Gravel Suspension PERFECTED?? // Vecnum FreeQENCE Stem
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- Опубліковано 2 лип 2024
- Now available to U.S. customers!
www.thebikesauce.com/product-...
Lighter and cheaper than a suspension fork, more natural feeling than single pivot suspension stems, less proprietary than Specialized Future Shock, on-the-fly spring stiffness adjustment. This might be the best gravel suspension solution I've used.
Vecnum
www.vecnum.com/en/home
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The Cyclingabout youtube channel guy said he's tried em all: redshift, kinekt, cane creek, etc. He likes the Vecnum the most of all of them and did a tour across africa on one. I'm just happy a decent elastomer (read: somewhat damped) version of a 4 link parallelogram design is out there for folks like me who ride swept back alt bars. Because the Redshift stuff, for all its hype, only works with mtb or drop bars. And that is a severe limitation for a lot of us. Redshift simply won't work if your hands are anywhere close to or behind the pivot axis.
Found myself coming back to this video again because I recently bought a commuter that came with the bmc licensed shockstop stem. I’d really like to try one of these stems. I just don’t feel like the shockstop is particularly active and the rotation effect is very annoying, even more so when you have a front light mounted to your bars.
Again, such a well done video. I’ll throw in my two cents having owned several laufs and a diverge. The future shock 2.0 works so damn well. Part of the reason it is so reactive is that it uses roller bearings. But the cartridges are expensive, non rebuildable, heavy, and eventually can develop rotational play. The grit SL was great. It basically disappeared and much like the future shock you really could never feel it bobbing. The main weakness of the lauf in my opinion occurred in high traction cornering situations in which you could feel the wheel start to wobble/not track straight. This basically never occurred on dirt. You had to be going high speed through a corner on pavement. It never caused a problem but was certainly disconcerting. The lauf springs can sometimes make tiny little rice crispy pop/crackles which I found annoying. I have a lauf carbonara on my fatbike which is *WAY* softer than the grit and it absolutely rules for boot packed trail and fatbiking. I honestly cannot imagine having a fatbike without it now.
Again, love your considered, analytical style. Very few, if any, bike presenters on UA-cam are so truly knowledgeable.
I bought the FreeQUENCE stem for my trip to Kenya and the Migration Gravel Race. It saved my arms and hands during four days of 8+ hrs on the harshest roads I've ever encountered. Other riders had deep blisters on their hands after two stages. Meanwhile, I felt pretty fresh each day since I wasn't getting jack hammered. I also use a Cane Creek eSilk seatpost to keep my lower back from locking up after 5+ hours of riding dirt. My front tire has significantly better grip on rough surfaces and my eyes no longer bounce around in their sockets. Before purchasing, my biggest concern was how it felt while standing since I am out of the saddle a lot. Yet, I never notice the stem moving while standing. Now I'll never build up a gravel bike without one.
The Vecnum freeQENCE Suspension Stem sounds like a winner. My bike has the Cirrus Cycles Kinekt Suspension. It appears the Vecnum has a similar execution, with slight improvements to design and materials. I'm happy with my stem and have no complaints.
For those interested in my pursuit of comfort and handling improvements...
I bought a ridged Class 3 e-bike, designed for urban use. The ride was extra harsh. I live in a big city with plenty of poorly maintained roads. After several longer rides, I knew that I had to make some changes. I detailed all of my improvements to illustrate that no single improvement does it all. It would be great if that was the case.
The first improvement was going from a 28mm to a 38mm tire. A suspension seat post was the next step. Followed by replacing my stock stem with the Kinekt Suspension. Finally, I replaced my stock flat handlebars with the Spike 800 Vibrocore bars with a 75mm rise. Everyone of these additions contributed to my bike eventually becoming far more comfortable as well as adding confidence in handling.
I love the looks of the Vectum
Received my Vecnum from the Bike Sauce. Super happy with the purchase and performance of the stem. Thanks!!!
Nice! Enjoy
I've just ordered the evosid suspension stem, and I can't wait to try it out it's very much like the vacuum, so I have high hopes 👍🏼
The Redshift stem is excellent. It is geared more toward a flat bar, especially in the 30° 100mm version, in this way it is properly loaded and a 60° riding position leans right into it. Incidentally, I also use their pro suspension seat post which is equally functional.
