Redshift Sports ShockStop Suspension Stem

When I thought about the kind of bikepacking rig I wanted to ride, suspension was something that wasn’t that important to me. Sure, I realize that having some cushion up front would help take the edge off and that front suspension systems are super reliable these days, but I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to my riding and I wanted to mount stuff to my forks simply, without having to fuck around with different types of mounting systems that just add weight and risk.

Riding fully rigid on the Divide wasn’t that big of a deal to me. The terrain didn’t warrant having inches of front suspension, in my opinion, and I was able to adapt to the hundreds of miles of washboard that I had to navigate. That said, there were times when I wished for a reprieve from the insanity of having the shit beaten out of me for hours at a time.

I recall hammering to Hartsel, Colorado to try to get to the Saloon in time for a good feeding. Racing the clock and the rain meant that I was pushing hard. The washboard leading into Hartsel was relentless however, and trying to find a line through it was futile. The only good that came out of that stretch was finding a king size Mars bar that another rider lost due to the seismic vibrations. Never say no to 540 free road calories! GOLD!

I was privileged to receive a Redshift Sports ShockStop Suspension Stem in the mail the other day, thanks to my buddy Jim from MTXC in Missoula, MT and Dylan at Redshift Sports. As a purist, it’s a little outside of the box for me but I had heard from other Divide riders, who had run this stem, that it’s a game changer and I was pretty stoked to try it out. .

I run a short 60mm stem on my custom RollingDale Cycles bikepacking rig affectionately named TiMBR. Due to the guts involved in adding travel to a stem, the shortest length offered is 80mm. To account for this, I asked them to send me the stem with a 30° rise so it wouldn’t affect my reach as much. In retrospect, I feel like I should have gone with the +-6°. More on this later.

The stem arrived and I checked out the instructions on how to change the elastomers. The package includes various elastomer bumpers, of various durometers (hardnesses) that can be combined to increase or decrease the stiffness of the stem. These live within the stem body itself so the bars need to be removed for access.

After reading a bit about the different durometers and combinations, I decided to just run the stem with the stock bumpers installed and take it from there. I’d recommend this to anyone deciding to try this stem, as you need to feel how the stem reacts to the terrain you’re riding on before you can truly know if it needs to be stiffened or softened. There is an included weight chart with elastomer recommendations, but I find that there are often too many variables for these charts to be useful. Stem adjustments could be done on the trail, but it would mean removing the bar and using the provided wedge removal / installation tool. Here are the the instructions.

The stem works best with a flat or drop bar. Since I run a Jones Bar, which has a ton of sweep, I was curious as to how the stem would work. Because of all the hand positions that are available with the Jones Bar, there are times when my hand position would be close to if not behind the pivot point of the stem.

The closer to the pivot point of the stem your weight is, the stiffer the suspension becomes. Unfortunately, this is counter intuitive to what you might desire when riding certain types of terrain with the Jones Bar. When your hands are back in the sweeps, it’s generally the time when you’re riding faster, more technical terrain and need to cover the brakes and also the time when you might like to have a bit more cushion. This can’t be mitigated as physics is what it is.

I did find that there is still a little bit of relief when riding the sweeps as the direction of impact when the front wheel strikes an object is up and backward, not just straight up. Of course, when you’re choked up on the bars, where I seem to be most of the time when riding distances, your weight is moved forward and further away from the pivot and you can really feel the stem working its magic. It’s amazing what 20mm of travel can feel like. It’s wonderful!

Like I said earlier, I should have chosen the the +-6° rather than the 30° rise model. The flater stem would have pushed my hands further away from the pivot point and would have given me a little more cushion when back in the sweeps. It would have affected my reach, but I likely could have dealt with that with some adjustments to my stack height and saddle position. With a flat bar, you’re going to experience the full impact, for lack of a better word, that this stem will have on insulating the front end from the ground you’re rolling over. If you’re running a drop bar, you might experience the same stiffening as your hands move further back while in the drops, but it won’t be as impactful as the Jones Bar.

Would I recommend this stem? Absolutely! In fact, I think using it in combination with front suspension would be a great way to cover all the bases. The stem would absorb all the little stuff that the suspension forks wouldn’t react to, leaving the forks to handle the big hits.

If you’re riding fully rigid, this stem is just what the doctor ordered to help take the edge off when you’re riding all sorts of terrain. 20mm doesn’t sound like a lot when you compare the travel of most suspension forks, but let me tell you, it feels pretty deluxe and is a great compromise between riding fully rigid and running a heavy suspension fork.

If you’re looking at these stems but you’re still on the fence, pull the trigger and get one. It’s really going to make your ride much more comfortable and could mitigate a lot of the issues us endurance riders have with sore necks, backs and hand numbness. Learn more about the ShockStop Suspension Stem and their other accessories.

I’m super excited to bring you a new offer code!

@redshiftsports wants go give the My Back 40 community 15% off! I’ve been riding their suspension stems and absolutely love them. You will too.

Use the code MB40 to save 15% at https://redshiftsports.com

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