I currently have an Easton EC90 SLX3 carbon handlebar that's one of the more compliant ones, which does a good job of reducing 'buzz' and decent job of taking the edges of larger impacts. Just wondering if any of you have switched from carbon bars to the Shockstop and how they compared?
(I'm also thinking of getting the Shockstop since it'd let me switch back to an alloy handlebar which I could drill a small hole in to use the Di2 bar end junction box.)
I have used both. Actually I currently use a EC70 carbon bar and the shock stop. There is no comparison at all. The shock stop absorbs so much more vibration and gives a small amount of suspension. The best part is its tune-ability, you can get it to feel exactly like you want from stiff to plush. But if you want the most vibration reduction, I would use it with carbon bars. Besides, drilling a hole in an aluminum bar can cause a stress riser which could eventually cause the bar to fail.
Thanks ljsmith, this is very helpful feedback. I was under the impression that once you install the Shockstop there wouldn't be any benefit in having a carbon bar for ride quality, only weight reduction. Have you had a chance to ride the Shockstop with an aluminum bar? Did the EC70 further add a substantial amount of vibration reduction?
Regarding drilling aluminum bars, I was planning on doing it like this video. Drilling close the end of the bar past where the hands sit where would be no stress.
There really is nothing you can do to eliminate vibration. So even with the Shock Stop, you're still going to have significant vibration. I have used it with an alloy bar, and the carbon bar still is better at reducing vibration. Another component that reduces vibration very slightly are Bontrager Buzzkill handlebar plugs, you can still get them on ebay even though they no longer make them. I was really skeptical of them, but I went out for a ride with them in my pocket. Halfway through my ride I installed them, and I could actually notice a very slight improvement which really surprised me. Ultimately the best thing you can do to reduce vibration is to use the largest tires you can fit. If you can reduce vibration at the tire, it keeps the whole bike from vibrating. Once the whole bike is vibrating, trying to reduce that at the handlebar is a much tougher job.
I personally would not drill handlebars, it will cause a stress riser. The first thing that video says is that it could compromise the strength of your handlebars. Its a completely different idea than handlebars that are designed with holes in them, because they can be reinforced in the areas with holes. But putting a hole in a handlebar where it was never designed to have one is a bad idea.
Sorry for harping on about this.. 😉 How big is the improvement of adding carbon bars to the Shock Stop setup vs. how much Shockstop brings itself?
Its not exactly an easy question to answer. Its all "feel" which is hard to quantify. With an accelerometer you could measure these things, but I don't have one. As far as high frequency vibrations, the shock stop probably doesn't mute much more than a carbon handlebar, but again its hard to say for sure. Its big benefit is that it mutes larger hits like when you go over rocks, roots, potholes etc. I'll just say I have no desire to go back to alloy bars and since you already have a carbon bar I wouldn't recommend you do either.
I also run the Easton Carbon bar with a 120mm ShockStop and agree with others that there is no comparison.
It took me a half-dozen rides to dial in the elastomers the way I want them, but now that I've done that, I'm happy with the ShockStop.
The carbon bars certainly do improve vibration transmission to the hands. Probably not in any significant way. They do NOT do any sort of shock absorption though.
The ShockStop may or may not reduce vibration. I installed mine with the Easton bars day one, so it's hard to quantify. It certain does provide some shock absorption capability. The amount can be adjusted. I found I prefer to keep it fairly firm. I run two of the harder elastomers in mine as I didn't care of the feel of the bars moving up and down with the softer polymers. In the end, I believe I ended up with the elastomers that RedShift recommended for my body weight in their FAQ.
As has been mentioned, just having high volume tires at lower pressures is going to do a lot more to improve vibration and shock absorption than any kind of shock system is going to. Of course the lower the pressures you run the more comfortable your ride is going to be. Tubeless tires make a huge difference here. A higher quality tire casing is going to give a more supple ride, perhaps at the cost of some durability. I haven't found a tire that is more supple and comfortable than the Compass Cycles line of tubeless tires. There are some downsides to these. From my experience they don't wear terribly long on pavement, and being file tread, they don't provide any bite when cornering in loose gravel, and can get a little squirmy in slimy mud. For general road riding, or in good gravel conditions, they are by far my favorite tire though (at least from a comfort/ride quality standpoint).
