steering damper

[Bill Conquest]

Hi Everyone, I'm looking for a steering damper for the '79 R65 & they are expensive,anyone know of a reasonable  alternative,,used maybe?
Thanks, Bill

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

You should not need one, if the front end is in good shape.

[Barry]

You don't often hear of R65's having a steering damper.  

Having the correct pre-load on the head bearings seems to provide enough damping for most.

[MrRiden]

I put one of these on a few years back. Bolts right up. "Steel Black Stabilizer"

http://www.pingelonline.com/steering_stabilizers.htm

[Bill Conquest]

Thanks,, there was one on  when I bought it and it has come apart, so I thought I should get another..it shows one in the parts micro.
Bill

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Thanks,, there was one on  when I bought it and it has come apart, so I thought I should get another..it shows one in the parts micro.
Bill

I think it is officially known as a gee-gaw.  Possibly a farkle.  Especially if it is chrome.

[tvrla]

My LS has one - and I believe it was standard equipment on this bike.

But other than that - I agree - they're probably not needed at all. However... if I had had the damper set to the stiff setting at the time of my elk strike, I may have been able to recover from the tank slapper that led me over the steep twenty-foot embankment. So I leave the LS damper on the stiff setting, and don't even notice the stiffness anymore.

[nhmaf]

That's a handy link - I may be shopping for a damper in  different lengths once I get my sidecar mounting sorted out.

[ShutterPilot]

Sorry for the resurrection, but I'm also researching steering dampers for my R65.
Bike Bandit shows an OEM damper still available, part#373852, for $99.90.
Would this work?
Anyone know anything about these OEM dampers?

[georgesgiralt]

Hello !
The BMW classic shop shows that  31 42 1 238 221 is not order-able through them but not listed ans "ended" nor "unavailable". The other parts are available and priced as such . So you may be able to get the whole kit through a BMW dealer of some sort.

[DanMay]

I just put one on my R65LS.  Here is what you need:

The damper that fits the R65 is the NHK ODM500.
 
http://www.fastfromthepast.com/servlet/the-1004/Steering-Damper-Stroke%3D85mm-/Detail
 
from BMW, you need:
31 42 1 237 285
07 11 9 931 684
07 11 9 932 850
07 11 9 931 019
07 12 9 906 196

I ordered the BMW bits from Max BMW.