Kinekt Suspension Stem

It takes a bit of getting used to, but spend time with the Kinekt Suspension Stem and it brings some welcome relief on rough roads and tracks, especially if the distances you like to ride are on the long side. Weight weenies may baulk at the weight, though.

While you can tame the ride comfort of your gravel bike by tweaking the tyre pressures, sometimes that's not enough, which is where the Kinekt comes in.

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Its parallelogram, spring-damped design allows around 20mm of travel, and although it won't take the sting out of larger impacts it does a good job of taming high-frequency vibrations and smaller jolts.

The Kinekt comes with three different springs: soft, medium and firm. The medium is fitted as standard as this is the one Kinekt believes will correspond with the majority of people's weight and riding styles.

I found it a little on the spongy side, and it bottomed out easily which soon became annoying. A lot of this I put down to the fact that I have quite a large drop from my saddle to the handlebar, which puts extra weight on my wrists.

Installing the firmer spring (which was very simple thanks to the included instructions – all you need is a 2.5mm hex key) gave much smoother and progressive damping.

It can feel a little weird at first until you get used to the movement, but it soon becomes normal, and with the firmer spring rate there is minimal 'bob' when riding on smooth tarmac or when you are out of the saddle.

When braking hard on steep, rough descents the suspension effect lets you keep a firmer grip on the levers, which is a big bonus.

Overall, I did notice benefits to wrist and shoulder comfort – not so much on shorter rides of a couple of hours, more when I was out for four or five hours at a time. I think this is when I'd look to fit the Kinekt, for those longer jaunts – with all the frame bags mounted, the extra weight of the stem would be less noticeable too. For short, fast rides I'd just stick with the standard rigid one.

The Kinekt comes in 90mm, 100mm, 105mm and 120mm lengths, with an option of either a 7 degree or 13 degree angle, and has a stack height of 40mm.

It's well made from 6061 aluminium alloy with stainless steel fixings, and looks to be a solid unit that'll take plenty of abuse. Tolerance-wise, I had no issues with fitting various handlebars or when clamping it to the fork steerer.

The Kinekt is priced at £169.99 which is a bit more than the Redshift Sports ShockStop stem at £149.99. The Redshift offers the same 20mm of travel but is lighter and has a much more subtle look to it than the Kinekt.

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On the whole, I do get the suspension stem thing, especially if you are into long-distance gravel riding or bikepacking. The fatigue reduction is noticeable in the wrists, with the only real trade-off being the overall weight it adds to your bike.

Verdict

Effective bump-taming suspension stem as long as you don't mind the added weight