Yeah the little guy with the toothy grin. That's the one. Yeah I know I could link over to it but it's just not worth the time.
And if you do get a damper be very careful at slow speeds for the first little while. It will slow down those quick lock to lock transistions you rely on in parking lots and leave your butt hanging out in the breeze if you're not careful. SMZ mentioned on one of our rides last summer that he hated the damper on his Gixxer for that reason.
And just to give you an idea of why we Kawi owners don't need no steeenkin' dampers.....
Last September while on that fateful trip where I dropped my bike I was coming hard around an 80 kph corner leaned over at about 40 degrees. The road looked smooth and clean with a shadow from a tree on the road. Well the edge of the shadow was hiding a 1 to 1 1/2 inch lip running across the road ( it looked like about 3 to 4 inches just before I hit it so I'm guessing at 1 to 1 1/2

). The bike hit this and kind of bounced up into the air, slipped sideways about a foot, landed, did a little squiggle that was over before I realized it had started and then it was business as usual as I finished the turn. How I got away without bending the front rim I'll never know. Yep it hit THAT hard.
And on a couple of occasions I've gotten carried away exitiing a corner around town and rolled on a little too hard while still leaned over about 10 degrees. In one case I just felt the front get light and skitchy and got a couple of wiggles for my brashness. The other time I tried to correct my line slightly and got no reaction. The front end was airborne and I was still leaned about 10 degrees. Got another couple of wiggles when it landed from that one too. But in both cases they damped themselves out about the same time I realized it had started.
I'm in love with the idea of feather light, almost thought controlled steering but the more I ride the Kawi and my past experience with the Duc the more I'm willing to trade a tiny bit of turn in quickness for some butt saving stability.
Don't get me wrong. I'd love to try an R1 or R6 (Adam? You're probably wondering what a liter bike would feel like? Hmmmm?) but for the long term I think I'm sticking with my ol' green freight train thankyouverymuch
