A shock or strut thinging on the triple.
 

Some time ago I saw a little shock absorber thingy that was on the frame by the tank and extended to the triple. Was this a factory thing or what would be it's purpose?

search term: steering damper/stabilizer

Sweet thanks. I looked it up and got the info. Now if someone can give me a link where to get the more popular one. I think I am going to add it for piece of mind.

They're not cheap. Why do you think you need one?

Paranoid I guess. Don't want to hit a divit in the road and the front wheel go Irish Jig on me.

You could just keep the front wheel up all the time. iI seem to have problems keeping my hawk on 2 wheels for more than 6 ft :D

scotts is a god one, but not cheap. kneedraggers.com has them I think

seconded on scotts.

only bad thing is my camera mount doesnt quite clear it so i've got to work something else out for that. :|

Yeah that Scotts looks like the way I want to go. Now, Are of these Scotts the same and just the mounting kits are different or are the dampers themselves different as well.

You do know that a less experienced rider on a less than full speed drive can get into trouble using one... Trouble that wouldn't be there without one?

So "peace of mind" might not be the rigth word... "bling-factor" would probably qualify...:)

I've had 15 motorcycles in my day but if I were to be honest with myself and the group I would not say I am a fully experienced rider. Yeah I know the basics but I have never really pushed the envelope. Would it be recommended that I not put one on since I do not push the envelope? Or maybe a very light setting?

The scotts are fully adjustable, to the point where they are actually doing nothing. They are all the same, just different mounts.

I'm not sure I understand how it could cause a problem for a new rider. I think that they may not do anything at all if the bike isn't being ridden hard, but I can't see how it would be detrimental.

The reason it can... and I emphasise can... cause trouble is if it's set up the wrong way... Then it creates the problem the same way it "fixes" one...

What it does is to slow down steering response by counteracting the movement of the steering head... A good thing if you are pushing hard and get a headshake... A bad thing if you are out on a leasurely sunday drive and have it setup incorrectly... It can actually create headshake if you start working against it... Also it generally masks other faults like an incorrect setting of the suspension... again with an inexperienced rider...

However with 15 bikes on your resume (provided you didn't smash them all up...:D ) I'd say you shouldn't have any problems...

The real question would be if you need one???

The VTR is a rather well behaved beast... unless you are really pushing it, you really shouldn't need a steering damper... It has a lot less nervous steering characteristics than most other bikes... I'm not saying slow here... but well behaved, and it warns you long before throwing you off...

I'm usually pushing hard... On track and sometimes on the street... and a steering damper has yet to make my list of priorities... Better brakes, check... Better forks, check... better rear damper, on the wish list...

Mayby just mayby on really rough pavement a steering damper on a very mild setting might be a benefit... but then in that case you where probably going a bit faster there than the rule of safety first should dictate...

Basicly if you are doing trackdays, then you might benefit from one... but probably not need one unless you are really fast... On the street it's completely redundant...

Drew: The reason being that most squids belive they are going fast enough to need a steering damper on a high setting "just like the pro's"... they crank it and gun it.... I have actually seen it happen on a track day... squid on a new bike with all the bling and he ended up fighting his steering damper set on a to high setting (it would have steered like a oiltanker...)

How could you have 15 bikes and not know what a steering damper is.... just a thought. But make sure you do it right

Forgot the name of it.