steering damper

John,
some rigs dont need the damper at all. remove it and try it out carefully, on the side roads, and at speed. a little shudder when hitting a bump at walking speed is normal. if it feels steady at higher speeds, leave it off. go easy finding out!!
If your bike does not have triple tree mods,for less trail, it will steer hard, even with the damper off.
triple tree mod and also I have seen a Guzzi with a front axle adaptor that moves the axle for lighter steering.
Also, your damper might just be worn out...too stiff.guys have been using a VW beetle front steering damper,,cheap from VW dealers.You can also get them from local salvage yards, if mileage is low enough on the car.

Thanks for the advice. I pulled of the damper and will give it a try on the way to work tomorrow. Top speed on the back roads is 35 mph. I am bringing the damper with along with wrenches if I need to re-install.

Thanks again.

Originally written by johnb-seattle on 4/4/2007 3:53 PM

Starting point: 1979 Moto Guzzi SP1000 w/ Motorvation Spyder sidecar.

Nice SP 🙂

later with more experience top speed will be in the 65-70 cruising range.comfortably.

Here is the follow up. I rode the bike around the block, the steering was a lot more unstable when I rode down the unpaved alley. Just riding in a straight line on the paved street, if I gave the handle bars a little jolt they would start a wobble. I didn't like that so I have put the damper back on.

For the damper I am going to shop around for a vw damper. I am also going to see if I can figure out a way to re-mount the original Guzzi damper. It was removed because it is blocked by the fwd upper sidecar mount.

thanks guys

Tightening your steering head bearings will help alleviate the wobble you have. Sidecar rigs should run steering hard bearing tighter than solo bikes. Many many rigs will have a little head shake at a given speed usually at 30 or so or less. If you keep your hands on the bars and practice a little you may get to a pont where you no longer even notice it. Keepng hands on bars is important. Many new sidecarists feel funny with that slight wobble and head right out to stick a damper on. Next step is a complaint about hard steering. Not unusal at all. Sadly some will insist that a damper is needed when in reality it is not. Some that do sell dampers ..go figure 🙂
I don't know what you meant when you sai dyou 'gave th ehandle bars a little jolt' but it doesn';t sound like anything one woudl do regalarly. No tlong agao a fgellow briongth a rig to me to check it out. He said it had a terrible wobble in it. I went out for a ride and thought it was okay. Then he drove and I got into the sidecar.At about 35 or so MPH i was looking arond and all of a sudden th erig went into a real tanl slapper. I looked over at th edriver and he had both hands off th ebars and help up in the air!!! Yes, may rigs will wobble if you do something like that. In that case there is not a wobble problem but an operator problem. Keep a hold on the bars when riding!!
A damper is manytimes a bandaid for another issue. Yes, sometimes they are required bu tmany time not. Loose swingarm pivots. tire pressures and so forth can be the source of wobbles. Check them out an fplay with tire pressure some.
The fact is that there are many sidecar outfits out on th eroad with dampers that do nto need them. You may or may not need one but try and check out all you can before installing one. In over twenty years of owning sidecar rigs we have yet to actually need a damper. Give i tsome time and yourself soem time to check everything out, get soem seat time and then make a decision. Stck steering is hard enough you really don't wan tto make it harder unless you really have to.