See Honda’s electronic steering damper in action

Honda’s new 2004 Fireblade is awash with the latest technology from the GP circuit but the most unexpected development is the inclusion of an electronic rotary steering damper. And we can show you how it works.

Valentino Rossi has only just started using the technology on his championship leading RCV taking it out for the first time at Estoril last weekend but it will be a standard feature on next year’s Fireblade.

The electronic steering damper differs from most other steering dampers by offering continuously variable stiffness depending on how fast you are travelling. At low speeds it provides very little damping so you can manoeuvre the bike with ease, while at high speeds that damping increases to aid stability. This allows the bike to have a much steeper head angle than would otherwise be possible.

Click the links on the right to down load a short animation that shows exactly how the new unit works. PC users should click the EXE link while Mac user should go for the SIT link.

Save the file to your desktop and then double click it when it’s fully downloaded to play the animation (it should appear on your desktop as a grey icon with an ‘F’ in it).

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