Suspension headstems

Alan Walker said:

I am trying to find a suspension headstem for a road bike - i.e.,
narrow enough to fit drop bars, unlike the (otherwise excellent)
Softride unit, which is too wide to get around the bends on drop bars.

My Softride stem (the cheaper steel variety) fits around the
bends on drop bars easily. It appears to be a 25.4 mm clamp,
so you'd want bars that are 25.4mm at the center - but the
section at the bends is 23.8mm (13/16"😉 regardless of clamp
diameter.

Most non-Softride susp stems were not parallelograms, so the bars
tilt while moving down. This is annoying and to be avoided.

Benjamin Weiner said:

Alan Walker said:

I am trying to find a suspension headstem for a road bike - i.e.,
narrow enough to fit drop bars, unlike the (otherwise excellent)
Softride unit, which is too wide to get around the bends on drop
bars.

My Softride stem (the cheaper steel variety) fits around the
bends on drop bars easily. It appears to be a 25.4 mm clamp,
so you'd want bars that are 25.4mm at the center - but the
section at the bends is 23.8mm (13/16"😉 regardless of clamp
diameter.

Most non-Softride susp stems were not parallelograms, so the bars
tilt while moving down. This is annoying and to be avoided.

This is true. The two to look for are Softride and JP. The JP is actually the
better of the two, with excellent hydraulic damping, but quite rare.

Suspension stems work much better than most people realize(d).

Matt O.

"Matt O'Toole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Benjamin Weiner said:

Alan Walker said:

I am trying to find a suspension headstem for a road bike - i.e.,
narrow enough to fit drop bars, unlike the (otherwise excellent)
Softride unit, which is too wide to get around the bends on drop
bars.

My Softride stem (the cheaper steel variety) fits around the
bends on drop bars easily. It appears to be a 25.4 mm clamp,
so you'd want bars that are 25.4mm at the center - but the
section at the bends is 23.8mm (13/16"😉 regardless of clamp
diameter.

Most non-Softride susp stems were not parallelograms, so the bars
tilt while moving down. This is annoying and to be avoided.

Yes. I have the wide aluminium Softride on my mountain bike, and like
it a lot. I also have two other bikes with non-parallelogram
headstems, and just got used to the tilt.

Quoted message said:

This is true. The two to look for are Softride and JP. The JP is actually the
better of the two, with excellent hydraulic damping, but quite rare.

Suspension stems work much better than most people realize(d).

Matt O.

I agree, enthusiastically. I have three bikes fitted with them. I
did PBP with absolutely no neck, shoulder, back or hand problems. But
suspension headstems seem to have gone out of fashion and I want to
equip another bike with one. Softride no longer list them on their
web site and I have never heard of JP.

Any suggestions where I can get the narrow Softride or the JP?

Cheers

AW

I was in REI the other day and some of the hybrid bikes had softride
suspension stems on them.
"Alan Walker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Matt O'Toole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Benjamin Weiner said:

Alan Walker <[email hidden]> wrote:
> I am trying to find a suspension headstem for a road bike - i.e.,
> narrow enough to fit drop bars, unlike the (otherwise excellent)
> Softride unit, which is too wide to get around the bends on drop
> bars.

My Softride stem (the cheaper steel variety) fits around the
bends on drop bars easily. It appears to be a 25.4 mm clamp,
so you'd want bars that are 25.4mm at the center - but the
section at the bends is 23.8mm (13/16"😉 regardless of clamp
diameter.

Most non-Softride susp stems were not parallelograms, so the bars
tilt while moving down. This is annoying and to be avoided.

Yes. I have the wide aluminium Softride on my mountain bike, and like
it a lot. I also have two other bikes with non-parallelogram
headstems, and just got used to the tilt.

Quoted message said:

This is true. The two to look for are Softride and JP. The JP is

actually the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

better of the two, with excellent hydraulic damping, but quite rare.

Suspension stems work much better than most people realize(d).

Matt O.

I agree, enthusiastically. I have three bikes fitted with them. I
did PBP with absolutely no neck, shoulder, back or hand problems. But
suspension headstems seem to have gone out of fashion and I want to
equip another bike with one. Softride no longer list them on their
web site and I have never heard of JP.

Any suggestions where I can get the narrow Softride or the JP?

Cheers

AW

Alan Walker said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> I am trying to find a suspension headstem for a road bike - i.e.,
> narrow enough to fit drop bars, unlike the (otherwise excellent)
> Softride unit, which is too wide to get around the bends on drop
> bars.

Quoted message said:

Yes. I have the wide aluminium Softride on my mountain bike, and like
it a lot. I also have two other bikes with non-parallelogram
headstems, and just got used to the tilt.

AFAIK, Softride stems are out of production - I don't know
how it is in Australia but around here you might be able to
find some by asking around, since a lot of people bought them
in the early days of MTB suspension and then went to sus forks.
I got mine from a shop that was selling off a box of
miscellaneous stuff.

But, I don't understand why you can't get a drop bar through
the Softride clamp. Those I've seen have a clamp which
narrows near the pinch bolt, so you can get it around the bends
in the drop by orienting the narrow part to the inside of the bend.
Mark Boyd has a picture of his Softride Al stem on drop bars:
http://www.cs.unca.edu/~boyd/touring/bike/bike.htm
so it's gotta be doable.