Ceriani Steering Damper

scuderia

scuderia

Senior member
Location
San Francisco
anyone one have experience with the friction type dampers? the ones that run through the steering stem? Possible to adapt one to work with the stock stem on a set of 38's??  Or do you need to use the whole damper, stem kit?

Don
 
Why do you want a friction damper?

Hydraulic dampers are a superior solution, as they offer (almost) no resistance to movement at low speeds, but high resistance at high speeds. That is referring to how quickly you (or road irregularities) are attempting to turn the handlebars, by the way!

A friction  damper will make it difficult to steer. You might as well over-tighten the steering head bearings.

bazzee
 
You can fit the Ceriani steering damper on 38 mm Ceriani forks, only need to drill the top nut. I did use it briefly in the past but quickly realised it is better to use it as an ornament only..

Marnix
 

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A clever man would find a way to put one of these under the bottom stem:
http://www.scottsonline.com/scotts.php
hook up the old-skool adjuster knob to the damper adjuster, paint it black and have something that looks cool AND works.
Friction dampers do exactly what you don't want - high initial resistance, decreasing with speed.

Cheers
Steve B
 
Before fitting any type of steering damper the two questions I would ask are...

What problem am I trying solve?

What do I think is causing the problem?

You rarely see Laverdas with steering dampers so it's probably safe to assume they don't have inherent problems, therefore you need to examine why an individual machine might need such a device when others don't. A damper might simply mask a problem which needs resolving by an entirely unrelated solution.
 
as some of you seem to have figured out I simply like the look of it. breganzane your set up is awesome! is there a starter button on that throttle assembly or do you have a separate switch? Are you using the nd or lucas switch on the left side? is so do you have mismatched levers? I really need to find a starter button to work with my proposed setup.. I'm planning on running a tommaselli superpratic throttle with tommaselli matador perches and levers... neither of which have switches. I've found a nice aprilia switch for the left that can handle some of the functions... http://tinyurl.com/3leehou not ideal but can maybe function as the horn and headlight.. or kill and horn ?? thanks all..
don
 
scuderia said:
as some of you seem to have figured out I simply like the look of it. breganzane your set up is awesome! is there a starter button on that throttle assembly or do you have a separate switch? Are you using the nd or lucas switch on the left side? is so do you have mismatched levers? I really need to find a starter button to work with my proposed setup.. I'm planning on running a tommaselli superpratic throttle with tommaselli matador perches and levers... neither of which have switches. I've found a nice aprilia switch for the left that can handle some of the functions... http://tinyurl.com/3leehou not ideal but can maybe function as the horn and headlight.. or kill and horn ?? thanks all..
don
Click to expand...

Hi, why not use the SFCs CEV switch with starter button, light and horn?
Ciao, Gert
 

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i've been looking at that one... you pushed me over the edge.
http://tinyurl.com/3ms3vw4
found this one, should save me some time on wiring as well...
thanks,
Don
 
My 1977 Duc 900SS had a friction damper, my 1980 Darmah SSD did not, so they may have gone out of style in the late 1970s. Problems with fitting such a damper, which are readily available, is fixing the bottom of the damper, where it exits the steer tube. The damper used on Marzocchi forks had round piece that fit snuggly through a slot cut in the bottom of the steer tube. This piece and another piece that did not fit in the slot, was threaded to receive the bottom of the rod, and had two prongs which stradled a metal tooth on the frame, sandwiched a ring of friction material. The amount of friction was controlled by the threaded rod which went from the adjusting knob on the top of the triple tree, through the steer tube, and down to the botton piece. Not sure how clear this description is, but any play in these pieces allowed the damper to slowly unscrew, so they were machined to snug tolerances. The Ceriani damper uses "star" washers to keep everything snugged up and was a different design. You can get the pieces for the Marzocchi damper from Giovannimoto on Ebay. I like the look of the friction damper so I would have at it if you like it to, Don, but I agree, the utilitarian value of these dampers is just a hair above not having one.....
 
scuderia said:
breganzane your set up is awesome! is there a starter button on that throttle assembly or do you have a separate switch? Are you using the nd or lucas switch on the left side?
don
Click to expand...

I think you're referring to Marnix's SF?

For the look you are after I reckon those old CEV things will be perfect.

Cheers
Steve B
 
Ah OK, not aware you were discussing my SFs setup. I use the CEV switch that Gert shows and which you saw at Ebay. They are pretty reliable switches. Laverda wired them in such a way that the steel button on the side was the starter, the black one on top was horn and the 3 position switch is high beam, low beam and middle position pilot light. Light on and off was switched by the ignition switch.
It is possible to wire the CEV switch in an off/low beam/high beam function.
Do make sure the wires have soldered tips and the tiny screws inside the switch are tightened well as they can fall out under vibration.

Regarding the steering damper, if used as an ornament it is not a bad idea to only install the knob only as Stefan suggested, because you don't want the friction damper to work and if it is not working it is loose and can turn. I once left the Zandvoort racetrack thinking my engine had a major problem, only to find out that the loud ticking noise came from the loos damper knob.  :-[
Since that moment the pretty Ceriani ornament is no longer on the bike..

Marnix
 
Hi Don
The switches on this Guzzi look pretty neat, though I'm not sold on the brass look.

http://www.motoborgotaro.com/uncategorized/guzzi-850t-sport-conversion/

Seems as if sourced from this mob (and might provide that hidden front brake master cyliner that you were tossing up a while back). Just don't get carried away an bung on forward controls  :D

http://www.kustomtech.eu/

Cheers
Jason
 
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