For me, the shock did softened large bumps but with the bar, it still seems like a pretty soft ride.
I considered this but didn't take the time to implement anything. I'm taking my bike on a year long tour. That should fully test the solution.
Did you ride the Florida C2C linked trails? That tour is on my list. I hear there are three options for the gap in the trail, one being mostly off road for 50ish miles.
I did finish the C2C ride. I’m a Floridian so I love Florida. It’s a great winter ride to get some miles in. However, There are several long sections that are just battling traffic and crosswalks across 6 to 10 lane intersections. The bike did ok but I’m very disappointed that there is no shock absorber that won’t bottom out. I’m not that heavy (I weigh 190 plus 25 pounds of gear on the back). As far as the hwy50 gap - it’s no problem. Check out Ed Cycles on YouTube. He figured out a route on backroads - which turned out to be one of the more enjoyable sections.
Updating my own post. I splurged and bought - what I was told was - the best shock available - a Rockshox Monarch RL which was nearly $300 with the mount fittings. It has a “lockout” which I thought would be my solution to bottoming out in the hills. It turns out, at full pressure of 275psi the shock is mushy when the lockout is off, and when it is on (locked out) the bike almost bottoms out with my gear - in my neighborhood. So it wouldn’t be usable for hilly touring or bumpy trails. Soooooo disappointed. Is this a design flaw in the geometry of the bike? Why sell a touring rack if it won’t tour. I’m going to look at the Azub and ask for an upgrade for my birthday
