is nothing like experiencing the infamous Commando Weave turning rapidly into a sphincter tightening and potentially life ending drama to convince oneself of the need to stop the handlebars from slapping the tank

can argue all day if having a damper fitted is really really necessary or not..

they are fairly cheap, easy to install, and to me worth the insurance

It doesn't really matter what the bike is - if you ride it hard enough you can lose the front end, Once the tyre breaks free and the wheel gets a bit sideways all the forces come through the handle bars and can launch you if you hang on. I've sometimes had to let go completely and grab the tank - the natural thing to do is to fight it, and that's when you have the crash. On one occasion I let go of the bars, and the bike straightened out and looked OK, so I grabbed hold again and immediately got flicked over the front. It all happens in milliseconds, however at speed it feels like it takes a long time. I know it sounds horrible, and as a friend said 'when you do that you are not in control', however if it happens that is the answer that I use. A decent damper stops that sort of rubbish from happening. I use the adjustable hydraulic damper off a 70s Kawasaki two stroke triple, and just set it up lightly. If you are using a drum brake, that is often the cause of losing the front end. These days with the Seeley, I go nowhere near crashing - disc brakes, hydraulic steering damper, and sensible steering geometry - if it still happens you have done it to yourself.
I understand that the first commandos had sus steering geometry which crashed a few beginners after they had ridden over the cats' eyes which were in the centre of British roads. When you totally lose the front, it is a really big thrill.

Facts of the matter is not very often any cycle needs a steering damper yet its always active even set lowest, if adjustable, so rather a drag just tooling around after a while I found. If Kicking up heels in gusty conditions on lumpy stuff with some use on tire profiles and only rubbery head steady you'll like the stablized sense of relief on pilot. But in that nicely adrenalized state strength is up and attention on other things so nil issue extra effort to annoy. Nothing for it but try some of them and see, as they all vary in dampening character and only takes a silly little mm at speed to make a lot of difference. Can also vary the mounting points/angles like rear shocks to get various sublte improvement or distractions and wish ya well testing out enough to find out or not. Hardest damper to mount on a Commando might be the Scott type others make now too, Peel's [for special required events only] now has custom top bar clamp mount and tossed their other stupid adaptor plate and getting a longer bent down lever tongue to stablize with removaable pin in the oil tank cap ventilator. Of course by tossing out Scott mounting plate wisdom Peel's deal is no longer centered on stem rotation so about nil leverage even set high till somewhat off center then resistance to rotation goes up non linear rather than linear normal logic dampening. I thinking I'll make a break away tongue pin so my frantic fear fork actions to recover rear snatch outs on THE Gravel mania snap forks free lock to lock like no damper there. So far 5 stem stops on Cdo and Suziki were all breakawys so gave up on em and use fork tubes on frame bumper stops now.
This is not skillful planned practice just sudden events hope never to encounter again but know for sure I will, which verifies insanity emotional illness addictive denial state to ride slow or fast all the same stupidity to me.

I don't like to be too closed minded ( I am generally open to anything that suits my eye) and at risk of sounding contradictory, I do like the thought of adjustability on the fly, giving it a turn or 2 for tighter slower traffic and a couple turns the other way for expressway traveling.

I have seen the RGM offers one and Norvil offers a few in different configuration. Clubman looks to have a nice adjustable unit, a little pricey but much more local.

I have ridden a few bikes both on and off the race track, in the main, if the bike is maintained and in good order, combined with a good tarmac road surface most of the time you will not need a steering damper. That is not to say you will never get into a tank slapper, and I have had a few of those… both on and off the track.
On the track, most racers restrict the steering lock to 20-20 degrees so they do not get into the more extreme tank slappers that you would get on the road bike, which its normal wider steering lock allows.

In the main, I prefer a steering lock on the sportier bikes because of their better acceleration.
Things to watch out for are some steering dampers are not suitable for the wider lock on road bikes.

The reason I advocate always using the hydraulic damper - I was racing at a club day at Winton Raceway in about 1973. I hadn't raced for about 8 months prior, and when my silly mate dropped in in front of me and applied his disc brakes, I over-reacted to miss him, just that little bit necessary to break the front tyre away (an old T1 compound Dunlop). The bike went into the lock to lock tank slapper, and because I didn't get my hands off quickly enough, it launched me. I slid up the bitumen at about 70 MPH on the top of my head with my legs in the air. By the time I reached the ripple in the surface, I was sliding on my side. I dislocated my chromo clavicular joint on my shoulder. I'm very well aware that a second earlier it would probably have been my neck. It was a real killer. You never know when that sort of thing can happen. These days if anybody did something stupid like that, I'd simply shunt them and we'd both be off.
So as an old friend of mine (now deceased) used to say -'BE TOLD'.