Nice review. I ride the Redshift on my Revel Rover, and have been pretty happy with it. I was really thrilled on a very technical route of TahoeTruckee gravel. I am a roadie turned graveller, and it sure is helping with that transition...the Vecnum looks really nice too!!!
Great area for road/gravel!
Dang! You know your stuff! Thanks for sharing. I'm in!
I have the Meroca. It has four different springs that can be changed out with an Allen wrench. Each one has a stiffness. I use number two for the road.
Just got this stem. Haven't tested it on gravel , but it does eat up a lot of bumpiness on the street. It comes set up quite soft and you can tune it from there out of the box
Do you have a link to a US supplier?
looks so cool! i’ve got a lauf siegla so i’m not sure i need to double up on front end compliance.
comfort is king though. kudos to putting out a solid product to save a few wrists.
When I had a bike shop a remainderer, a guy who sells goods he's bought for pennies on the dollar, called me and said he had Softride suspension stems for $10 bucks each. I bought ten and kept them all. It is a really great stem and I wish I had one I could fit one my Ritchey Outback.
OMG. I started mountain biking in 1995. This is like Deja Vu.
I got a basic one from Temu for £30. No upward play , so a click as it tops out now and then, but it’s doing fine for my wrists.
I've had three softride stems. (Still have them in a drawer). All these linkage type stems develop wear and slop over time in the bushings. I also have the diverge stem- blah blah blah. Biggest difference on washboard (for me) was larger tires -48c is where I started really noticing smoothness.
I've had one for a year plus and it is an absolute game changer. I had a redshift before, but they are not quite on the same level.
this stem with some nice wide tires leaves nothing to be desired. worth every euro
I mounted a Redshift stem on my gravel bike a couple of years ago after a two weeks long bikepacking trip where I suffered hand numbness and luckily temporarily nerve damages. I’ve never had such a problem since. I got 40mm tyres so I can’t tell if beefier rubber would give similar results tough.
Like wise I have been coming back to this video. Very well done and it is good timing. Currently rebuilding my Warbird w/ Shockstop stem. Wondering how much different this feels and where to get it and how much it costs with import fees, taxes etc. don’t want to have any surprises when I get the bill. Any feedback will be appreciated
I have the Kinekt stem and I love the action, but I’m envious of the sub-300g weight. The Kinect weighs 500 for a 105 length. It uses a steel spring instead of an elastomer. It sells for $190, so as always, more money = less weight.
You can add an elastomer to the Kinekt inside the spring. It's optional at Kinekt website. I added one to mine and it never bottoms out.
I had a soft ride stem for a year or two back in the 90s. The lack of rebound control, the linkage needing constant adjustment, the weight feel of it in technical sections, and the weight just made it worthless. I say that with a carbon gravel bike that has no suspension and In the past year I've started riding a fully rigid Ritchey Ultra with a carbon fork. So I feel it would be a little bit silly putting a suspension stem on a gravel bike which is similar in its geometry to a 1990s mountain bike. 😊
Great video 👍
You bring up good points like the vertical travel path vs a tilting travel on the RedShift. Coming from an Mtb background I want a straight travel path. My take on cost and weight
Carbon fork + Vecnum
500g+275g= 775g
Rock Shox Rudy fork=1250g
A difference of 475g.
WIN Vecnum
Cost
Vecnum + Enve Adventure fork
$275+$650=$925
Rock Shox Rudy $600
WIN Rudy
The Rudy also has a 435mm axle to crown length
Enve Adventure is 395mm
This will change your effective head angle and overall geometry. Some may not like that. Others might welcome a slacker head angle and increased BB height and shorter reach.
The Rudy is only for 700c wheels and has gobs of clearance.
🤔 🧐 🤨
If you get the chance to try the Eesilk stem, I;d love to hear a comparison!
Always interested in your vids!
Would you consider testing the Lauf fork if not done yet ?
Thanks !
