753 miles - Pazzo Racing levers and Ohlins Steering Damper
After having crashed my SV650 on track due to a nasty headshake, I was determined to never again get a bike without some kind of steering damper installed. The SV1000S had such a damper, and I was therefore reassured that horrific headshake would be less likely to toss me off.
Well, turns out that after riding the ‘thou for a while, I found the stock damper to be too stiff, and actually a hindrance rather than a help on track.
I tried downsizing to a 65 series front tire, but then things were still weird. I raised the forks to compensate - still weird. The bike would lean in quickly, but counter-steering was artificially slowed down, feedback was reduced, and mid corner wallowing would lead me to run wide. Less scary than headshake, but not exactly great.
I decided I still wanted a damper, but I needed less damping. Enter Ohlins. I got a used Ohlins kit from an SV650 on www.sv-portal.com, and it bolted right up - the head tube bracket fit was a little off, but it was actually slightly oversized so it worked out.
I installed the damper on top of the triples so I could adjust it more easily, and also because I am a dork and thought it looked cooler than if it was hidden away behind the fairing. 11 clicks from full soft seems to be the ticket – nice quick steering, but no shake, even under hard acceleration over crests. Nice.
I also installed some Pazzo Racing levers that I bought at a great price from Moto Mummy, where the prices apparently raise the dead. Scary.
The levers far exceeded my expectations in terms of quality, and they fit up flawlessly. That being said, I bought the “Short” levers, and I think they are actually heavier than that full-length stock items. I am talking about tenths of an ounce, but still, I guess I expected that they would be lighter than the stock bits.
Regardless, they look pretty trick.
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