Scotts steering damper

[Colorado Mike]

I got my damper mounted, which was a chore because I was using bars that are a KX low bar type. Scotts recommends that the crossbar be 40mm over the handlebar center, or higher. Mine were way tight, so I ended up bending the crossbar up, which is difficult, and stupid. Eventually I'll change out my bars, but I'm waiting on that till I figure out if I'm going to convert to KX forks or not. None of this is Scotts's fault though, their instructions are very clear and their phone support is good.

After getting it installed, I checked to make sure the steering stops were still functioning. You don't want the damper to be stopping motion before the stops. I had a problem here on one side only. Adjusting the position of the frame clamp solved that.

I went riding last night and put on about 40 miles over mostly tight, twisty trails. It was raining hard and there was a fair amount of exposed roots and the trails were rutted in places. I've never ridden with a damper before, so I was curious how it would feel. I left the adjustments as they came from the factory, and I didn't deliberately try to hit things at an angle, but it happened occasionally.

What I noticed so far:

1) Even though the damper has a lot of resistance when it's in your hand, you really don't notice it when you turn the bars. If I sit on the bike and turn through the range of movement, I can feel where it goes out of it's active range, but while riding, I don't notice it.

2) It's hard for me to compare the bike before and after due to my primitive nervous system, but I think it is quite a bit less inclined to follow angled tree roots and rocks. I did hit a couple 4-6" diameter angle roots, and instead of pointing in another direction, the bike seemed to stay straight, but shift over a couple inches. To me this is a lot more desirable than taking an off-trail excursion. I think this may well have saved me from breaking ribs last year after being deflected into a boulder at a good clip.

3) My bike has always had a problem in loose sand in that it would wander side to side and be difficult to steer. Last night there was a dramatic improvement, but the sand was very wet and heavy, so that may have been a bigger factor than the damper.

4) I felt like I was not working as hard. more like I was steering the bike instead of correcting a lot and doing a little steering. I have never really had an arm-pump problem, but I did feel more relaxed and could keep a looser grip on the bars.

5) I seemed to be able to stay out of ruts on the trail better, and if I got in one, I think I could steer out of them easier.

Keep in mind that anyone who has paid around $400.00 for a device that is supposed to make his bike handle better is going to want to believe that it worked. These are all preliminary observations, and were made in conditions that were somewhat abnormal for my riding area, so take them for what they're worth. I plan to ride again tonight, and will report back after a few more rides for a better evaluation.

Be safe,

[Indawoods]

One important thing to remember...if it saves an injury or bike damage totaling more than the $400 investment and still works.... your ahead!

[skipro3]

It is hard to evaluate a product that prevents a crash or accident because, you don't have them as often. Only time on the bike will determine that. What I noticed was situations I was sure I would be crashing on didn't cause me to crash. I assumed it was the dampener. You will notice a general feeling of greater confidence as you start testing the limits of your riding and discover that the limits are now streached out a bit more than before. Like crossing ruts; it's not something we enjoy or seek out to do. When they present themselves we just deal with it. When they present themselves in an unexpected situation, we crash or scare ourselves badly. After riding over a year with mine, I no longer fear them, crash or scare myself. I now see them as optional paths of travel for passing another rider, avoiding mud, etc.
Also, twist that knob on top once in a while to the exteme on or off positions and see what too much or too little is like over the same trail several times. That will tell you what the dampener does in a specific situation.

[bradf]

First ride after installation was yesterday. I decided to go to the worst place in this entire area, known for severe angled large wet roots, rocks, ruts, socialist....well maybe not socialist. I wish I would have had this on my old XR250 years ago. I rode 2 trails systems yesterday that I have NEVER considered due to their being extremely difficult for advanced riders when they are dry, yesterday was wet, very wet. After a warm-up on some easy and moderate trails that I know quite well, I went into a system I tried a few weeks ago and barely made it out. The easy warm up trails definitely showed me that the handlebars were stable and the wrist were not being pounded. This trail showed even more of what the Scotts can do. I made it through a loop (with ease) that I have NEVER made it through in over 10 tries. There were so many angled large roots that I would have had to hit head on, which would have meant steering towards the side of the trail, but this time I took them head on and the suspension ate them up. Rocks were just bumps. I could feel the front move sideways but not any twisting of the bars. I then tried the trails that were brand new to me in that they were way too difficult. I made it without a scare. I know yesterday on a couple of downhill trail sections I was going too fast after getting cocky and overconfident. It didn't matter though. The Scotts saved my ass more times than I will ever know because that is what it does. So now I am faster, safer, more confident, and I am riding new trail systems that I could not ride before.

[Indawoods]

Stabilzers ROCK!

[Colorado Mike]

I had a chance to ride in some really bad weather last week, and got a little more experience with the thing. We were at around 8000' in tight twisty trails with lots of roots and rocks. It was actually a little stupid to be riding because of the lightning (okay, a lot stupid), but I wanted to ride dammit. It was really raining hard until it started to hail, making the trails a bit more challenging than usual. With the damper, I think the biggest thing I noticed was I that I was much more relaxed holding the bars. It's not something that stood out right away, but after a while I realized that I had a very light grip.

We took a break at the trucks and I saw 2 of the guys rubbing their wrists and forearms. My bike was very easy to control, and when I hit really big angled roots, I either went straight over them or deflected a couple inches to one side (front and back) and stayed on course. This contrasts with before where I would have the front wheel snap to one side and then have to correct.

Another big difference was in deep sand. One of my buddies rides a 650R that is much more stable than my bike used to be. I was leading, and went through a sandy wash at a much higher speed than usual. His bike is usually pretty good at this, but later he said he had to slow down quite a bit, one of the other guys almost dumped it at a much lower speed than the two of us.

The conditions kept deteriorating, and at one point we were just heading back to the trucks to try to get warmed up (by then it was 40 degrees and we were all soaked). Visiblilty was terrible due to hail, mist, and foggy goggles. I am really no stellar rider, but I was leading, and had to keep stopping and making sure everybody caught up and was together. I think this was because of two things: I have a lot of experience in wet nasty conditions from my years of mountaineering and biking in Washington; and I was a lot less tired due to the damper.

I did still crash twice, once I broke through a berm that I took too high and fast, the other one I don't know what happened, just ended up sliding along next to my bike, must have got hit by an elk . I think anybody on the fence about getting one of these should take the plunge if they have the money. Especially old farts like me that have a little slower reaction times and a lot slower healing times. It makes the ride a bit more enjoyable.

Have fun,

[skipro3]

Great report!!
I also found the same results:
1. Don't need to grip as tight, but your body and mind take some time to adjust to that.
2. Easy to over cook a bermed corner and push the front end over the lip. The stabilizer won't help after that happens.
3. Deflections are a skip to the side, not a direction change of the bars and steering. I think less compression dampening might help here. I'm off to play with that next.