I’m not one for upgrades.
If I like my bike the way it is, why bother messing with it?
The only move I’ve regularly made has been replacing my stock wheels with even moderately sized sets have yielded noticeable improvements.
When I saw the Redshift booth at 2022 Sea Otter Festival, there was a lot of attention to their products and people hanging out for followup questions.
Still, I’m not an early adopter, but I started to notice a number of people riding with their stems on our monthly rides.
Last year I happened back on the booth hearing all the buzz about the recently released Top Shelf Handlebars and met co-founder Erik.
He was nice enough to send over a number of components and since I was getting good feedback so far, I felt far more comfortable reconfiguring my bike.
I installed the ShockStop Pro Suspension Stem first on my Niner RLT performing far different than my Lauf Seigla True Grit fork.
While the later has more of a smoothing effect, the Redshift stem acted quite differently firming up my ride while subtracting out the vibrations.
My gravel bike felt more like a road bike firmly able to direct without dealing with the bumpiness.
The travel is listed as providing 20mm of suspension which negates a lot of typical gravel activity, but won’t provide as much support on rockier terrain and sometimes gave me a bigger shock hitting larger ruts.
Still though, the stem will save a lot of wear and tear on your arms over time and is a great add-on everyone should consider.
As more of a preference, the Top Shelf Handlebars are distinct with the double cylinders in front raising your position for a more relaxed ride.
I enjoyed not having to deal with straps on the top bar and having clearance over my front tire are little luxuries you’ll notice.
The taper on the hoods are subtle though adding a little more sway coming out of the saddle.
With the drops adding a couple of inches from the flare add stability to your ride, it does make cornering a little more sticky.
For touring and bikepacking, I think the Top Shelf Bars are excellent, but if you’re doing more racing or technical rides they’ll feel limiting over regular bars.
Now having tried these products, I had a better reference for the ShockStop Seatpost.
I began with the original Endurance model that gives a modest 35mm of travel.
You’ll feel a little squish sitting down but it definitely softens the edge on rockier surfaces.
On downhills you’ll be able to hold speed better applying more pressure, but it was a little too much suspension for me along with the feel being a little sticky.
At the same time while pushing its limits one of the set screws came loose.
Following up with Erik, this has not been a common occurrence and my nosing around seems to back that up.
While this is a fixable problem, I decided to exchange for the Pro Race model that was more up my alley.
Even at the reduced 20mm of travel, it more elegantly suited my needs and has been a happy medium.
Not only does it keep my pedaling position more consistent, it also mimics the stem in softly providing firmness.
I’m also glad it’s a part that super simple to switch between bikes.
Overall, that while at different levels I’m very impressed with the improvement the Redshift Stem, Seatpost and Top Shelf Handlebars that are a good value to upgrade your ride.