How to… steering damper setup

[PaulMember]

I’ve ordered a steering damper from MSC and have no idea how to set one up since I never had one before.
The guy I ordered from said just start on the middle setting and go from there (trial and error).

Most riding I do is tight single track tricky stuff on rough ground through to the open fire trail where I hit speeds up 90K/h.

Ocasionally I put 17″ road wheels on the Beemer and have a bit of a party on the old Pacific Highway or similar twisty road.

I want to set the damper for the dirt as that’s where the fun really is.

Can anyone advise how to adjust the damper with a minimum of fuss?

Please – no jokes, I am being serious and need to sort it out properly.

[GregMember]

What model MSC is it bud, I have a MSC but need to know what model yours is as there are some different settings and adjustments

(lucky you got that much help out of them)

TB

[ChrisMember]

I’d Love to offer some advice Wikd but sadly I don’t have one.

Cheers
Chris.

[PaulMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

What model MSC is it bud, I have a MSC but need to know what model yours is as there are some different settings and adjustments

(lucky you got that much help out of them)

TB

Um it’s the one for the BMW G450X, they didn’t mention any options.
He did say it has 3 ‘mode’ settings, like A – tight trails, B – motocross and C – desert race.
then there’s the damping adjustment which is a separate knob.

[DavidMember]

It is really easy mate, just start on the middle setting and go through a nice steady speed loop of around 3 or 4 kms and see what it is like, then put the thing to the harder setting and go around the same loop, if it feels as if nothing has changed, then go harder on the adjuster, the idea is to keep going until you just find the threshold of resistance to turning the bars when the ride is going at a steady pace and then back it off a tad from there, as you get faster on the bike and start to hit obstacles harder the settings can easily be turned up from that point, if you get to the end of the adjustment and it still is not giving you enough dampening then you can go and change the weight of the oil in the unit, and with heavier oil you can go back to the middle setting and start over.
The biggest mistake is making them too heavy and draggy, this will tire you out, just take your time and get it right and once set it may have to be revised once every 12 months or so as your speed increases.
Hope that helps mate:)

[GregMember]

What Dave has written is great, only thing I would add is that a damper works so well at times you wont even notice it, they are the quiet achiever

The 3 ‘mode’ settings, like A – tight trails, B – motocross and C – desert race that are on it adjusts the returns, zero return return which is A, light resistance return which is B and full dampening both out and return to centre which is C. If you put it on the motorcross setting B and do what Dave says using the damping adjustment which is a separate knob to set it up. Then when you get into the 1st and 2nd gear single trails you flick the knob from B to A and away you go, you will have Zero return to centre so as not to tire you out. When its opens up flick it to B and when you are pulling top gear flat wide open flick it to C.

TB

[PaulMember]

That’s great, thanks guys.
Now if the thing would just turn up I could put it on.
They’ve got my money.

[Author]

Posts