If you get your rake around 27 degrees you may need a dampner. The trail on a cafe conversion is only about 3.75 inches so the steering can get a bit twitchy in turns with less then 28 degrees of rake. I went from 28 to 27 and the steering felt a bit to light to my liking, so I brought it back to 28 degrees. If the bike handled better at 27 degrees I would have considered a damper, but there was no noticeable difference so I put it back to 28.

BTW, that is a static measurement (although I also did a dynamic simulation) of rake. Not knowing your suspension set up I don't know what your suspension does with you on the bike or under compression. My bike says at 28 degrees in both a static and loaded configuration. Under compression there is opportunity for +/- 1 degree of change.

A damper would make it feel "weighty". One of the nice things about the cafe conversation is the light and responsive steering. If you find the front end is getting vague, requiring constant correction mid-corner, then a steering damper is needed. Otherwise, leave it alone. At 30-ish degrees (RYCA lists it at 29 degrees) you should be good, unless there is another problem.

Don't waste your money on a steering dampner. I love them and they were needed on some bikes. Years ago Kawasaki sold a stock adjustable dampner for about  $ 40.00  .  Today they are very overpriced.  The way to mount them these days is more complex than the final result would suggest.  The rake of the Savage  is  the steering dampner alone.  In a accident the adjustable shaft in your knee cap  hurts.  The bike will never have the head shaking power  or lean angle to need it.

I don't know "exactly" what my rake/trail is....but it is basically RYCA with 13.5" rear shocks, a 2" lower on the front - however I am running  a 90/90-18 front, and that does drop the front down more than the folks running a 100/90-19 or 100/90-18 front.....the 90/90 has a lot shorter sidewalls on the tire.

Because of the narrowness of the clip-on handlebars the bike does feel a bit "stiff" when you want to tell the bike to stop going straight.....my other bikes with wide handlebars are easier to initiate the start of a turn.  I believe the narrow with of the handlebars is part of the stiff feeling......once turned the bike handles fine and it seems to change from one corner to the next well.

The Cafe' bike has never felt unstable, and it can hustle through the corners when asked to do so.  I have never felt the need for a steering damper.  The only time I have ever felt a "wiggle", is under very hard braking on the Dragon.....the bike would do a shimmy when I was braking very hard just before the corner (I don't know if it is fork flex, chassis flex....or the rear wheel being unloaded and scooting around).

My original tires were Pirelli Sport Demons.  It is a very nice performance tire - stick like glue and the rear tire wears out in 6 - 8 thousand miles.

My current tire is the Bridgestone Battlax BT-45.  The rear tire has a strip of harder rubber down the center to allow for more mileage before you get the flat spot down the center.  I like this tire as it can be bought in a 100/80 front size - but I don't like the diamond shape pattern on the front tire, when they get some mileage on them they start to make a buzzing noise when you lean over for a turn.

The Avon Roadrider AM26 comes in sizes that will work - it may be a good tire but may not be as sticky as the above two.  The "Land Speed" folks use these tires as they are available with speed ratings suitable for highs speed record attempts.

The Michelin Pilot Activ now comes in the sizes I use, and it may be the next tire that I try.

Here is the thread on the Cafe' tire discussion - the purpose is to show why you don't want to install a 130/70-18 tire on a rim that is only 2.50" wide.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1435340395/0

Ruttly wrote on 03/06/17 at 10:27:48:


I am not aware of any other Pirelli options that can be bought in a matching front/rear tire set.  

If you want the best handling bike and you have the 18x2.15 front rim and a 18.2.50 rear rim - I believe you want a 90/90-18 front tire and a 120/80-18 rear tire.

But.....tires, like oil and underwear are a very personal choice, and you may not like the stuff that works well for me!

The 18" rims sizes keep us from getting the latest tire technology that the sport bikes use cab buy - the best rubber we can get is Sport Touring tires.

That may not be all that bad - as I can get a couple of year of use out of a pair of tires.  I have a friend that can wear out a set of tires on his Ducati Multistrada in a week of riding down in the mountains.

When we are at the Dragon and scraping pegs....it is pretty humbling when a good rider on a good sportbike with sticky rubber can blow by us at twice our speed! (That is about 6 times the speed of most of the Cruisers!