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I fitted a Norman Hyde steering damper some time ago but with family commitments and the holidays I didn't really have time to evaluate it but I did this week end. 300 kms of winding mountain passes on Saturday and a track day on Sunday.... My initial concerns were that it had limited damper adjustments only 7 (0 +6 in fact), and the fact that it had to be fitted on the RHS rather than the more customary LHS. But what a fantastic mod! I ran the same mountain sections a couple of times with different damper settings and although I didn't time them and wasn't watching the clock I was far more confident with fairly firm damper settings. The same experience on the track. Again no lap times (my wife was busy....) but the bike felt way better and my confidence level was high. The range of adjustments is sufficient. After optimising the damper track set up I didn't need to make further adjustments as I suppose can be expected with road tyres and road brakes- so the RHS mount was not an issue. So if you have the suspension and brakes to handle high speed corners you won't be disappointed with a steering damper. The NH damper is not a competition Ohlins type damper, is sensibly priced and fits the Thruxton look, and is perfectly adequate for the Thruxton. But of course a damper won't fix any existing design based handling problems. My suggestion would be to get real suspension that actually works first (preload, damping and rebound control) and then get your suspension settings sorted. (BTW Hagon Nitros rear, custom front springs, Traxxion damper rod kit, 15mm lowered front suspension, standard length rear shocks, stock Metzlers on their last legs!)
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