Speedub.Anne's initial impressions...
"Steering dampers are for retards."
Not an actual quote, but pretty close to her words when I've suggested a damper in the past and again when she saw what I had done to her bike before yesterday's ride.
She went into yesterdays inaugural Hopey-equipped ride with a pretty negative attitude, considering the damper as "punishment" for her fall the previous week.
Poor ride planning on my part meant we began yesterday with a short but steep 1/8 mile climb, followed by a steep 1/2 mile fireroad descent that is fairly smooth, but always freaks her out. This allowed practically zero time up-front to get used to the new feel of the damped steering, or to play with its range of adjustment.
On the initial climb, she reported her bike "felt heavy" and the high damper setting may have contributed to her having a difficult time getting started on the climb. Definitely lighter settings are better for slow speed climbing, but the difference between light and heavy damping is as little as a quarter twist of the adjuster.
The second climb (this a real one), came after a mile or so of warm-up, and has a few sections of root and/or rock outcroppings that have managed to batter her front wheel around the past two times she's ridden them. This ride she steered a steady course and cleaned the first section without batting an eye.
I was impressed because the first time we visited this spot, we took half an hour and a few tears (honest) to work through it, and her second time she just got off and walked. She may have been in "f*** him" mode yesterday when she barreled through it, but she did so unflinchingly.
Similar attack plan on some of the upper sections, but she didn't have her legs yet to power all the way through, so each ended in a dismount. Absent was the erratic steering that typically precedes her stall point.
Those were the only two tough climbs on our 16 mile route. She rode her descents overly-conservative, probably as a result of her spill, so not a lot of good feedback there.
I took her bike for a short spin on some flat sections and was impressed with how little input the front wheel needs to remain on a straight course through heavy ruts and sand. The difference between light and heavy damping is extreme, but easily changeable through small changes of the dial that resides approximately where the headset top cap used to. The lighter settings still allow me to "talk" to the bike while still providing a notable amount of rock-deflecting resistance.
Again, she's very down on this "experiment", thinking a damper is a crutch for a weak rider (she's read a few threads on the subject but those haven't swayed her opinion). Reading what I have of the various Hopey posts & reviews, I don't expect that Anne is going to have much positive to say about it... until a few weeks from now, when I completely dial it out to almost zero damping. At that point, if she doesn't notice it missing, I might just steal it and install it on my bike.
