Scott's Stabilizer Question

[afm_722]

Anybody with a Scott's Stabilizer feel the sensation of more damping toward the end of a ride? I'll go for about an hour straight trail ride loop and toward the end it will feel like it has more resistance. It feels great for the first half hour (ie. I don't notice it), but toward the end I can really feel the resistance to the point of bothersome.

I was told (by Scotts) that I should back off the high speed circuit a bit. Maybe my base valve settings are causing the high speed to kick in too much?

Settings:

Sweep at 9 o'clock (34 degrees)

base valve - 14 clicks out from full hard

high speed - 2 1/2 turns out from full hard

Thanks!!

[jasowiii]

And my seat gets harder! What up with that?

[G'nK-ville]

I think you might just be getting tired and noticing it more. Turn your low speed down a little.

[G'nK-ville]

I just checked mine and I'm at 25 out from full hard.

[Dirtriding4life]

Nope, I've never noticed it. At the end of your ride do your arms feel like Jello or stiff like arm pump? That may be the problem. Either way will cause you to notice it more. The Scott's is hydraulic and shouldn't fade at all unless temperatures decrease dramatically or unless you get dirt in there.

[Erik Marquez]

Never noticed that with mine

[Chas_M]

14 (or 25) clicks out on the low speed damping provides little if any low speed damping control at all. Standard settings according to Scotts is 4 to 8 clicks out. Likewise, 2 1/2 turns out on the high speed control provides very little damping. With these settings, the damper is not doing much at all and is basically useless.

[Trick WR]

Is your stabilizer older?? My adjustment knob has worn over time, and will actually move itself while riding, adding damping over time on the bike. Just a thought.

[afm_722]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm actually in fairly good riding shape right now, so feeling the damper more because of fatigue is not an issue. I arrived at the above settings because it was almost un-rideable with the standard settings (again only toward the end of a ride). Also, to add to the mystery, when I hoist it up on the stand, AFTER I ride and turn the bars side to side there is noticeably more resistance than when I first started out on the ride.

The stabilizer was purchased brand new a year ago. I think I might swap stabilizers with my buddy to see if his does the same thing. I might have some stabilizer, mounting, or steering head bearing issue going on.

[Raven1911]

You might want to check your steering bearings. You could have something wrong. The stabilizer is probably not the problem.

[bg10459]

Is your stabilizer older??.

Good question. If the oil in your damper is old, it may have moisture and/or dirt in there. Try changing it for new oil.

[Raven1911]

Those stabilizers don't wear out that fast. They are almost bomb proof! Reach any conclusions yet???

[afm_722]

Been laid up in the hospital all last week (emergency, but not riding related!), but I'm back on my feet. Plan on double checking steering head bearings. It'll be at least a few weeks before I can ride however.

[Rotaholic]

Make sure you bleed your damper as often as you would your front forks. Theres two bleed screws on the base of the damper. Fresh oil is good as well.

[kboutte]

i have a '05 crf450r, i like to ride 50% offroad and also 50% mx tracks. is a stablizer ideal for my situation? i think the scotts stablizer can be turned off which would be good for mx riding. but should i invest the money / is it wotrh it???

[MathProf]

I think I remember something about if you increase the low speed dampening settings, the high speed dampening becomes less noticable.

Similarly, if you decrease low speed dampening, the high speed dampening become more noticable.

I think I read it in the owners manual or maybe I dreamed it. ?

[Chas_M]

Make sure you bleed your damper as often as you would your front forks. Theres two bleed screws on the base of the damper. Fresh oil is good as well.

I use the air bleed screws to top up and bleed air from the damper after an oil change, however this is the first time that I have heard of the neccessity of routine air bleeding.

[afm_722]

Anybody with a Scott's Stabilizer feel the sensation of more damping toward the end of a ride? I'll go for about an hour straight trail ride loop and toward the end it will feel like it has more resistance. It feels great for the first half hour (ie. I don't notice it), but toward the end I can really feel the resistance to the point of bothersome.

I was told (by Scotts) that I should back off the high speed circuit a bit. Maybe my base valve settings are causing the high speed to kick in too much?

Never thought I'd quote myself...anyway finally got a chance to ride my Kawi on the trails the last two weekends. Two weekends ago it was the same problems I described above. Well, I ordered a set of steering head bearings this last week, had the lower one pressed on, and returned the stabilizer to near out of the box settings.

Fixed!!!! The bike never felt better. The bearings weren't in horrible shape, but the top one could have been a little smoother (probably got worse when I would tighten it back up). Interesting that it would feel worse at the end of a longer ride. Probably the bearing and the stabilizer were fighting each other... ?

Nothing wrong with the stabilizer!! Thanks for your input.