My mate is still champion in one of the historic road race classes. When I mentioned the steering damper to him, he said the damper was only there to compensate for bad handling. I suggest any motorcycle above a certain power rating can be pushed into a tank slapper. If Norton had fitted a damper to the first Commando, it might have become excellent. Peter Williams designed the steering geometry of the first Commando, probably based upon Tom Arter's Wagon Wheels, which I believe was a Seeley Matchless. Whatever - when the kid's started crashing the Commandos, PW got embarrassed. If they had fitted an hydraulic steering damper, it might have fixed the problem. However Norton probably thought it would have demonstrated that their bike did not handle. So they changed either the yokes or the rake, probably to get less trail. Increased trail is good, but can have a downside at high speed.
I suggest it is an old way of thinking about handling. When Joey Dunlop was racing, he used to adjust the steering damper as he rode.
When you ride road bikes, you rarely ride them near the limit - however when you race it is common practice to ride at that level, regardless of what grade rider you might be. When you lose the front or the rear, you simply cope with it.
When the first Commandos crashed, they had usually been ridden over cat's eyes in the wet.