One last note about tire pressures. There are a lot of variables that go into fine tuning tire pressures. It's probably best to err a little bit on the side of 'more is better' in terms of preventing rim hits and thus reducing the risk of a pinch flat or damaging a wheel on a sketchy decent. It's very likely that every route you ride might call for a slightly different pressure. If there is lots of technical single track or washboard, potholes, debris (we get lots of blow downs in spring and fall in my area) you might want to run a little stiffer pressure. If you are riding a lot of tarmac and clean, dry dirt and light gravel roads, you can probably dial the pressure back some and improve comfort.
Body weight is also a factor. If you are a heavier rider, you have to compensate with a little more tire pressure to prevent the aforementioned rim strikes or, depending on your setup, burping or bottoming out. I'm a big heavy guy (6' 6" and 220lbs -230lbs), so I have to run more pressure than someone who weighs 170lbs.
learning to optimize tire pressure for your hardware (wheels, tires, and optionally tubes), your terrain, and your body weight is absolutely the best way to improve the comfort of your ride. Quality handelbars and stems may provide marginal improvements, but the tires (and wheels to a lesser degree) are where the bigger comfort gains come from.
Anecdotal story: In my area, we have a very hilly century charity/club ride every spring. Something like 8000 feet of climbing over 106 miles (a lot up hill for a big guy like me). In the past, I've always ridden my stiffest/lightest road bike, with light wheels and 25mm Conti GP4000s II tires, for the improved efficiency.
Last year, I decided to try it on a heavier bike (a Titanium Volagi Viaje) using HED Belgium Plus 28f/28r wheels, and Compass Barlow Pass (38mm) tubeless tires (at about 38psi). WOW what a difference it made. I cut nearly an hour off of my best time, and at least some of that is attributable to being far more comfortable on the endurance geometry/Titanium frame/wide, supple tires. I still felt fresh at the 75 mile mark and really hammered on the last two climbs. This was very much an eye opening experience for me.
I still have one standard, skinny wheel road bike, but it only gets ridden on short, fast group rides. For anything more than 60 miles or so, or when the terrain is anything but fast, clean asphalt, I'm on either my Volagi with the Compass tires, or my Norco Search XR with 650b Boyd Wheels and 47mm WTB ByWays.
Thanks zircongravel and Jim for the comprehensive feedback. Based on everyone's feedback I'm convinced to order a Shockstop stem.
Jim, I wish there were guidelines for tire pressures against rider weight like there are for tire sizes. Based on my pre-cycling automotive background, the ride frequency for a lighter weight rider at lower pressures should be similar to a heavier rider at a higher pressure. If anything my guess would be that the latter would actually have a lower ride frequency.
I've heard great things about the ride quality with Compass tires, but I'm a bit leary about their extra-light casings in terms of puncture resistance and ability to withstand lower pressures. I mean there must a reason that the large tire manufacturers don't use casings that thin right? (even Panaracer who manufacture them for Compass)
vinuneuro wrote:Thanks zircongravel and Jim for the comprehensive feedback. Based on everyone's feedback I'm convinced to order a Shockstop stem.
Jim, I wish there were guidelines for tire pressures against rider weight like there are for tire sizes. Based on my pre-cycling automotive background, the ride frequency for a lighter weight rider at lower pressures should be similar to a heavier rider at a higher pressure. If anything my guess would be that the latter would actually have a lower ride frequency.
I've heard great things about the ride quality with Compass tires, but I'm a bit leary about their extra-light casings in terms of puncture resistance and ability to withstand lower pressures. I mean there must a reason that the large tire manufacturers don't use casings that thin right? (even Panaracer who manufacture them for Compass)
Unfortunately, there isn't really much correlation between car tires and bike tires. Even off-road tires are confined to fairly narrow band of pressures.
With the bike gravel tires, there are far too many variables, and many of them are subjective, and will vary form tire to tire.
The only way to know is to do lots of experiments, which can be time consuming, and can get expensive.
I do a lot of my tire experimentation in the winter when the rides tend to be shorter, so a poor pressure selection is not going to ruin a long day.
Compass tires extra-light casing are awesome. They ride so well. I've never cut one. That said, I don't ride in flint gravel or anything that chew up sidewalls.
I know a lot of people race on them, and swear by them. If you haven't, you should give them a try. Just be aware of their limitations.
