Bicycle Mechanics - shocks on a road bike

anyone know of front shocks working on a road bike?
got bad wrists and am looking for some cushion from the road for my canondale t500.

There are suspension forks made in the 700c size, in fact i have one. BUT, after I opened the thing up and felt how heavy the fork was, it never got near my road bike. I bought it for a touring bike (cannondale t800) and it weights like 3.7 pounds! I dont think I will ever install it on any of my road bikes.

I also have some wrist issues, not due to cycling but sometimes painfull while doing so. My wrists were especially hurting last month about a week before a century I was planning of riding.
Several vendors now offer some gel pads that you can put on top of the handlebars. After reading some comparative reviews I bought the Fizik pads at Performance (about $25 w/ tape) and installed them a couple of days before the big ride. No pain at all neither during the century nor since.
You might also try carbon handlebars but that would be more expensive.

I'm not sure a suspension fork will help you too much on a road bike. In order to be effective for the kind of bumps and shock you might encounter on the road, the fork would have to be very, very soft and active. I have never encountered a suspension fork that is effective at all on the road. If such a fork existed, it would be like riding a squishy marshmallow any time you stood up, or got on the pedals. I would look into the fit of your bike-can you raise your bars perhaps? Larger, lower pressure tires will help too, if possible. You might even try a different bar-something like the Nito mustashe bar:

http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/webalog/handlebars_stems_tape/16027.html

best of luck, I hope you find something that works for you.

wouldn't the suspension forks they use on certain hybrids be suitable to the job of absorbing bumps? Trek make a series of hybrids with suspension forks, as do mongoose, and giant.

what about one of those shock-absorbing stems? never tried one, but it would be relatively cheaper to try that first. good gloves and proper fit are probably more effective, I think.

thanks for the input.
my wrist issues are from computer use and the daily commute seems to aggrivate the problems a little. i'll try the gel pads first. a cheaper alternative is always good.

I'm not sure a suspension fork will help you too much on a road bike. In order to be effective for the kind of bumps and shock you might encounter on the road, the fork would have to be very, very soft and active. I have never encountered a suspension fork that is effective at all on the road. If such a fork existed, it would be like riding a squishy marshmallow any time you stood up, or got on the pedals. I would look into the fit of your bike-can you raise your bars perhaps? Larger, lower pressure tires will help too, if possible. You might even try a different bar-something like the Nito mustashe bar:

http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/webalog/handlebars_stems_tape/16027.html

best of luck, I hope you find something that works for you.

This sounds like good advice; rather than trying to absorb the bumps get your weight off your wrists so the bumps impact them (your wrists) less.

thanks for the input.
my wrist issues are from computer use and the daily commute seems to aggrivate the problems a little. i'll try the gel pads first. a cheaper alternative is always good.


Or don't change anything on the bike at all...

I have the same problem, I am the jock-geek hybrid, I will hack into your hard drive from my computer at nigh and steal your porn, then come daytime I'll zoom past you on my supposedly crappy "department store" bike...

What I id to fix my wrist problems was stitch myself up a pair of braciers of 10-ox cowhide...which a pair of old combat boots lovingly donated to the cause.

((Instructions, in a snap:
1. remove the tongue and laces, cut off the boot at the ankle.
2. slit the seam up the back of the calf, and then the seam attaching the grommet line to the panel that would cover your inner calf, and remove it **MAKE SURE YOU KEEP A LEFT AND A RIGHT
3. sew the grommet line to the seam line that WAS the back of your calf. Use heavy carpet or leather sinew thread, make two passes.
Lace up and look badass. Make small trim adjustments as necessary.

If your boots have a zipper on hte inner calf, you will need to reverse the direction of the zipper. This doesn't take alot of talent but must be done carefully in the proper order, if you want, PM meand I'll give you detailed instructions.))


The leather covers the back and side of my hand, as well as half the heel of my palm, and reaches all the way up over my elbow (the inside is nocked out so my flexibility is almost unaffected, but my forearems are literally armor plated. These things are damn near bulletproof). I keep them laced up tightly, but not enough that it cuts off circulation, although hte laces DO leave odd red impressions in my arms for a few minutes after I remove them.


