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I have not tried this new ‘Felx Stem’, but I think I can imagine how awful and scary it would be on any chunk at speed. 😮
Website: http://jassbike.wordpress.com/My favorite video of this new product. I was thoroughly entertained.
[url:1s2wjn7l]http://vimeo.com/62409768[/url:1s2wjn7l]And in this video it looks like the handlebars are on backwards. Nice
[url:1s2wjn7l]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91rnkr3Xojc&feature=player_embedded[/url:1s2wjn7l]
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The Engrish on the website is also not very confidence inspiring. I predict this is the next craze, because people are idiots.
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That is about the most ridiculous thing I have seen! Also, that music in the video….wow is about all I can say…
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WHY? 😕 I’m going to go shove a soldering iron down my ear canal after listening to that…
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Yeah, the bars definitely look backward in that video.
It’s almost like someone wanted to feel like they were revving a motorcycle so they invented this for their bike. Based on the name I thought the stem would move up and down instead of allowing the handlebars to rotate.
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"jeff" wrote
Yeah, the bars definitely look backward in that video.
It’s almost like someone wanted to feel like they were revving a motorcycle so they invented this for their bike. Based on the name I thought the stem would move up and down instead of allowing the handlebars to rotate.
That’s old school design theory 😆
Softride Stem:
Girvin Flexstem (click to see full size!):
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I remember those. I couldn’t believe people actually bought them!
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Wow, that is absurd!
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I had a Flex Stem like the yellow one in the add from the old days. BUT it was on my rigid cannondale. I was a bicycle messenger and road 8 hours a day, on the street with MAX inflated Town and Country tires. It gave me just enough shock absorption on the bumps and potholes on a street to eliminate the soreness I got in my wrists. But combining it with any other suspension is absurd and letting it twist like that is odd at the least. You would think it would end up stressing your wrist because you would try to hold it still to keep control!
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I have never used one, but I can imagine it would make the users develop some horrible habits from using it. Mainly "death gripping" when things get bumpy to compensate for all that extra movement. This product also completely discourages repositioning your hands on the handlebars.
Sometimes it is best to occasionally reposition your hands to different places on the handlebars especially for very long rides. This is similar to road biking where you shift to the bottom of the drop downs, or the top of the horizontal bars, or on top of the brake levers. This also repositions where you put the weight on your hands and your rear end for a period of time. On my MTB bike I sometimes choke up on the handlebars to put my hands closer, and pull the brake levers with my middle and sometimes also ring fingers. Sometimes I also grab the bars way out on the ends out of reach of the levers for a while with my wrists turned in as if I had end grips on my bars. When I hit the technical sections I just go back to the normal grip position.
This swivel stem looks like an expensive gimmick. I just don’t like how the wrists will probably get over stressed because of all the extra movement and lack of support when you put your weight on them.
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"ngp" wrote
I had a Flex Stem like the yellow one in the add from the old days. BUT it was on my rigid cannondale. I was a bicycle messenger and road 8 hours a day, on the street with MAX inflated Town and Country tires. It gave me just enough shock absorption on the bumps and potholes on a street to eliminate the soreness I got in my wrists. But combining it with any other suspension is absurd and letting it twist like that is odd at the least. You would think it would end up stressing your wrist because you would try to hold it still to keep control!
This sounds like a great, on road, use for that suspension stem. I just can’t imagine using them as an alternative for off-road suspension though. I would rather have a cheap entry level suspension fork than one!
I don’t see how that twist stem would work out for either type of riding though.
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The original flex stem at least did absorb shock. And kind of worked on a rigid front end. Silly to use with a suspension fork.
On this thing,If the handlebar was on right, the sweep might then go down when you hit bump, but the control loss would be scary.
I Like how he has such bad form and lowered the saddle for the flex stem demo. So he bucked a little less HA Ha!
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Here’s another new suspension stem.
http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/12/05/tra … echnology/
Come on people. Just take a few psi out of your tires. And it’ll never be buttery smooth, it’s a sport, not a ride in a Cadillac.
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"dgaddis" wrote
And it’ll never be buttery smooth, it’s a sport, not a ride in a Cadillac.
Says the guy on the fully rigid … 😃
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"maddslacker" wrote
[quote="dgaddis":gciviv7t]And it’ll never be buttery smooth, it’s a sport, not a ride in a Cadillac.
Says the guy on the fully rigid … 😃[/quote:gciviv7t]
Not always!
People forget that suspension isn’t made for comfort. It’s made to improve your control, to keep the tires on the ground, which lets you go faster on rough terrain. It just happens to be comfortable too.
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My early 90’s Performance mountain bike had a suspension stem. It was the cheaper alternative than getting a bike with suspension forks. All I gotta say is you have to REALLY get used to that "i’m about to go over the handle bars and eat shit" feeling. 😆
I, sure as hell, felt more comfortable and more controlled with a rigid set up.
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