I’d love to try it out. Don’t have a contact at lauf tho
There is also XLC ST-M21 Antishock. Maybe not so popular but is exists
The timing of this content is perfect. I’m building up an adventure gravel bike designed to fit 700x50 or 29x2.2 tires. The frame will have dropper post. Wheels will wider i30mm rims. A 1x11(my current gravel is 2X) A geo that doesn’t get toe-overlap (shorter crank arms and slacker HTA plus longer reach) short 70mm stem. Anyway, I’m deciding between a suspension stem or fork. True it’s going to be on the edge of a XC MTB but really make a a specific tool for long unmaintained chunky gravel roads and not switch backs on single track loops.
My all road/gravel sees a lot of long pavement roads and long gravel roads that that becomes unmanageable at speed due to the lack of tire width and suspension.
I hope that makes sense.
Plus, I really like to ride a lot of different bikes 😂
I decided not to get a suspension fork,stem or anything like that. Just going with wider rims and high volume tires. It works on my custom Seven Sola single speed with big tires.
Which bike did you go with? I just picked up a Fezzari Shafer and toe-overlap was something I considered closely. (Other boxes it checked was threaded BB and 1.5" fork, i.e. Lauf upgradeable). It's no racer by any means, but I wasn't looking for one. (Oh, and loving my sweet Logos Epoche wheels that I learned about on @TheBikeSauce).
@@shreddagorge I will be bringing it out on a future video. I’ll be riding in Marin CA with it.
You should look up the Girvin Flexstem. It was the first ever suspension piece for a MTB
You know, honestly this video just makes me want to see Lauf come out with a carbon leaf spring stem. Like, how cool would that be?
Just to make sure you loose all of your teeth when it eventually cracks like their fork?😂
@@dyadyaBOB Maybe!
I actually haven't seen many reports of Lauf forks breaking though, other than one where it snapped at the crown race which doesn't really count (it's just a regular fork failure at that point, not an issue with their leaf springs).
@dyadyaBOB thats only if u ride it super hard and crash it
I think I still have my Softride suspension stem in my closet... Had it on a 1993 Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo. I though the stem was garbage, LOL. Speaking of Softride, I never had that beam bike, maybe good for gravel riding?
I've got the Redshift stem on one of my bikes, and it's OK. However, the main problem I have with it is when I want to hop over gaps/bumps, the downward movement around the pivot of the stem during the preload is a bit annoying. The FutureShock on my Roubaix is so much better in this regard. I'm almost inclined to try out this new stem, but I'll need to convince myself that the price is reasonable first ...
is this not a rip off KINEKT stem?
@@paulrubens3048 No the kinekt stem is like a a low quality version of this stem .
Since I actually ride on gravel and some long rides have dust, mud, rain, etc. How durable and reliable is this engineered stem? Do you have to tear it down, clean, lube, etc?
Does it feel somewhat damped like a futureshock 2.0? Great, great video. My redshift stem made annoying squeaking sounds in dusty environments. I find the futureshock 2.0 to be a miracle.
It is internally damped, though I’m not sure the mechanism. It doesn’t feel pogo-y
Funny how different the same thing can be for people.
For me, after 2 rides the feel of the Redshift stem movement disappeared (still there, just not an issue, had it for years now).
One of the best cost to benefit/downside purchases I've made.
Definitely. A friend of mine swears by his redshift.
I have Kona ROVE HD which has a 60mm stem, but the closest suspension stem I have found in length is an 80mm. Anybody have any ideas?
Have you tried the Kinekt?
How does it compare with the Kinekt?
Hello.
Good video.
The handlebar you use is carbon or aluminum.
Greetings and thanks
Carbon Ritchey venturemax
Please torture test this stem and see how well it holds up to being covered in mud, sand, and ice. I'd like to know how it compares to the Redshift stem which has been impressively trouble free for me despite being put through some really nasty conditons.
Good thought, we’re in Southern California, so snow and mud don’t typically make their way up to the stem. Where are you riding where you have mud getting into your stem??
I ride mostly in Michigan and Ohio. When it's wet out and you're riding in a group, you're pretty much guaranteed to get everything covered in mud!
Yup, that’s some dedication there. I guess we’re spoiled out here
Do you have to have spacers for these stems to work or if you run a slammed stem without spacers can they work ??
There's a minimum exposed steer tube requirement. The stem comes with a little wooden gauge to see if it'll work with your bike.
you might like the kinekt suspension stem. Very similar. not adjustable on the fly though.
