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Everybody that rides rough terrain knows that one of the worst things to experience at any speed is to hit a rut or obstacle and have the handlebars yanked out of your hand. This can also have very bad results depending on your speed and what it was that you hit, whether it be a log, deep rut, rock or anything else of the sort that causes a sudden impact to a front tire.
Because a lot of the terrain we ride on is rough terrain and general done at moderate to high speed, we wanted to find a product that would assist in reducing the impact on the rider when an obstacle is suddenly struck. Steering stabilizers are made just for that. When we heard that Elka Suspension had teamed up with Pro Moto Billet / Fastway Performance to build the Fastway steering stabilizer for quads, we were extremely excited to learn more about the product, since our previous experiences with Elka Suspension had been so good and Pro Moto Billet has always put out such well made products themselves.
After further research, we found that the Elka Suspension / Pro Moto Billet / Fastway Performance steering stabilizer for ATVs was available in two flavors: The most extreme one is the System 5 and the more standard model with a couple less adjustments is the System 3. The system 5 has 5 separate adjustments and the system 3 has 3 separate adjustments, hence their names.
A key feature of the Fastway Performance Steering Stabilizer is that you can have the high speed adjustment set to maximum resistance while simultaneously having the low speed adjustment set to minimum resistance. This allows you to ride with absolutely zero resistance until under extreme impact or force.
Available Adjustments
High Speed - Optimal resistance only during high force impacts, while allowing no resistance during normal riding conditions.
Low Speed - Allows you to dial in the overall steering resistance under any riding condition. This adjustment can be turned to an off position where you will have no resistance.
Return to Center - Allows you to fine tune the resistance of your handlebars from left lock position and right lock position back to the center position.
Turning Angle [System 5 only] - Left and right dis-engagement angles to allow adjustable resistance while turning.
Turning Angle Damping [System 5 only] - Adjusts the amount of resistance in the dis-engaged portion of the turning angle.
Overall Impression
The build quality of the Pro Moto Billet / Fastway Performance steering stabilizer that we installed on our 2009 Can-Am Renegade 800 was absolutely top-notch. The mounting setup that is provided is well machined out of billet aluminum, and very sturdy. The directions that were provided were very detailed and exact and left no questions about assembly and mounting.
Something that is very important to note on either of the Fastway Performance steering stabilizers is the functionality of the high and low speed adjusters. As you will see in the images above, the red center dial is the high speed adjuster and the grey collar around it with 3 point on it is the low speed adjuster. When either or both knobs are turned counter-clockwise until they stop, that particular adjuster is providing no assistance. The more you turn each clockwise, the more dampening it is providing. What this means is that the rider can leave his low speed adjuster closed so it provides zero resistance, while simultaneously setting the high speed to maximum. In turn, the only time the rider will see help from the steering stabilizer is under extreme force or impact.
Right out of the box, on the trail, we found that in rough and tight areas we were easily able to carry much higher speeds with the Fastway Performance System 5 unit with its default adjustments. Our test area consisted of tight, high speed trails that had gotten heavily washed out in places and in other areas had obstacles such as downed trees that we would either have to plow over or quickly maneuver around.
In previous rides in this trail area, due to the heavy washing in places, we really had to slow down to 25mph or so to get through the rutted area. However, after installing our steering stabilizer that features Elka components, we were not surprised that we were able to more quickly finesee our quads over the ruts and leave or comrades that were riding behind us in the dust.
After extensive testing and tweaking of the different adjusters and based on where and how we generally ride, we found our optimum low and high speed setup to have only a slight amount of low speed resistance, while the high speed we adjusted up slightly tighter than the middle of the adjustment range. In the end, this gave us great resistance when we were quickly moving through the trails while not providing so much resistance at slow speeds that it would cause arm fatigue.
Overall, we just can't say enough about how installing the Pro Moto Billet / Fastway Performance steering stabilizer has helped us on the trail, and how much it will help on the track to reduce lap time, especially for GNCC racers or people that do casual cross country type riding.
Much like how putting a performance suspension on your quad helps you cut lap times off of your races, adding a high quality steering stabilizer to your steering will allow you to waste less time getting over the rough stuff.
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