But they have eliminated the wrist fatigue I used to get when riding more than a mile or two.

what about one of those shock-absorbing stems? never tried one, but it would be relatively cheaper to try that first. good gloves and proper fit are probably more effective, I think.
Those shock absorbing stems were the most laughable things on the planet. (Notice how popular they are today) Scary to ride and largely ineffective

Y'know, if you duct-taped a few spokes to your forearms it would work just as well as the "braciers" and you'd have spares if you broke any on your wheels. Of course, you'd have to determine whether butted or straight gauge would be best, but I'm sure the Huffy tech support staff could help you out with that... :rolleyes:

Didn't the Rockshox road suspension do sufficiently well at Paris-Roubaix that the UCI promptly banned them?
That was a few years ago...

I have taken the opposite tack and am in the process of building a recumbent. Still needs a bit of refining, but even at this stage it's remarkably comfortable.

I have wrist problems as well. I try to create as many hand positions as possible. Straight mtb bars are the worst for me. Road drops are the best. I can ride on the hoods, the drops, the tops, and with variations of all of them. And for a change of pace you can raise up and go handless to unkink your back, give your wrists a break, and enjoy the scenery. I used to think shocks would help, but they are heavy and rob energy when you stand. I have enough trouble trying to keep up,.. and maybe taking a pull at the head of the draft line. They won't ever be on my road bike.

Didn't the Rockshox road suspension do sufficiently well at Paris-Roubaix that the UCI promptly banned them?
That was a few years ago...

I have taken the opposite tack and am in the process of building a recumbent. Still needs a bit of refining, but even at this stage it's remarkably comfortable.

I don't think UCI bans them. I think that the weight outweighed actual performance of the shocks, and teams chose not to use them.

anyone know of front shocks working on a road bike?
got bad wrists and am looking for some cushion from the road for my canondale t500.

A unicycle would DEFINITELY take the pressure off your wrists ... provided you don't tank ...

An aerobar would relieve sterss on your wrists. You can position these for aerodynamic efficiency or for comfort, it is up to you.
Alternate bar shapes and positions are worth investigating.
Also look at the positioning of you brake levers. Braking can put a lot of stress on the wrist soft tissue.

A unicycle would DEFINITELY take the pressure off your wrists ... provided you don't tank ...

Best answer in this thread!

:lol:

Could it be that you are carrying too much of your weight on your hands? If your bars are lower than your saddle, you probably are. That was my problem, and it got so bad that I stopped riding for years. Rivendel (rivbike.com) specializes in solutions to that problem. you can find information and the necessary parts on their site. Their Nitto Dirtdrop stem allowed me to start riding daily again without pain or numb thumbs. It's expensive, but worth it to me. I like it so much that I named myself after it.

Cannondale made the XS800 cyclocross bike with a very short travel Headshok.

And they made some road bikes with the Headshok. Silk Warrior:

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/02/images/sw500_02.jpg

You could get one of those or the frames on Ebay. Check the C'dale archives to see which Headshok models they made. The 'shok can be locked out for climbing.

Cannondale made the XS800 cyclocross bike with a very short travel Headshok.

And they made some road bikes with the Headshok. Silk Warrior:

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/02/images/sw500_02.jpg

You could get one of those or the frames on Ebay. Check the C'dale archives to see which Headshok models they made. The 'shok can be locked out for climbing.
Yeah let's lock the guy into proprietary parts on a bike that isn't made anymore

Yeah let's lock the guy into proprietary parts on a bike that isn't made anymore

:lol:

that's what I was thinking.

You could try one of these: http://softride.com/product.asp?p=46

http://softride.com/images/product/large/46-N0001.jpg

I use on on my old mountain bike, and while it really isn't enough for mountain biking, it would probably help a lot on the road.

As for all the people who laugh at them, the 1993 XC world cup was won by a Ritchey rider with a rigid fork and a Softride stem, beating out a field of suspension fork equipped riders. So there :)

As for all the people who laugh at them, the 1993 XC world cup was won by a Ritchey rider with a rigid fork and a Softride stem, beating out a field of suspension fork equipped riders. So there :)
Considering the state of suspension in '93 that's not hard to swallow. Personally I've ridden them and I really DON'T like them at all.

Yeah let's lock the guy into proprietary parts on a bike that isn't made anymore


My thoughts exactly, and I have to agree with you on the suspension stems too.



Specialized Barphat 4.5 is great, helped with my numbness while riding also.