I’ve never had any need for a steering stabilizer until I got the BMW Enduro (G450X). I’ve had all kinds of dirt bikes and never gave a thought to them. The G, on the other hand, produced a lot of oscillation in the front forks on sandy surfaces at high speeds. The front end had no problems on firm surfaces, just when it got up on top of the straight sandy trails…the ones you want to tear on. It’s an extremely discomforting vibrating wobble. You can fight it or back off, which I typically did the later.
The Scotts Stabilizers are the most popular for dirt bikes, but they didn’t have one that fit the G. The GPR was the only model available. It mounted on the steering head under the bar (as opposed to the stabilizers that mount fork to frame…mostly for street bike application) with new bar clamps provided in the kit. A post mount connected the stabilizer to the steering head at the frame just below the upper triple clamp. It operates with hydraulic valving producing resistance along a range of settings from 1 to 8 on a small accessible dial (see photo).
Yesterday, I put it to the test working up from the lowest rating. I believe the first setting provides no resistance at all, but I could feel the difference at 2 and then at each level up the range. At 7 the steering was so stiff it was nearly inoperable and I had to back it down…couldn’t hardly steer it at all…never even tried 8. I didn’t experience any oscillation after 4 on the dial so that’s where we landed. Also, it didn't affect the turn radius in the least. Overall, the stabilizer did the job I needed it to do.
While I had it all apart, I also dropped in a set of higher rated Race Tech fork springs. The stockers were rated .40kg/mm and were a little slushy for off road riding. I upped the rating to .48kg/mm and got a much better feel particularly on the compression stage. I still need to tinker a little with the clickers though, but I’ll work on that over time.
This bike had been giving me fits in the frontend handling area for the last six months and after a couple hours yesterday I think I’ve got it taken care of with these two mods. Again, I don't think most dirt bikes need a stabilizer, but for those that do, it's a pretty good little piece of equipment.
Before photo from back when I got the bike.
