great klr write-up on motorcycle.com

[C.C.]

Anyone heard of or have a steering stabilzer on a KLR ? I have a 2001 and I have been thinking about getting one for it. Email from GPR says send em some pics and they'll have thier engineers take a look ?! Scott says " they do not have a damper kit for this bike ". But my local cycle shop verbally told me that Scott does make one for the KLR. Little wobbly at 80-90 ? Is it worth it ? Any info is greatly appriciated. Thanks, CC

[Devon]

I have the WER damper. It's designed for rocks and woods riding, but if you turn it up all the way it steadies the steering at high speeds. I'm using an RM250 frame bracket, which fits the KLR frame just fine. I am NOT using the stock front end though. You might need to get an undrilled damper mountplate, and use the fender as a template. I see no reason that the damper won't fit a KLR lower triple, I just don't know if WER makes a plate ready-drilled for the KLR. Devon sucka_fishes@... wrote:

>Anyone heard of or have a steering stabilzer on a KLR ? I have a >2001 and I have been thinking about getting one for it. Email from >GPR says send em some pics and they'll have thier engineers take a >look ?! Scott says " they do not have a damper kit for this bike ". >But my local cycle shop verbally told me that Scott does make one >for the KLR. > >Little wobbly at 80-90 ? >Is it worth it ? >Any info is greatly appriciated. > >Thanks, >CC > > > >List sponsored by Dual Sport News at www.dualsportnews.com. List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html >Unsubscribe by sending a blank message to: >DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com . > > >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > >

[Eric L. Green]

On Thu, 6 May 2004, C.C. wrote:

> Little wobbly at 80-90 ?

If your bike is a little wobbly at 80-90, you need to try a few things first: 1) Make sure the fork bolts are all tight. 2) Make sure your front wheel bolts are tight 3) Make sure the fork head bolts are torqued right to give you the specified amount of play and no more. 4) Make sure your rear spring is properly preloaded to keep the bike level (a rear sag can make the front end squirrely). 5) Make sure you don't have the back overloaded (again, can make the front end squirrely). 6) Try a fork brace (cheap, has mixed reviews, worth a try anyhow). 7) Get more street-oriented tires. (Some of the dirt-oriented tires can get squirrely at speed). A properly set up KLR doesn't need any gizmos to make it track right, though some people swear by the fork brace (and some people swear AT the fork brace, especially when it's clogged with mud and brought the bike to a halt in the middle of a big mudhole). -E

[coolmaduro]

A few comments:

> If your bike is a little wobbly at 80-90, you need to try a few

things

> first: > > 1) Make sure the fork bolts are all tight.

Did it.

> 2) Make sure your front wheel bolts are tight

Done.

> 3) Make sure the fork head bolts are torqued right to give you the > specified amount of play and no more.

Done. Per Multisurfacemotorcycling.com.

> 4) Make sure your rear spring is properly preloaded to keep the

bike level

> (a rear sag can make the front end squirrely).

Done. However, disagree on the "rear sag" premise. In my experience, the greater the preload, the greater the wobble.

> 5) Make sure you don't have the back overloaded (again, can make

the front

> end squirrely).

Again, disagree. When I ride two up, the wobble goes completely away. When I have a heavy load strapped to the back, it greatly minimizes the wobble. When I ride by myself, with nothing strapped on, I get a good amount of wobble. If what you say is true, then it makes sense that you would want to let off on the gas when the wobble occurs (to take weght off of the back). However, when this is done, the wobble gets momentarily worse. What helps is to accelerate and grip the bars loosely.

> 6) Try a fork brace (cheap, has mixed reviews, worth a try anyhow).

Will be getting a fork brace very soon as nothing else seems to help completely.

> 7) Get more street-oriented tires. (Some of the dirt-oriented

tires can

> get squirrely at speed).

Agree. My high speed wobble got worse when I switched from the stockers to TRC80's. Just some food for thought, and as always, JMHO.

[bigfatgreenbike]

coolmaduro@... wrote:

> Again, disagree. When I ride two up, the wobble goes completely >away. When I have a heavy load strapped to the back, it greatly >minimizes the wobble. When I ride by myself, with nothing strapped >on, I get a good amount of wobble. If what you say is true, then it >makes sense that you would want to let off on the gas when the >wobble occurs (to take weght off of the back). However, when this >is done, the wobble gets momentarily worse. What helps is to >accelerate and grip the bars loosely. > >

If the wobble is 10-12 times per second or so, it's usually the front end. Either a funny tire, loose bearings (steering or wheel), etc. If it's more of a "weave" that happens 1-4 times per second, it's usually the rear. Swingarm bearings, rear wheel bearings, funny tire etc.... If it goes away with heavier loading on the rear, the first guess would be loose bearings. -- Devon Brooklyn, NY A15-Z '01 KLR650 '81 SR500 cafe racer "The truth's not too popular these days....." Arnold Schwarzenneger, in The Running Man

[Marc Illsley Clarke]

