[Closed] Redshift Shockstop 80mm stem, now in UK

wow an 80mm stem

Hmmmmm..... suspension stem 🤔

Needless sarcasm there guys, give yourselves a pat on the back... 🙄

Popular product now available in popular size, seems a legit PSA?

seems a legit PSA?

In the early 90’s.

I'd rather buy one from someone who pays tax

I’ve had one a for a month or so on my 650b gravel bike. Worth every penny for the rocky trails around the Peak District.

Funny ...I had one and hated it ! Think I was expecting too much tbh . In an attempt to get the maximum flex I used the softer elastomers and on climbing steep hills the bars would rise and fall as I pulled hard ...horrible feeling . I then tried harder elastomers but the comfort improvement was almost unnoticeable. This was on a rigid MtB btw ...
It has to be said many people see to love them though ..unless it's a case of placebo brought on by the price !

In the early 90’s.

Yawn, are you going to mention Girvan Flexstems next?

This was on a rigid MtB btw

Yeah, they do say you get less travel with a flat bar setup, much less leverage than a drop bar set up. Hadn't heard any complaints about bobbing though.

Currently testing a stem and seat post, thought I'd hate them by been pleasantly surprised

Had one for a while, worth every penny. Probably would have ditched the gravel bike without it.

Good point re the flat bar getting less travel . I did get travel but heaving up a long steep hill with loaded panniers at the back it certainly felt inefficient because of the constant rise and fall .If I'd stayed seated it would probably felt better but out of the saddle was not good.

I've got one an old giant road bike and it really transformed front end comfort and confidence for me.

Horses for courses...work really well on the corrugated gravel roads we have down under and I'd guess that was what it was designed for as to being a throwback that was my initial reaction but like a lot of old ideas that didnt work too well stuff like elastomers and the engineering design process and analysis have changed big time in the last 20-30 years

I'm interested in peoples experience of these.

When pulling on the bars, climbing for example, does the stem lift beyond its through a range e.g. if you have a -6 degree stem could it raise beyond -6 degrees or does it just stop?

It would stop, there is a metal prong in the middle of the stem that holds the elastomers between the rotating body and the 'fixed' element of the stem. If you pulled up the stem would effectively top out on the fixed element.

relevant quotes from road.cc review:

"When on the tops, you can't sense movement pressing down – perhaps due to the lack of weight leverageable through your bent forearms. Handlebar movement is only really noticeable with your arms locked and weight much more forward.

In the drops, with more weight forward, under hard pedalling efforts you can feel the bar give forwards, but it's a small movement and doesn't detract or distract from getting on with the effort."

"My only slightly negative comment is that the first time or two you get out of the saddle and haul on the bars it feels a little like a fork on lockout with some give on the 'system', but you soon get used to it and I don't even think about it at all."

for info and by way of a PSA these are 25% off on Redshift Sports

You seem to pay in dollars and with tax they work out at £102 delivered. Just ordered the 80mm one for my gravel bike.

@13thfloormonk - Thank you. I'd even read that review too!

Now to take the plunge and try one.....

You seem to pay in dollars and with tax they work out at £102 delivered. Just ordered the 80mm one for my gravel bike.

Hmm... tempting, but how does that work? Redshift USA take the 20% tax (assuming this means VAT). Does that mean it gets shipped from their EU warehouse and somehow stamped 'duty paid'? I'm just imagining UK customs applying their own VAT on top...

Wishing I hadn't just ordered that Stolen Goat top instead...

Looks like it's sort of similar to Amazon where you can pay all the fees etc up front? Or maybe not

Been interested in one of these for a while due to good reviews

If I buy from the redshift website will I get hit with import tax?

That's what we're trying to figure out. The Redshift website says it adds taxes to the price (I did the maths, it works out as 20% on top of discount price) but I'm just wary, don't understand how a wee company like that would then square up with HMRC?

In fact, I can't even remember how EU shops do it, e.g. Bike-Discount.de etc.

Do they charge you British VAT and square up with HMRC?

Edit: think I'm just confusing things, if Redshift ship from within the EU then I don't think we would pay VAT or customs duty.

Edit edit: confirmed from the website T&Cs

"International Orders - Free/Economy Shipping (available for most EU countries)
Shipping is free on most EU orders over $100! Free/Economy orders ship via our 3rd-party fulfillment service located in the EU which will use different providers depending on your location. The delivery time can range from 3-14 business days."

"Will I have to pay International Customs Duties & Taxes?
For most EU customers, you will pay VAT at checkout (it will show up as a separate line item, "VAT") and you will not be responsible for any additional import duties or taxes when you receive your package."

They told me yesterday that "If you'd like to order directly from us in the future, we use EU-based fulfillment centers to ship orders to our EU customers, and so there are no additional costs if you purchase an item through our webstore: the price you would see on our webstore is the final price with taxes included. You can also find our products available at amazon.co.uk if you prefer to use Amazon..."

I cancelled my Amazon order and bought direct with their Black Friday discount. We'll see what happens. With the exchange rate it came out as @ £102

Just ordered one as well (from their site with the BF offer). Let's see when it turns up and if there's any additional costs. I'm hoping not...

I ordered one when I posted the offer on here. It added the taxes (vat) in the checkout process and with the exchange rate I paid £106.35 which included delivery fulfilled from their euro warehouse.

My PSA thread got closed down. Think I mentioned this on there.

£44 reduction seemed good enough to crow about.

And yes, I’ve been around bikes long enough to remember a Girvin flexstem.

