KZ1000 steering damper mounting

ok, I called Kosman to see if they could find one.........
He did not even know they made one.

If you're going to use the reflector mount make sure you weld it securely before using it for a dampener mount. IIRC they're only welded on one side of the reflector holder and not very well at that.

zmaniscalco wrote: To start I have a lowered bike.
I had no problem till I changed struts to shocks and changed steering head bearings. It has new swing arm bearings, and I get a weave in my tail at high speeds.
I am going to add a steering damper and on a 79 kz1000 frame I do not see a good place to mount I am looking for ideas. I am thinking of top of valve cover with a custom mount, or a mount that will have to drill the frame. Help.

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have you tried shorter rear shocks? the rear seems to be a little higher than the front to me anyway

I had a 11” strut on the back and put 12” Harley shocks on and I think it sits about 11.75, it has the

Ltd mag, so it should be about 2.5” lower, the front I will have to check but is 3” lower. I will have to check on this when I get home.
I gave you a different angle.

I used a damper off a Gixxer ,custom made a valve cover mount, and used a fork tube mount right below the bottom triple ..works fine.I lost a few mm travel lock to lock but no biggie.mine also had a head shake at 75-80 on long left sweepers and I had new everything suspension wise.Damper cured it.Nice scooter by the way.bj

zmaniscalco wrote: I had a 11” strut on the back and put 12” Harley shocks on and I think it sits about 11.75, it has the

Ltd mag, so it should be about 2.5” lower, the front I will have to check but is 3” lower. I will have to check on this when I get home.
I gave you a different angle.

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judging by how low that bottem triple tree is sitting compared to lower fork leg id say you need shorter shocks,or possibly unslug the front end.
i used to run a stock length 650 frontend 10 1/4"-10 1/2" rear shocks on my 1327 before i put the 3" over swingarm on it ,it tracked down the road straight as an arrow at any speed i had the balls to push it to without a dampner. :laugh:
the biggest problem was getting the frontend to stay planted when would hammer on it! :woohoo:


hers what my 1327 looked like after the first quickie build with 650 forks and the stubbie rear shocks before i changed wheels/swingarm and body work on it

i had a bit of an issue at the track . after scraping the motor hard on the track during a turn, the front end lost traction. As the bike and I struggled to regain traction, I got into a bit of a tank slapper.
so i decided to resurrect my old steering damper. i just cobbled together what i could using my trusty grinder and hand tools. i already had the alum brackets and arm, which i made in night school a million years ago.
I just took a piece of alum angle and made it work. I had planned to do this before so I had a post welded to the frame neck in front of the tank.
here are some pics.





This is what it looks like installed.
as it sits with no tape , it just looks like a big ugly chunk of alum angle.
So i put some black tape on it in an effort to come up with a better looking part. when i am happy with the look in tape, i will cut the black taped parts out with my trusty grinder and files
i may just mount an electronic temp gauge over top of it? i have seen rectangular shaped temp gauges that may fit just right??





i had to weld a post to the frame for the arm.

hey that black tape had me fooled! :woohoo:

wireman wrote: hey that black tape had me fooled! :woohoo:

Thats good. it must be working then lol.
i still havent got around to buying a temp gauge to cover it up yet. i've found a couple i like though.

to me ,just to me only,a weave at higher speeds often imo is 90% rear shock stiffness or just a different shock needed...when i have a weave and i swap the rear shocks .. it not only often in a flash goes away , but is way more fun to ride,which then points out new wobbles...:ohmy: ....a great brand of shocks can still havea bad run or get old and loose their juices,or even new the combo is not right due to the bike or tires or changes to the bikes along the way,or good shock co. get lax and make a few wobbly /flexer shocks, it is a five minute switch and can be felt right away....steering dampners is something i am wondering about before too long myself,the dual disk kz's wobble the forks some...nice friggin bike...wow

if you can get a hold of a cheap magnetic level(usually around 10" plastic level)stick on bottem side of frame under motor someplace reasonably flat.
then while youre sitting on the bike with it straight up and down have somebody check which way the bubble is sitting in the level,if its sitting forward of that front line id say thats a good chunk of your problem.
when youre laying into it hard most people tend to try and lay into the front end to hold it down which is causing front end to dive even more .the straighter up/down those front forks are the less stability you have at higher speeds .
just something to think about anyway,especially since its only shown up since you put the longer shocks on rear

i agree with u there Craige,.

. i just swaped out the rear shock on my cbr600 track bike. i had a stock shock, and would get a twitch in the bars during hard accel, i think the shock spring was too soft or the damping was packing down(not commimig back up fast enough). i switched to an Elka last week and the problem went away.