Steering Dampers

Talk to me about steering dampers. what to look for, what not to look for, any possibly homebrew ideas?

My bike does get a little shake (I think it's tire related) & I wouldn't mind a slightly damped feeling

I forgot what your riding. There are 3 main types. 1) Friction = just as it sound basicly brake pads with a knob to adjust the preload.

2) In line = Arm off steering stem to a hydrolic cyl with 50/50 dampening. (ration changes slighly do to arm swinging and arc)

3) Rotory = rotory hydrolic cyl. (think vane pump with recirulating output.)

My 52 HD and my 71yamaha r5 have friction. I'm to cheap to add anything to the others. but now i don't ride over 70mph anyway....

I had a minor wobble on an older bike,. Turned out the forks were flexing a bit. I have no idea how or why that happened, but I cobbled up a fork brace out of some scrap aluminum blocks that cured it. It also had a tiny bit of slop in the bearings (in the 'neck') that disappeared by (over)tightening up the nut

I have ridden a Honda XR-400 with and without a Scotts rotary steering damper. The machine is much nicer with it. It allowed me to get through some spots easily that were a handful without it(deep ruts, roots, sand). I will be buying one.

A lot depends on what you are doing and where. The Scott's pilotbraden mentioned is an excellent piece, it has adjustable high and low speed damping, meaning the small stuff and your hand inputs don't faze it but it also keeps the big hits from yanking the bars out of your hands. Lots of enduro riders like them for just that reason. Of course it's not cheap.

The tube types generally have somewhat limited adjustability, meaning they are not real good under changing conditions such as the enduro mentioned previously. But for street riding they are just fine. They can be reasonably inexpensive.

The friction damper is as primitive as they come. Not only does it damp out the sideways hits to the forks, it damps out your handlebar inputs making the bike feel heavy and ponderous. I have never seen an aftermarket friction damper, for a while in the '50' and '60's they were common on Euro bikes.

In any case, the steering damper will damp out bar oscillations but generally not vibrations. If you have vibes but are otherwise happy, I'd 1) balance the wheels 2) add bar weights.