Another Matris M3

[Motogiro]

Just received my Matris M3 steering damper and installed it this afternoon.

Took the bike for a little test drive and I have to say it makes a big difference in the feel of the bike. The front end feels so much more planted. Weather has been iffy here this week but if tomorrow is decent I'll take it up and down South Grade on Palomar Mountain and see how the bike handles with more aggressive testing.

[jwrider41]

Looks great on bike. Where did you get it and how much?

[sfcali86]

where and what was the price

[Motogiro]

Originally Posted by jwrider41

Looks great on bike. Where did you get it and how much?

I ordered the last one from oncycles.com. I got it for $213 with free shipping. They may be discontinuing them but I asked the girl there to email me if she got more in and I would pass the info on to our forum.

I saw Wolfman's damper on his cup bike. He has an Ohlins which is around $500-$600 A little rich for me but because of the tricks I try to do in the twisties I knew I would somehow get one. Some one on the forum posted some pics last week and when he said the price he paid was $260 I started searching. The Matris M3 is totally worth the bucks. I knew it would be a good mod and I was right. The minute I hit the road I could feel the difference. Turn in feels just as quick but the front is much more planted. I plan on a little funner test tomorrow, weather permitting.

[Wolfman]

you dont realise just how much you needed one, till you actually have one...steeering dampers on FZ6 rock!

[Motogiro]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

you dont realise just how much you needed one, till you actually have one...steeering dampers on FZ6 rock!

Yeah! I didn't know they had one for the FZ6 till I saw your Ohlins damper on Pinky and that's really what got me inspired. The Matris deals gave it the economic feasibility for me. The immediate feeling I got was they should be on all the bikes from the start.

You can't go wrong having one. I'm a believer...

[geetarhero]

how much do these affect low speed manouvers? do you need to really muscle the bars when slow?

[Motogiro]

Originally Posted by geetarhero

how much do these affect low speed manouvers? do you need to really muscle the bars when slow?

Where I have it set you just notice it in the parking lot. It has 16 settings on it. On the lower settings you can't tell it's there, It's one of the best things you can put on this bike. I guess if you just ride around town it doesn't really mean that much but it actually makes compression and rebound feel different.
Even though you're not changing the compression and rebound, I think it feels different to me because of how the forks react when a variation hits one side or the other of the tire. Because the smallest side to side movement is damped, it makes the whole front end feel different. I'm imagining it will make a big difference where small variations occur in more passionate riding which I'm hoping to experience in a few minutes. Going to ride the South Grade of Palomar Mountain this morning.
Last week I was at Fun Bike Center here in San Diego and tried the damper on a Kawasaki. I don't know if it was broken or worn out but I couldn't feel a difference no matter where I set it. The Matris M3 is really noticeable in it's range of settings.

The best advice I can give regarding getting one is, you already know right now if you need one. I just didn't want one, I needed one.

[Motogiro]

Well I rode Palomar (South Grade) and the damper rocks! There are like 66 turns, in almost 7 miles up the mountain to about 5000 feet. The front end of the bike performed so much better. It feels like a different bike because anything that changes that front fork is going to translate what happens to the dynamics of the entire bike. Can't go wrong with one of these and they're so easy to install.

[Motogiro]

Here's a little video at the start of South Grade on Palomar Mountain when I was trying out the steering damper.

YouTube - Palomar Mountian South Grade

YouTube - Palomar Mountian South Grade