help! steering damper on 82 Kat

[bbutler455]

she is almost together, but... where the hell does the sterring damper clamp to the fork. I tryed every position and they all fouled either the faring bracket, the fork tube or the engine. Why oh why didn't I take pictures? Here is what it looks like.

[bbutler455]

Here is the bike so far

Now if I could just attach the steering damper

[Agemax]

you would be better off with a different fork clamp i reckon

[Mysuzyq]

PM or forum-search Pontiacstogo's thread re. fitting a damper on a Kat.

[hampshirehog]

If my memory serves me correctly the front clamps on to the RH stanchion just above the lower yolk (triple tree). It angles downwards towards the back.

[Carter Turk]

I'd say you don't need one. It might look cool, but the Kat has a long wheelbase. I've never had anything close to a tankslapper and I've been riding one daily since 96. A fork brace for the spindly forks and aftermarket springs and shock keep thing stable enough. I'll admit I had one on my 80 1100ET and I would dial it on when the road got twisty, but I don't think I really needed it.

I have a TL known for tankslappers and mine was off when I bought it. Feels fine to me without it. Just an opinion from an owner of a ratty Kat.

[koolaid_kid]

Look, it was on there when he took it apart. He wants it back the way it was. I would too.

[Carter Turk]

Fair enough, I didn't notice the mount on the frame at first glance.

[Smokinapankake]

Just saw an ebay ad for a damper for these ol' kats. It appeared to mount to the cowling brace. Yours is probably different than that, tho.....

I would guess that the fork mount should mount such that the damper mount is in line with the fork leg front to rear, setting the damper such that it angles across the frame, left to right-ish, looking at it (the damper) as though you were sitting on the bike. Is that confusing enough or what?

Very nice looking bike, BTW.

[bbutler455]

Figured it out

After mounting the faring I found the correct position on the left fork. Unfortunately it prevents th mounting of the lower parts of the faring. So, based on the feed-back on the long wheelbase of the Kat... I took it off. Now the bike is original with the exception of the Yoshi 4-1 pipes.