Sean's R3W Steering Damper kits ready to ship

[SaskMick]

Some sort of steering damper is necessary on a Ural.
There is no such thing as a sidecar set-up that is stable on EVERY road crown angle, at EVERY speed, on EVERY road surface.
There are various settings and geometries that work well under a wide range of conditions, but you need a damper.

Sidecar rigs, by their very nature are compromises, not handling like two-wheelers and not handling like 4 wheelers.

I was able to put over 300km on my Sean damper this weekend, a mix of twisty pavement, long stretches of gravel and washboard plus some very challenging rock trails.
It performed very well and improved the bike handling while minimizing bump steer.

Funny, on the rocks and nasty rutted trails I didn't see any perfectly aligned Sportster rigs to compare sidecar geometry with.

I have ridden my sportster everywhere in my vicinity and there are some very rough tracks. Now that I have uprated the springs the only thing I miss is a reverse gear. It goes fast too, fast for a sidecar rig anyway, I once took it up to 85 mph before I chickened out. For the money invested it's a hard to beat machine.

[SaskMick]

Some sort of steering damper is necessary on a Ural.
There is no such thing as a sidecar set-up that is stable on EVERY road crown angle, at EVERY speed, on EVERY road surface.

Completely agree. I can get my setup "perfect", only to find that, once laden with a passenger and camping supplies, my "perfect" setup now sucks. A steering damper helps to mitigate this phenomenon.

How does a steering damper do that ? The reason I ask is that mine is redundant 100% of the time, it's still on the bike but it's never used.

[Tomcatfixer]

How does a steering damper do that ?

I don't know. Hydraulic magic? I guess it just masks steering imperfections. All I know is, having ridden WITH and WITHOUT the damper is day and night difference. Much less fatiguing. It is very much necessary on a Ural, no matter HOW much fiddling you do with the geometry.

[SaskMick]

I think this bloke could have used a steering damper.. I hope you can watch it.

https://www.facebook.com/ahmed.noshy.56 ... =2&theater

[SaskMick]

How does a steering damper do that ?

I don't know. Hydraulic magic? I guess it just masks steering imperfections. All I know is, having ridden WITH and WITHOUT the damper is day and night difference. Much less fatiguing. It is very much necessary on a Ural, no matter HOW much fiddling you do with the geometry.

The only time my Harley was fatiguing was when it was out of alignment. I had a CJ ( I've just bought another ) with no steering damper and that was relaxing to drive all the time. If all Urals need a steering damper there must be something amiss with them

[Tomcatfixer]

So, you're telling me that when you accelerate, your Chiang doesn't yaw to the right? I'm no member of MENSA, but the physics of a right-side-mounted sidecar, one-drive-wheel rig NOT yawing to the right upon acceleration do not compute in my shoulder-mounted gourd. Dare I say that your claims are outlandish and I suspect that you are trolling us?

[SaskMick]

So, you're telling me that when you accelerate, your Chiang doesn't yaw to the right? I'm no member of MENSA, but the physics of a right-side-mounted sidecar, one-drive-wheel rig NOT yawing to the right upon acceleration do not compute in my shoulder-mounted gourd. Dare I say that your claims are outlandish and I suspect that you are trolling us?

The Chang does not have the acceleration to make it pull to the right, it could not pull the skin off a rice pudding The sportster does though, with or without the steering damper.

No I'm not trolling.

[SaskMick]

The problem with steering dampers as I see it is most people get them to cure a steering wobble ( as did I ). They install a steering damper and they think it has fixed the problem, but the problem is still there, they just stuck a band aid on it, it does not fix an alignment issue. Excessive tyre wear is often a symptom of bad alignment that no steering damper will fix.

PS it also makes the engine work harder than it needs to, reduces speed as well.

[solo1966]

Just ordered one hope they are as good as the stories.

[SaskMick]

Just ordered one hope they are as good as the stories.

It might make a wobble less noticeable but it will not stop your tyres from wearing out quickly.

[BinDerSmokDat]

Saskmi, order one or STFU.
Stop stepping all over Sean's sale thread.
Go to some other room and discuss steering dampers.

[Penrod]

Saskmi, order one or STFU.
Stop stepping all over Sean's sale thread.
Go to some other room and discuss steering

I agree.

[motovate]

I just put on one of Sean's RW3 Steering Damper. Pretty easy to do - real bolt up. I did jack up the front wheel until it was just off of the ground to release the pressure on the front shock bolt. Made it easier to get the bolt out. Other then that it was a sit down and unbolt a couple of bolts and stick it on. I loosened up the stock one and ran it around on my shaky old dirt roads - I could sure feel the difference. Simple order and he shipped it right out! I Like IT.

LBM

[Penrod]

rps20170406_180040.jpg

Just rode my cT with Sean's steering damper 281 miles through the mountains of western Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and into New York state. It is certainly more work driving a Ural that far in a day (I'm 68) than in a car, in mid 80's temperatures. But- Sean's Damper is outstanding, some of the roads were very rough, a never a wobble. Get one.

[sean0262]

Again Saskmick, What is the Ural you ride? If I'm mistaken, a H-D Sportster is nothing like a Ural. I would surmise from my experience that the Ural leading link front fork system is nothing like a modern 39mm Shawa hydraulic front fork of the Sportster. Let me check in my shop full of motorcycles.......... Nope, there nothing alike. Again, you were saying???? You know there is never a day when I would want to argue with an IT professional. Because I know nothing about computer technology. How much experience do you have with Urals? Because I have decades. If you would like to carry on this conversation in a more productive way. Please feel free to send me a PM and I will send you my phone number so we can best communicate or differences. I'm very approachable and easy to speak with. As you can ask numerous Soviet Steeds members. I look forward to hearing from you.