Wobble got worse when you mounted TKC80s? I know that one from first hand experience. I tried everything: I put on a K9 fork brace; I adjusted the steering head; I checked the torque on the axle; I put on a fender brace; I tried running with no front fender; I aligned the rear tire to the frame and to the front; etc.; all to no avail. I knew that the big heavy BMW motorcycles ran on the German Autobahns using TKC80s so it had to be possible. But I was pretty sure it was not possible for me on my KLR650. I was ready to give up. Then I checked the Continental web site for recommended tire pressures. Sure enough it was as simple as adjusting the tire pressure. The Continental web site has the recommended street pressures, and they surprised me as to how high they were. 26 psi in front and 32 psi in the rear. Once I dialed up the pressures my seemingly incurable high-speed wobbles vanished never to return. What cold tire inflation pressures are you running? -- Marc, KLR650 A12, Loveland, Colorado USA -----Original Message----- From: coolmaduro [mailto:coolmaduro@...] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 17:12 To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_klr650] Re: Steering Stabilizer A few comments:

> If your bike is a little wobbly at 80-90, you need to try a few

things

> first: > [SNIP] > 7) Get more street-oriented tires. (Some of the dirt-oriented tires can > get squirrely at speed).

Agree. My high speed wobble got worse when I switched from the stockers to TRC80's.

[coolmaduro]

Thanks Devon. The steering bearing is definitely tight. I remember the wheel bearings being ok too but I'll check that again. However, the problem seems to be straight out fork flex. I can secure the front wheel with my legs and noticablly twist (flex) the front end by turning the bars. It's not a constant problem; sometimes I can cruise at 90, without a wobble and at other times it starts to wobble between 70 & 75. It seems to correspond to how windy it is. Bottom line, I think it's a combination of tire type, tire pressure (adjusting the pressure did make a difference), preload adj, and weak forks. Then again, maybe you're right and it's the wheel bearings. I'm just learning to live with it.

> > If the wobble is 10-12 times per second or so, it's usually the

front

> end. Either a funny tire, loose bearings (steering or wheel), etc. > > If it's more of a "weave" that happens 1-4 times per second, it's > usually the rear. Swingarm bearings, rear wheel bearings, funny

tire

> etc.... > > If it goes away with heavier loading on the rear, the first guess

would

> be loose bearings. > -- > Devon > Brooklyn, NY > > A15-Z '01 KLR650 > '81 SR500 cafe racer > > "The truth's not too popular these days....." > > Arnold Schwarzenneger, in The Running Man

[coolmaduro]

It's funny you mentioned this. I actually found this out myself but, it unfortunately didn't compeletly solve the problem. I forgot to add pressure to the tires after riding offroad so I had about 18 front and 22 rear. Riding on the highway above 75 was downright scary. Then I added air bringing the front up to 26 and the back to 28. This solved about 70 percent of the wobble problem. Maybe I just need to up the pressure a little bit more??

> Wobble got worse when you mounted TKC80s? I know that one from

first hand

> experience. I tried everything: I put on a K9 fork brace; I

adjusted the

> steering head; I checked the torque on the axle; I put on a fender

brace;

> I tried running with no front fender; I aligned the rear tire to

the frame

> and to the front; etc.; all to no avail. > > I knew that the big heavy BMW motorcycles ran on the German

Autobahns using

> TKC80s so it had to be possible. But I was pretty sure it was not

possible

> for me on my KLR650. I was ready to give up. > > Then I checked the Continental web site for recommended tire

pressures.

> Sure enough it was as simple as adjusting the tire pressure. The > Continental web site has the recommended street pressures, and they > surprised me as to how high they were. 26 psi in front and 32 psi

in the

> rear. Once I dialed up the pressures my seemingly incurable high-

speed

> wobbles vanished never to return. > > What cold tire inflation pressures are you running? > > -- Marc, KLR650 A12, Loveland, Colorado USA > > > -----Original Message----- > From: coolmaduro [mailto:coolmaduro@y...] > Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 17:12 > To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [DSN_klr650] Re: Steering Stabilizer > > A few comments: > > > If your bike is a little wobbly at 80-90, you need to try a few > things > > first: > > [SNIP] > > 7) Get more street-oriented tires. (Some of the dirt-oriented

tires can

> > get squirrely at speed). > > Agree. My high speed wobble got worse when I switched from the > stockers to TRC80's.

[Lujo Bauer]

If your main goal of riding on the road is to get from point A to point B without destroying the knobbies, I'd recommend inflating them to the max. I ran 33/36 in my Karoos to and from NOAB and they worked great up to 80-something mph. -Lujo coolmaduro wrote:

> It's funny you mentioned this. I actually found this out myself but, > it unfortunately didn't compeletly solve the problem. I forgot to > add pressure to the tires after riding offroad so I had about 18 > front and 22 rear. Riding on the highway above 75 was downright > scary. Then I added air bringing the front up to 26 and the back to > 28. This solved about 70 percent of the wobble problem. Maybe I > just need to up the pressure a little bit more??

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[coolmaduro]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to up the pressure later today and see what happens.

--- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, Lujo Bauer wrote: > If your main goal of riding on the road is to get from point A to point > B without destroying the knobbies, I'd recommend inflating them to the > max. I ran 33/36 in my Karoos to and from NOAB and they worked great up > to 80-something mph. > > -Lujo >