Trail Rider Magazine

8 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Sco s Steering Stabilizer Product Necessity By Kurt Flachbart Necessi es in life, we've all got them. As individuals, what each of us considers a "must have" can diff er greatly. When it comes to off -road riding, most of us who've been riding woods for any length of me, have their own preferences. When se ng up a new scoot, there are always items that take priority since most of us don't have an unlimited budget. Enter Trail Rider Magazine's new test bed. As most of you are aware, KTM recently eliminated the much-loved, 200XC-W from the 2017 product line a er a 20-year produc on run. Although this guy has always been a larger bore rider, the elimina on of the 200 hit home. Although I have ridden several two-hunny's over the years, we never actually had one in the stable and thought we might have missed the boat so to speak. Not wan ng to miss out on ever owning a new 200, we started a search just to see if we could located one before all hope would be lost. Just as we were about to give up, our local and newest KTM dealer, Maine-ly Ac on Sports, just happened to have a new 200XC-W on the fl oor and they cut us a deal that we couldn't refuse. New bikes are a blank canvas. When you get your new scoot back to the shop and stare at it for a while, your wheels are turning. What components will take priority? What's considered needed, considered a "must"? For this guy, the Sco s Steering Stabilizer has always been at the top of the list. Why run a damper? Well, it's a tremendous piece of mind sensa on really. Here in the Northeast, the terrain is typically endless rocks and roots. During every decent ride, there will always be at least one sharp-edged rock that tears the bars right out of your hands and either sends you off trail into a tree or slams you into the ground in a split second. As I grow older, my refl exes have slowed some and I prefer to keep my face off the forest fl oor. This is the reason why I feel a damper is a must. I've personally been running the Sco s unit for a couple decades now. A huge benefi t of the Sco s damper is it eliminates dreaded arm-pump. Once the rider learns to rely on a damper doing its job, one can ride with a much lighter grip on the bars, tremendously reducing fa gue, especially on those long 100-plus-mile rides. We've always chosen the Sco s over their compe on. Sco s only dampens AWAY from center, further reducing fa gue as returning the bars back to center is not dampened at all. As someone who's been riding New England terrain for decades, I just can't see a need for a damper to func on while returning back to center, making the bike feel heavier than it is, actually increasing fa gue. The Sco s unit has three individual valving circuits, allowing infi nite adjustability: the Base Control Valve, the High Speed Valve and the Sweep Control circuits. The Base Valve controls the low-speed damping and is felt as the bars are swept from le to right. You don't need to be able to feel damping for the Sco s to be working. In fact, this guy prefers to run the Base Valve (low-speed) backed out all the way (there are 20 clicks available) and just rely on the High Speed Valve to absorb impacts. The High Speed Valve is located under the black cap on the right of the unit. This valving circuit is designed to

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