Stabilizer or just Good Suspension?

SBB Ride

I did a ride yesterday by myself so I had lots of time to explore and think along the way. That sometimes is dangerous in itself!  My thoughts turned to my suspension and how happy I was with it on my KTM 500 XCW. This is my second 500 and it has about 636 hrs. on it now.

I had someone ask me a while back why I don’t run a steering stabilizer. Since I ride this bike everywhere from tight singletrack in Idaho to fast open desert sections in Baja. I had to think for a minute and remembered I did have a stabilizer and took it off to fine tune my suspension when I started working with Buck at SBB.

I had ridden someone else’s bike a few years’ prior that had a stabilizer and a very impressive set of forks. Then I rode the same bike a few months later without the stabilizer and was less than impressed with the fork. I asked the owner what he had changed on his suspension and he said, “nothing”. Then he told me the only change was the removal of the stabilizer. Wow, what a band aid!

So now all my testing is done without a stabilizer, for better results. It just occurred to me that my forks were so good I never felt the need to put my stabilizer back on! I wonder where that thing is, somewhere in my garage I hope!  Oh well, who needs it. I got SBB forks!!!

#33

‘learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t make them all yourself’