Without PS you cannot see the mountains.

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mollydog Yes, those are nice pics Ali and nice photo shop work cleaning them up!

Thanks for comments of the pics. The pics are scanned from Velvia 50 and together with the African sun it didn’t need much retouch (Levels and sharpening). The first one is a bit modified, because it’s taken directly after sunrise with limited light.

But back to old GSes, this time with digital camera:






Split second bedore a crash:



Back to driving in sand, without a damper. How hard can it be. It’s only downhill…

My R80/7 did not have a steeringdamper. I got hold of one and tested. The difference was immence. My bikes all have steeringdampers ever since.

I would recommend you to test. The installation is simple. The needed parts are not that expensive at the scrapyards. If you like the performance difference you can always swapp the BMW damper for something better.

You will need to see to that the adjusting knobb is easilly accessible though... in tricky terrain you will want to disengage the damping to enhance swiftness in frontwheel turning, and on transport stretches (autobahn/freeway) you may find that the hardest damping gives the best tracking -

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Drive Safely,
Albert

Thanks for the response, guys. Absolutely stunning pictures, I'm amazed you can take a beemer thru sand dunes. I'll have to practice a bit more using a higher speed. The bike starts to slow and then the bars are almost wrenched out of my grip, it's as though the bike wants to go it's own way. It's at that point you fall over. Anyway, I'll carry on with fitting some sort of damper and let everyone know. Thanks again.

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Tim ('91 R100GSPD)

The only baggage you carry should be in the panniers

Hi DC,
are you talking about shock absorber type hydraulic dampers here? If so, what sort of length. There are lots of cheapo dampers available for testing... but what size - length/diameter?

I would like to look into this after being high-sided on desert roads!

John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Wood I'll have to practice a bit more using a higher speed. The bike starts to slow and then the bars are almost wrenched out of my grip, it's as though the bike wants to go it's own way.

There’s no point fighting the bars, it’s one of the battle you can’t win. Hold them loosely and let them do whatever they like. As long as the speed is right you’ll get to the point you are looking.

I'll look up the damper size/measures - it may take some time though; so if I forget - remind me!

As for wrenching out of hand... a damper would help, a lot. But by the description it does sound more like a steeringhead rollerbearing adjustment or wear problem to me...
When you hit sand I guess it will be like hitting a "heap of snow" blown across the road - the snow will grip the frontwheel and do just about what it wants to the bike; there is no way one will be able to hold on... a damper at full damping does have a significant effect here making it just about possible to hold on if the speed is not too high when hitting the snow-"drift(?)".

The wobbel that occurs when one is dropping speed over loose snow is awfull - is that the kind of problem one have on sand too? If so - a damper will help and perhaps even eliminate the problem; however... on sand you are hardly likely to have skiis mounted on the bike are you... - The load one puts on the skiis ease off the negative load on the fronwheel effectively softening the wobbel, and if that is not enough one moves backwards on the seat as far as one can get (still staning on the skiis) that usually ends deep-snow induced wobbel.

A properly set steeringhead roller bearing will minimize the wobbling /7 frame. I did have all sized up (rusted) rollers... so using chain-lubrication I got them "gliding"... back then I would get wobbel from the white lane separations... (much amuzing to me but horrific to anyone driving behind me).

A worn bear will also cause problems like inducing wobbel...

Then you have the forks... if they start to bend a bit more, ever so littel, than what they were designed for... wobbel.
If you put in stronger springs (like I have K75 springs with 11cm spacer) it too will make the forks unstable...

Then you have the flexibility of the frame - later /7 models looks reinforced to me, but not enough. Luiftmeister did present a lot of neat ideas on where and how to strengthen the /7 frame (street bikes though).

All in all - there are many parts to wringing the handlebar out of ones hands

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Drive Safely,
Albert

Reminder

John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster