Ducati Steering Damper

I also love my 2006 Ducati Multistrada 1000DS. I ride it often but in 2016 it is not easy to find every part you need, especially if it is a performance part. It does not look like a very powerful bike compared to current crazy horsepower bikes but it is capable of over-standard acceleration and 230 kph top speeds so I wanted to buy a steering damper. Unfortunately my attempts failed every time I mailed to stores which used to stock them. So I wanted to design my own bracket for Multistrada but it is applicable to all trellis frame bikes of this era or even all frames that has same tube diameter.

I checked the original design:

It requires a lot of installation work, dismantling the tank, etc and it is not available;






First of all I checked internet for alternatives, the best possible option looked liked this:



Actually it also has a clamp to the frame but the second point is bolted to the lower triple clamp. The name is "Kuan Bracket"and it is also not produced anymore. I also did not like the idea to clamp a bracket to triple clamp but I have to give credit to the huge efforts and nice craftsmanship.









So I decided to design  my own. The tube diameter of my frame was 28,4 mm. I also purchased a clamp for my fork leg from AliExpress  :):):) It is called:

"50MM Diameter Motorcycle front shock absorber fixed steering damper damping titanium foot fixer modification Universal"

It looks like this and costs 13$:

    

I also purchased 75 mm stroke steering damper from Aliexpress for 48$. I hesitated a lot for safety reasons. There is no failure stories or crash experiences from any user but generally the idea to use Chinese steering damper created a lot of hesitation. I decided to give it a try at least to test if 75 mm stroke is ok and if I can fit this damper to my design. The risk of failure is so expensive if I purchased a premium damper like Ohlins or Hyperpro. The dimensions of the Chinese damper is exactly same as Hyperpro, it feels like they just copied it. Of course, internals are a big question mark.





Build quality seems good, better than expected. The operation is also smooth and damping adjustment works as expected.

It was very difficult to measure and produce this clamp as one piece so I manufactured this clamp two piece in order to try and fit the extension to clear all parts of the motorcycle.

Below is the drawing of the clamp: (all dimensions in millimeter)



I installed the clamp on the frame. Then on motorcycle, extension bolted to the damper, I marked the position of the extension. Then dis assembled all parts for welding. This is why I choose iron as material, to be able to work on it easily. Unfortunately  my welding skills are not ideal so the welds look terrible but penetration is ok.

After everything was ok I painted the parts.

  


This is how it looks after installation. 75 mm stroke is perfectly enough for the bike. The rod of the damper does not touch anywhere so no further modification is necessary.



       
       


I just ditched the mudflap (part no 11 in below drawing) which is bolted to the lower clamp.



As a result I have successfully installed the damper. It is perfectly effective and everything looks clean. In the future I would like to machine this clamp from one piece aluminum, it will look much better. Also a premium class damper is planned but so far the Chinese damper works better than expected.