ShockStop Stem Review

Thanks for the review, interesting product. Do you feel that it compromised steering input at all?

No not at all, Where I ride it is flat so there is no downhill speedy descents to give it a good high speed test. I had it up to 22mph in one fast up and down section and steering was normal. It is very well designed imo. Always working in the background. After riding it for awhile it feels very normal but you feel the difference in the chatter.
I went over some mild drops where the pavement meets dirt and I only felt the harsh bump in the rear wheel. 
I'll follow up after some time with it changing out the elastomers. I am impressed with it so far.

I am waiting on mine.  One thing I was wondering about is what it is like when out of the saddle.  Does it noticeably bob?

Thats the same question I asked the makers when I signed up for the kickstart. No there is zero sag, the feel is just like a standard stem.You have to lean on it pretty hard to get it to compress. They should start designing one for the seatpost too.

Here is a reply from the makers when I asked about braking:

I got my stem today.  In hand the stem feels very heavy, its roughly double what most stems are.  The weight is not noticeable when on the bike.  I removed the elastomers that come installed and put in the correct ones for my weight.  With those elastomers installed and I press down on the bars and get about 1cm of "travel".  I was a little concerned about how that would feel when standing and climbing, but once I got out and tried it it felt great.  There was no bob or any undesired motion while climbing.  When hitting bumps the movement of the handlebar is noticeable, but not enough to be disruptive.  I suppose if you don't like the feeling of the movement you could go with stiffer elastomers.  I also was able to fit my garmin mount on it, which is good because I didn't want to shell out the $30 to get the redshift mount.  On my longer rides my legs always feel fine.  Its my hands neck and lower back that always get sore an tired.  Combined with the Thudbuster I just installed I now have an extremely comfortable gravel bike and I look forward to my next 100 miler knowing I won't get as beat up.  The Thudbsuter and Stem upped the weight of the bike by 0.8 lbs, but its still under 20 lbs, so plenty light.  

    

 

Has anyone tried one of these in cold weather? Elastomers are notorious for getting hard as a rock in cold weather and soft and squishy when it gets hot.

bnystrom wrote:  Has anyone tried one of these in cold weather? Elastomers are notorious for getting hard as a rock in cold weather and soft and squishy when it gets hot.

I have around 1300 miles on my Shock Stop stem. My miles are all in the Sub tropical climate of Florida including several weeks of cold weather with temps in the 30's all above freezing and in the 90's which it has been the last few months on and off.  I rode during those temp ranges and did not experience any different effect from the stem, in fact after the newness wore off, I completely forgot I was using a ride enhancing stem. I am riding with the blue green combination and have not tried other combos to date.  I am completely happy with my purchase. 
Contact the company with any questions regarding the coefficient of expansion. They answered my pre-purchase questions promptly.

bnystrom wrote:Has anyone tried one of these in cold weather? Elastomers are notorious for getting hard as a rock in cold weather and soft and squishy when it gets hot.

\n \nI have used mine in Maryland winter (20-30F) and experienced no issues with it stiffening up.

I ordered one of these today. Will report on my experience when I receive it next week.

Got the stem today in a 90mm size with 6 degrees of rise. Installation took about 20 minutes (was having some OCD aligning the handlebar to the wheel) and was straightforward, although I would recommend carefully reading the directions.

At 135 lbs, I am right between two recommended elastomer settings. Decided to go with the softer setting with more travel. This involved using the 70a and 50a elastomers (the yellow and the blue one).

Went out for a 90 minute ride on a route I've ridden over a hundred times so I'm familiar with every bump. 

First impression: wow. The best way to explain how it feels is like a 15-20mm highly progressive suspension that doesn't kick in until a certain amount of force is applied, so it kind of has a dead zone where light forces from riding on smoother roads don't seem to cause any deflection at all. But once you hit a bump that goes over the threshold of the dead zone, the suspension kicks in. Because it works as a pivot near the steerer tube, the effect is greater out on the hoods and drops versus on the bars.

It's surprisingly effective at absorbing the big bump, more than I expected given that it only isolates the handlebar and not the whole frame from the wheel. If anything, it's better at taking the big hit than at smoothing out buzz. Over rocky areas where I would normally unweight the handlebar, I found myself actually putting more weight on the front and the bike feeling more under control as a result. Especially on rough inclines and descents, I felt like the front tire was making more contact with the ground.

When I got back, I was curious to try out what a firmer set of elastomers would do, and put in the default 70/80 (blue/green) combo. The 70/80 didn't really do it for me. Still felt smoother than the stock stem, but the effect wasn't nearly as noticeable as 70/50.

@RoverAl, I'm not sure how much you weigh, but I remember reading something from Specialized about riders of varying weights having surprising similar amounts of weight placed on the handlebar. The 70/80 felt so much harder to me that I wonder if you might benefit from a lower setting as well.

Overall, I'm smitten. They're heavier than a regular stem but my bike weighs 28lbs so a few grams is not going to make much difference.

    

@RoverAl, I'm not sure how much you weigh

I'm in the ~215 +- category. 
I am still on the stock preset that it arrived with and am pleased overall to this day. 

The next rainy day(re: stuck inside with nothing to do) I think I will try a softer setting.
Glad you like it.What is that blue thing on top?

That's a Quad Lock phone mount. I've been using it for a year now and my phone hasn't fallen off, so no complaints from me.

