MEROCA Suspension Stem for Bikes, Shock-Absorbing Bicycle Handlebar Stem, Bike Stem Mountain Bike Stem Short Handlebar Stem for Road Bikes, MTB, BMW, Gravel Bikes, Ebike

I have noticed that I have aching wrists arms and shoulders after my bike rides. I'm elderly and still ride 20-30 miles with up to 1200 ft elevation gain. This suspension stem seems to solve that problem. Most of my recycling is on asphalt trails with varing degress of cracks, root ridges, and old rail tie bumps. I have a gravel bike with fairly wide tires and 50 psi inflation. My first ride produced no discomfort in arms, wrists, or shoulders, plus noticing lower shoulder blade soreness. The Meroca suspension stem is less than half the price of most brands. The build quality was very good. I had my bike mechanic mount it. There was no problem fitting on my rather standard gravel bike. It does look clunky compared to a standard stem. It's short enough not to require lengthening cables. I used the 2nd lowest spring already installed, unadjusted. It appears to be an excellent place to start. I do not ride with much pressure on my handle bars. Even the largest bumps did not bottom out mechanism. The stem does make a substantial click as it rebounds from larger bumps. A minor annoyance for the benefit. I certainly recommend starting with this device before investing $200+ dollars on the brand name devices. If it brakes in a short time, I'll update this review.

Adding the stem significantly altered my riding experience. It completely absorbed the shocks that are typically felt on the road with a rigid frame. For my initial ride, I used the Red Spring and plan to switch to the Green for my next outing to determine which spring is best suited for my routes. My usual rides are on the streets and paved bike paths of North Texas, and I even tested it on a slightly gravelled trail. It performed wonderfully. Regardless of which one I choose, the Meroca suspension has proven to be effective. It's attached to the Aventon Solera.2 and was incredibly simple to install myself. The cost was $75 on Amazon. However, I'm curious about the level of improvement offered by Kinekt and Redshift given their higher price points. Despite their higher costs, the Meroca provides a level of comfort I enjoy for significantly less.

I will say that my rating is a bit marred by my own expectations. I daily commute on a road bike and I don't put a ton of weight on the bars that much cause I like to ride a little higher than most due to a large gut and not the best back. So maybe if I put more weight on the bars I would notice a greater improvement. But I got this to hopefully take the harshness out of my bumpy old city road ride to and from work. And to its credit, it certainly does make the bumps a lot more bearable. But I guess I was hoping that it would also make the really small ones nearly unnoticeable. Which it does on the blue spring for me. But the blue spring also bottoms out very easily on the harder bumps. Meanwhile, the red spring doesn't bottom out unless I hit a really big bump. But it also has a bit too much resistance that it doesn't do much for the really small bumps. Meanwhile the medium bumps (think uneven sidewalks and asphalt cracks) are like butter. So I wish there was a spring in between them for me that might get the best of all worlds. Even still complaints aside this stem was pretty easy to install and changing the springs out is a breeze when you need to adjust on the fly. It made testing the springs out to figure which one was right for me pretty easy to do. I do wish they had a version made for 25.4mm bars so I wouldn't have needed to use adapter shims. But they arent that expensive and only make the install a slight bit more difficult. So its not too bad. One other note is that I've noticed some tension in the mechanism that I think could be the result of some friction in the pivot joints. I think I'll grease them up and see if that improves the reactivity on the smaller bumps. If it does I'll post an edit. I'd say its a solid buy, especially if you can find it on sale, I would definitely recommend it for anyone tired of achy hands from bumpy roads. But it does have some room for improvement.

Holy cow this thing made difference for my wrists on my gravel bike. Easy to install, good quality, and an awesome addition to my bike. I got the spring model over the newer gas piston one as it seemed less prone to failure on the trail to me (and it was in stock).

I will change this after more miles. I installed this on my Aventon Soltera 7. It seems the red spring is the most workable. I'm not heavy.. 160. There is virtually zero dampening I can feel on the upstroke that produces a light clank...blue and yellow springs...clunk. Easy to install, product quality looks good. It does seem to absorb those jarring thunks you feel in your wrists. I just wish it was quieter. ( I was riding on a bumpy hard pack dirt road) If it quiets down on paved bike trails, I suspect it will, then I would upgrade my review to a 4 star. I have yet to try the green spring...the stiffest of all four, I think it would provide little give for my size. So yeah.... don't be afraid to evaluate one for yourself... definitely a real product.

I actually like this "stem riser" Back in my day it was a gooseneck. Easily adjustable on the fly. Smooth, rough and rocky, snowy,... wet,...really absorbs and cushions well for any terrain.

I had been looking at suspension stem for quite a while and most were way more expensive than I wanted to spend. A friend got this one and said it was solid. So zi figured I'd try one. Very well built. Similar design to to others on the market that cost 4 to 5 times more money. Comes with 4 different springs to adjust the feel. Im a big guy and im using the red spring, which is the second heaviest. Has a nice shock absorption level without bottoming out. Normally on longer rides I experience some hand numbness. With this device on it is almost totally eliminated.

Unable to replace spring as the cap won't turn no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't unscrew it. I even used impact driver. It feels as if the cap has been welded on.

Exactly as described. Works great and perfect for my bike