"Will I have to pay International Customs Duties & Taxes?
For most EU customers, you will pay VAT at checkout (it will show up as a separate line item, “VAT”) and you will not be responsible for any additional import duties or taxes when you receive your package.”..

...best not to wait to see if there is a January sale I guess

Blimey - saw this thread last night and on a whim bought a 30dg 100mm stem from the Redshift site in dollars with the black Friday discount.

Didn't expect anything to turn up for a week or two at least, but blow me down if my friendly Amazon courier hasn't just delivered it.

Gonna fit it over lunch in time for tomorrows ride!

Thanks OP.

Lol, I guess their EU distribution hub is somewhere in the UK then 😀

Maybe that's why they're selling them off, upping sticks to mainland EU before Brexit?

I just got a 'order dispatched' notification, and a message saying "don't be alarmed if it arrives in Amazon packaging as they provide their UK fulfillment Centre..."

Hold. the. phone.

They're doing a 'Pro' version now. 50g lighter with Titanium bits!

https://redshiftsports.com/products/shockstop-pro-suspension-stem

Take my money etc. etc. 😉

Mine arrived today too after ordering yesterday. Bit heavier than I expected but seems well made. Swapped out the elastomers for my weight as per the instructions and fitted it after work.

Quick ride around the block - feels like a subtle shock absorber, almost like running a soft front tyre.

Got a 45 mile mixed surface ride tomorrow so will see how it feels and report back...

Mine arrived this morning delivered by Amazon. No taxes etc. Good deal that.

I finally got around to getting out on my Camino with a 90mm Shockstop stem fitted yesterday.

At 100kg I have initially gone with the 90 // 50 elastomers fitted.

Initial feelings were that I had a lot less pressure in my front tyre but this soon disappeared when I remembered it was the stem moving ......

On a mixture of back roads and a bit of **shock** gravel the stem really did work its magic - it really did smooth out trail chatter and small unavoidable pot holes. The flex id definitely more noticeable on the hoods (where I mainly ride).

I may try a 90 // 60 arrangement of elastomers but I didn't feel like the stem ever bottomed out.

What was a little disconcerting was the extra effort in living the front wheel. More pop (or a better technique, is needed incase the stem is compressed at the time. This did lead to some clouting of the rear wheel.

I've noted this morning that that I have some muscle soreness in my pec major/deltoids that is odd. I have gone up a size length from 80mm >> 90mm so that may be a contributing factor or my chest was making a correction allowance for the movement so I will keep an eye on things on the next ride.

Overall I'm pleased with the experiment so far 🙂

I had one of the original girvin flexstems, the problem with them was they didn’t actually work.
After mine had the original elastomer flung in the bin and a considerably softer one fitted, it worked fine, wasn’t annoying at all.
But, it still weighed a shit ton, and the 2 bolts that allowed it to flex came loose regularly.
I would certainly consider one, if those 3 issues had been addressed.

@martymac I too had and still have a flex stem.

Adjustability is fairly well catered for with the options for increasing/decreasing resistance via the dual elastomer set up. A single bolt acts as the preload for these elastomers and is completely separate to the pivot. Weight wise .... its certainly heavier that the 80mm IBIS stem that I had fitted but IMHO nowhere near the weight penalty of the Givin/Off Road/Proflex offering.

My 80mm was exactly double the weight of my original Oem Bombtrack 80mm stem. Fitted easily, std elastomers and works a treat. Magic carpet ride. I’m really pleased with it. Takes the sting/ chatter out of the uk style gravel roads.

Just ordered one direct via paypal, says 146 dollars all in.

The two I've got in for testing

https://flic.kr/p/2ke3CYJ

One came direct from Philadelphia & the 80mm from amazon.de

Interestingly the preload/elastomer seating is different on the shorter one and uses a supplied tool to push them in

Nothing come loose over a couple of hundred miles use

@rOcKeTdOg What do you think of the seatpost? I'm considering buying it for my xc hardtail.

@rOcKeTdOg What do you think of the seatpost? I’m considering buying it for my xc hardtail

Review should be up this week when I've taken some decent daylight pictures. But a quick spoiler I'd say it'd work really well on a HT

@rOcKeTdOg thanks. Looking forward to the review.

I remember a small American MX company did a shock absorption stem with no articulated parts. The design was lifted/adapted from their MX range. Such a simple, cheapish and sensible solution to damping trail buzz. I'm surprised it hasn't been copied and didn't catch on.

It was on an EWS bike a year or two back.

Sorry, small bump, just fitted mine this weekend and did a relatively quick 70km gravel ride.

Very impressed!

As the instructions suggested they might, the elastomers bedded in and the stem ended up too soft, and the bars definitely felt a bit 'fluttery' over choppy broken stuff, but this was just evidence of how much work they were doing. Combined with my Thudbuster Seatpost I was staying sat down and pedalling hard over some pretty nasty stuff. I'm looking forward to going back with maybe one harder elastomer to just quieten down the bar movement a bit but hopefully still retain most of the benefits.

Just coincidentally, I was wearing some new gloves which I wasn't getting on with so I ditched them and went bare-handed for maybe the first ride in decades. Felt great. Perhaps I could have done that anyway (the bars are double wrapped too) but it was quite refreshing.

Finally, I've never held back on descents on the gravel bike, but have never been one for hopping and jumping, unless absolutely necessary. With the Redshift fitted I guess I had more comfort/less fatigue and was playing with waterbars/dried out puddles etc. and getting air for fun.

So closes the gap nicely between gravel bike and MTB, still faster and lighter than my relatively fast and light 29er hardtail, but feels more capable (and comfortable) on the bumpy stuff. Happy days.