 I myself know that my hand numbness goes hand in hand with road vibrations transferring from the wheels up through the fork, through the stem, and into the bars. For example I can be riding along at a normal pace and hit a long downhill. During the long downhill as I build up speed, oftentimes my hands go numb during the descent. I figured that out some time ago. Different road surfaces, tire tread patterns, PSI, and speeds affect the vibration "frequencies" and it seems in my case that "higher frequencies" seem to make my hands go numb quicker, sometimes within seconds.

Anyways now that I have explained all that, and being an ex bowhunter, I have long wondered what would happen if you wrapped a silicone device around your stem of some sort to absorb the vibrations and dissipate them before they reached your hands on the bars. Look in the archery market. They have hundreds of gizmos that attach all over the modern bows at various locations such as limb forks, risers, strings, bus cables to name a few. Wouldn't that be simpler than "redesigning" the stem? Just curious.......

cmcalpin wrote: They have hundreds of gizmos that attach all over the modern bows at various locations such as limb forks, risers, strings, bus cables to name a few. Wouldn't that be simpler than "redesigning" the stem? Just curious.......

It certainly would be simpler, but no where near as effective.  Trek and Specialized have both tried things like this with Zertz and Buzz kill, but these turned out to be more gimmicky than functional.

Hi Al - thanks for spending the time to write a thorough review. The more unpaved roads I ride- the more something like this appeals to me. 

I agree that this review is definitely helpful. If I could convince them to make the stem in a 130mm size, I'd definitely try one.

The review also points out that the purpose of the stem is bump absorption rather than vibration damping. They're two related, but distinct issues. I find that they tend to be more difficult to deal with at the front of the bike than the rear, since the fork/stem/bars must be stiff enough to provide firm control and resist braking forces, so compliance is often in short supply. This is particularly true of carbon bikes with disk brakes.

My personal experience is that bump absorption requires some form of suspension, whether it's just fat, low-pressure tires, flex built into the frame, seatpost and/or handlebars, or actual active suspension like the stem or other mechanical system. The point is to absorb the larger, harder hits and at least take the edge off them so they don''t beat up the rider.

Vibration damping can be accomplished by several means. Tires can do a good job of damping vibration, but many people simply run too much pressure in their tires, which prevents them from doing the job. Fortunately, the trend is toward lower pressures. I weigh 170 pounds and run the following pressures:

• Road - 25mm clincher tires on 20mm road rims at 70/80 front/rear
• Gravel/'cross - 40mm tubeless tires on 24mm rims at 32/34 front/rear
• MTB (hardtail 29er) - 2.25" tubeless tires on 24mm rims at 26/28 psi front/rear

These pressures provide a comfortable ride, but I don't have to worry about bottoming out.

Handlebar tape can make a huge difference. My preference for road and gravel is double wrapping, with a layer of cork tape as the base (whatever brand I find on sale) with Cannondale Synapse tape as the outer layer. The Synapse tape is made from EVA, which is more rubbery than cork, providing much better vibration damping and better grip as well. It also turns out to be very durable; the tape on my road bike is at least 4 years old and is still in good shape.

While we're on the topic of bars, there are a couple of consideration for the bars themselves. While carbon bars are highly touted for their vibration damping ability, they're most effective at frequencies that are much higher than what we experience on the road or trail. They also tend to be extremely rigid, which prevents them from absorbing bumps to any useful degree. The end result is front end that is just plain harsh. For these reasons, I prefer aluminum bars, as they typically have a degree of flex that helps with bump absorption. The aforementioned tape system takes care of vibration damping.

Another key item in front-end vibration damping is gloves. Padding here definitely helps.

At the back end, there are several types of seatposts that are designed to aid in bump absorption and vibration damping. They all work to varying degrees. Saddle choice makes a huge difference, too. While I like my road saddles to be narrow with thin padding, for gravel and MTB I use TT/Tri saddles that have a wider, padded nose, a deep relief groove (or cutout) and a bit more generous padding. That takes much of the sting out of a stiff frame on bumps, absorbs vibration well and the Lycra cover on the nose of the saddles I use makes it easier to slide on and off.

Hopefully these ideas will work for some of you, too.

ljsmith wrote:It certainly would be simpler, but no where near as effective.  Trek and Specialized have both tried things like this with Zertz and Buzz kill, but these turned out to be more gimmicky than functional.

Interesting. I never knew that but thanks for informing me.

I finally tried one of these (120 mm) after feeling a bit too beat up on a tough route in Minnesota a couple weeks ago. I was running 28 or 29 up front and 31 or 32 on Schwalbe G Ones that measure 42 mm. That's low enough I can absorb most things, but I start getting the occasional rim strike 27 front and 30 rear is where it starts getting a little bit of a squishy feeling when standing to pedal. I can't fit any wider tires in either of my bikes as that 42 has already scraped a little paint after breaking in. Immediately after that ride, I saw a Shockstop 25% off email in my inbox and ordered.

I have gotten a couple rides in and I can hardly believe what a difference it makes. I went with the recommenced elastomers for my weight. Super easy to set up and install. It really smooths out the harder bumps and potholes without feeling like I'm 'disconnected' from the bike. If I have my hands on the hoods, it seems to move easier since there's more leverage on the stem. If I'm in the drops, it doesn't move as much. I have a ~125 mile event this weekend and that will be the real test. If I feel less beat up and more fresh several hours into an event (and my hands and wrist don't hurt for the day after) then it's definitely a 5 start product.

tl;dr - I thought it might slightly gimmicky and bought it in a moment of weakness. It felt great on bumps and potholes last week. It's not coming off my bike until CX season.......and even then I might try a race or two with it.