[1stiski]

Anyone running one of those great steering dampners on the Pugs? I'm really considering that purchase in the near future. Any one knows that the Large Marge / Endo set up also is prone to trail junk jitters, wondering how the Hopey would work on the beast.?

 

[gearless]

I see no reason it would not work but, it seems like the extreme cold of winter could cause the damper to be too stiff maybe?

 

[anthony.delorenzo]

It is hydraulic, so should be OK in the cold, depending on the fluid they use inside it.

That thing looks cool, I would love to try one on my Pugs but not willing to shell out $300 for the experiment.

 

[G-reg]

The Pug does not have problems with twitchy steering. I have a steering damper installed already, it's called a lot of trail and a 20psi or less Endomorph.

 

[1stiski]

I'm running 10psi front/ 11psi rear all season. What I'm getting at is that the bars still are prone to pull and an imput from the trail. Kind of like why when you put 38" monster tires on a truck, alot of of owners put on a steering dampner to calm down the extra imput from the large contact tire. The Pugs is in the same boat.. At least where I ride, the technical rock sections do just that.

$300 !!:nono: , you can buy direct from Hopey online, $229.95.

Main reason is I would like to drop the death grip in the technical stuff.. When I did the 24 hoursof SnowShoe, WV a few years back , there was a a fella, who was missing an arm. He had the Hopey on his bike and had no issue in the technical sections. I rode with him on a lap and was just amazed on how little his handlebars moved compaired to the battle that was raging on mine , with two hands on the bars ! This has to provide some kind of comfort. Very cool.

BTW, the Hopey is on the fly adjustable for your rate of damp, so you can tune it to your needs and temp.

Looks like I'll be the first on the Pugs to try it. I'll give a full report when I go this route.

 

[anthony.delorenzo]

Please do post about it, I'm really curious.

FYI, I'm in Canada... $300 is conservative by the time you add exchange, shipping and border fees.

 

[1stiski]

Will do. Look for something late Jan on this.

 

[anthony.delorenzo]

I shot an e-mail to Tim Hopey about any cold issues, he said:

We have lots of product out in the cold. In fact the guy that came in second place twice at the iditabike used a hopey.

I'm seriously thinking about giving one of these a shot... Wish I had grabbed the one that was on eBay...

 

[1stiski]

Ordering mine today. Should have it next week. Holiday not the best time to have something shipped.

 

[1stiski]

With the holidays I'm not expecting the arrivial of the new Hopey till next week sometime . Oh well, sometimes good things take time . I will do a report and photo progress on the install once I have the merchandise. Then follow up with a ride report and thoughts.

 

[anthony.delorenzo]

The Pugsley tends to track all over the place in soft snow, especially on climbs. Lately, on my rides I keep thinking "I wonder if I wouldn't have washed out there if I had a Hopey..." Also, more stability would be nice when riding those 12"-wide trails packed down by walkers.

I'm about ready to just order one myself.

** EDIT ** OK, I did just order one myself. Used a discount code at Cambria Bike, it came to about $200 US / $240 CAD with shipping.

 

[neal_b]

I'm wondering if I should have ordered one yesterday w/ my other items from them?

Looking forward to some ride reports on this.

Just an observation, the pic on the Cambria site doesn't appear to have enough clearence for the stem to turn straight.

 

[1stiski]

Checked out the pics off the Cambria Bike site, yep, definately not enough clearance, but then again, they are showing that weird stem, wonder where they found that one at? !!! And the Hopey dampener they are showing is one of the original style , not the current look. Different color and even the post has changed, they are now screw-in style. Go to the Hopey site to see the current color and design.

 

[1stiski]

Got an email from Tim Hopey yesterday, my dampener will be shipped on Monday, I should of did this before the holidays. Next week install.

 

[1stiski]

Hopey is officially in the house. Off to the bike shop for the install tomorrow. I'll post some install pics later. Looks like a nice piece of hardware, very light for what it does. All machined and anodized. Sweet. Can't wait to go for the first test ride.

 

[anthony.delorenzo]

Still waiting for mine... It took Cambria 8 days to finally ship my order. Hopefully this week.

 

[1stiski]

Still waiting for mine... It took Cambria 8 days to finally ship my order. Hopefully this week.

Hey Anthony, when you get your Hopey, Your dampener adjustment knob will be really tight, and make you wonder, Hmmmm , is this thing broken? Just get a good hold on the body and grabhold with a firm grip , twist with a counter-clockwise movement. You may be suprised of how much effort you may have to apply. Don't worry, it does break loose. I think Tim may have had alittle too much Wheaties the morning mine was put together. I'll be doing the change this morning. Oh, yes, don't look for a centering O-ring, you don't need one. Let me know what color anodizing yours is. Hopfully its the newer edition with the removable post and included steel bite posts. Post pics if you can.

 

[1stiski]

:thumbsup: Hopey Installed, piece-o-cake to install. Tonight I'll post the pic's and sometime before next week , I file a ride report. Looks so cool and works like
B-U-T-T-E-R, smooth as silk.

 

[1stiski]

Pics,
The goods,

before I started, toughest job is the star fangled thing removal !

Measure the post for length

complete

Ready to ride, next is the ride report.

 

[Dr Feelygood !]

Anticipation !