For sure. Looks solid
I have the Redshift stem but still get hand numbness halfway into a ride, wonder if this stem would help.
It won't. What you need more of is a good thorough bike fitting.
Looked at the Vecnum site...It appears that they won't ship to the US or the UK.
They will but it requires a wire transfer. Mine took about two weeks to arrive.
You should test one of those super cheap ones for comparison.
Yea good idea. I think build quality and ride feel becomes a factor at the lower pricepoint.
your drop bar plz 😍😍is it ritchey streem II?
Ritchey carbon venturemax
This does not seem to be available to have it shipped to the US from their online store. I have contacted the company to see what can be done.
Keep us informed!
It is great when you have no suspension aka power lost on a drop position, i will give that a plus to redshift.
Yea I can see that. Lots pf people also descend in the drops though too. Which is kind of when you'd want it to be most active.
What happens when the exposed internals get wet or muddy?
Wash it?
Fashions keep coming around again, the flex stem didn't last long last time... I'm sure they've improved a lot but the core problem with them is people don't like the feel of the bars moving relative to the cranks and saddle and unlike a suspension fork it doesn't absorb any of the vibrations that go through the fork into the frame.
Bingo, I remember riding a bike with the flex stem and the first feeling is that the stem is broken.
@@GG-si7fwI'm using the redshift stem with the heavyweight inserts. Bars double taped. I only really notice movement on hard hits. All gravel has holes here. 45 mm tires on my Salsa helped too.
Looks like it requires quite a bit of steerer tube real estate.
No more than any other stem. I have one and I had spacers leftover
This bike is an affordable easy to use fully loaded bike
just the rider and bars and control levers
What is your handlebar?
Ritchey carbon venturemax
Redshift or Vecnum?
Single pivot or linkage? For me, linkage
bike prize
Make the V out of titanium
$330, thats's insane.
Suspension stems seem gimmicky to me. They only work if you are putting weight on the bars which you shouldn't be doing anyway in most situations, and they do nothing to increase handling performance or traction. A short travel coil fork with minimal dampening is the best option for soaking up thousands of small hits per minute while maximizing tire contact with the ground. It just works better, and they are pretty cheap, especially compared to long travel, air suspension, mtb forks. In fact, that Vecnum stem would be the more expensive option.
Have both the Redshift and Futureshock bike.
Suspension stems are no gimmick. They're transformative and ride the equivalent of a much larger tyre without the extra rolling resistance and aero loss burden.
Cheap coil forks are extremely heavy. Also, no one is completely weightless on the bars, although I understand what you mean - best practice is to stay light on the bars
@@TheBikeSauce That's a good point. I've been on a mtb too long. Wasn't even thinking about the weight. But you can still get a decent short travel air fork for under $300. The Rockshox Paragon Gold 50mm weighs in at under 2kg.
The price is the issue with these things. A suspension fork can be cheaper.
Not anything decent
You lost me at $330.
The Redshift is terrible, hope this works.
Curious why you think so
Just get a diverge.
I'm on a 16 dollar rummage sale Huffy 1990 it's better than the new pos bikes ,had it 4 years
My brother had an 1986 Huffy Echollon road bike, the mild steel frame was very flexible but was the most comfortable bike I ever road. I would characterize the frame as springy. It fit me better than him.
@@GG-si7fw I sometimes ride 24" inch rim on back and 26" on front in-between rims.
Yawn. I'll just stick with my quill stems and 25.4mm handlebars.
Best stick to your flip flop gears, downtube shifters, wool clothing, paper mapping, leather skull caps, toe strap pedals.
@@horriflying Could do. Quill stems are greatly advantageous though, all of those other things are not.
@@horriflyingno gears= weight saved. No rear brake? Even more weight saved.
Win unbound on your ancient bike
Damn you're so cool dude.
Yawn. Another gimmick that people don’t need.
Any discount codes? Super interested but so expensive!
I’ve got a great idea why not some suspension forks,wider tyres, flat handlebars and maybe suspension at the back . Another gimmick that people don’t need
Looks like premium version of Kinekt stem 🫶🫶🫶
Spot on!