# Remembering the old days..Girvin flex stem



## zr8tdk (Mar 17, 2006)

So i was cleaning out my parents house this weekend because they are moving and my mom walks up and throws a bag in my lap. She said she thinks its bike parts. I open the old bag and find my first "suspension" piece..a Girvin Flexstem!!! I had this on my Haro Escape from 1992 or 1993. My how far we have come. I remember trading up to my first suspension fork. I think it was some RS fork or something. :thumbsup: Does anyone else ever ride with one of these? LOL...fun times.


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## RageHardIntoTheBendies (May 1, 2006)

I had a cheap knock-off flex stem on my old Cannondale, I remember downhilling with it and snapping it clean in 2. I also rode some of the Proflex frames back in the day, elastomer suspension was kinda fun, as you could add about 6" to your bunnyhop just from the rebound 8^)


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## bidaci (Nov 7, 2005)

How does the flexstems wrok in isolating the wrist/hand from jarring? The reason I ask is I currently have built a rigid MTB and although I thoroughly enjoy riding rigid I would like to be able to isolate my wrists a bit. Softride still makes the suspension stem but I am hesitant to spend ~$100 for a whim.


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## Crayfish McCorduroy (Apr 28, 2006)

after a bad wrist break (13 yrs old) i got a girvin flex stem for my rigid bike. it helped a lot with the jarring impacts.


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## fatchanceti (Jan 12, 2005)

I had a Flexstem, used it for a few years, it was ok. The Allsop Softride that I use on my commuter bike now is much better. Still no substitute for a good suspension fork, but really nice on my commuter, especially the high frequency stuff.

FCTi


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## meloh1 (Jan 13, 2004)

Yeah, I've still got my Softride in the parts bin. Much better than the Girvin. Parallelogram design.


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## Jim311 (Feb 7, 2006)

I remember those. They were revolutionary.. LOL.


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## TamJunkie (May 3, 2006)

*Hang on to that old stuff...*

The retro movement is gaining momentum. Someday you''ll be able to get some serious dough$$$$ for that stem.


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## AndrewTO (Mar 30, 2005)

zr8tdk said:


> So i was cleaning out my parents house this weekend because they are moving and my mom walks up and throws a bag in my lap. She said she thinks its bike parts. I open the old bag and find my first "suspension" piece..a Girvin Flexstem!!! I had this on my Haro Escape from 1992 or 1993. My how far we have come. I remember trading up to my first suspension fork. I think it was some RS fork or something. :thumbsup: Does anyone else ever ride with one of these? LOL...fun times.


What do you mean OLD, mister?!?!?!??! :madmax:

I'll have you know those days paved the way for what we have now. (shaking fist)

Yeah, okay, i'm screwin' with ya'. I had a long hiatus and "came back" last year. Looks like the "experts" were wrong about disc brake's. 

Funny though - i'd still KILL for red Cook's cranks. Mmmmm, The Billet Years ((tm) - thanks pinguwin!).


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2006)

i didn't ride a flex stem, but my first suspension fork was a marzocchi xc400 which is probably not much better than the girvin.


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## grawbass (Aug 23, 2004)

A Girvin Flexstem was my first piece of suspension also. I had the titanium version. One piece ti bar welded to the horizontal part of the stem. The vertical part was aluminum.

I used it for a few months in 1993 till I pulled up on the bar too hard and stripped the threads out of the aluminum part. Its been sitting in a box ever since.

By the way, they do work ok for smaller bumps. Riding with your hands on the end of the barends gives you about an extra inch of suspension. :eekster:


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## Eric Hoefer (Jan 19, 2004)

I was just down in the basement and came across my old '95 GT outpost it was the bike that got me into mountainbiking. I think I may have to ressurect it as a SS one of these days.


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## myata (Jun 10, 2005)

*Please stop the melancholy*

In contrast to suspension seat posts, these super flexy, unsafe and ugly stems have been one of the worst attempts toward decent suspension on mountain bikes.
How can one imagine, that uncoupling the single most important piece of control from the rest of your bike could be a good idea  . The torsional forces on the handlebar are huge, especially when going uphill. And the handling of bike with these stems was terrible. I tried it once, and it was like riding with a super slack front hub. The bike is hopping nervously and you feel like being a bystander. No control over the front wheel.
Even worst, back in these days good working forks, as the legendary Mag21 were available.

This said, they could make a cool candleholder...

Cheers
Tom


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## zr8tdk (Mar 17, 2006)

AndrewTO said:


> What do you mean OLD, mister?!?!?!??! :madmax:
> 
> I'll have you know those days paved the way for what we have now. (shaking fist)
> 
> ...


I did the same thing. I rode hardcore when i was a teenager. My life revolved around mt bikes. Got out of it in 1997 and just started again this season. I still drool over the billet years. A nice set of cnc kooka cranks, Ringle' moby post and the anodized ringle' hubs!!!

I remember the bike i wanted more then anything. A ritchey p-20!!

I also found the very first camelbak that ever came out. I remember buying it at the bike shop the second it came out of the box for the first time! I sit here now comparing it to my 2006 camelbak M.U.L.E and laugh.


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## Wheelspeed (Jan 12, 2006)

Speaking of old parts,

I sadly had to discard my seatpost-pump recently. It was a seatpost with a screw-on schrader valve fitting near the seat, and a handle that unfolded at the other end of the seatpost. So, you could remove your entire seat+seatpost and pump up your tire. It was o.e. on my '90 Cannondale. Pretty amusing nowadays.


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

myata said:


> In contrast to suspension seat posts, these super flexy, unsafe and ugly stems have been one of the worst attempts toward decent suspension on mountain bikes.
> How can one imagine, that uncoupling the single most important piece of control from the rest of your bike could be a good idea  . The torsional forces on the handlebar are huge, especially when going uphill. And the handling of bike with these stems was terrible. I tried it once, and it was like riding with a super slack front hub. The bike is hopping nervously and you feel like being a bystander. No control over the front wheel.
> Even worst, back in these days good working forks, as the legendary Mag21 were available.
> 
> ...


Ruthie Mathis won world championships on one. Frishi and Derjnise (sp?) also rode Softride stems.

Softrides being quite a sep up from a Girvin...

I'd never ride one, but you can't say it was the worst attempt at suspension ever. At one point in time there were 'suspension' hubs with elastomers built into the hubs themselves as well as handlebars designed to flex several inches.

But yeah...flex stems suck in general.


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## hulvhole (May 4, 2007)

Here is a pcitrue of a Girvin Flex stem, well at a distance at least. It is attached to a Haro Escape circa 1992. I could never part with this bike for one reason or another, probabkly because I pumped gas for an entire summer to buy it back then. It has followed me for years and finally found a nice home hanging from the basement ceiling. It is still in great shape for it's age.


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## No MSG (Nov 19, 2005)

myata said:


> In contrast to suspension seat posts, these super flexy, unsafe and ugly stems have been one of the worst attempts toward decent suspension on mountain bikes.
> How can one imagine, that uncoupling the single most important piece of control from the rest of your bike could be a good idea  . The torsional forces on the handlebar are huge, especially when going uphill. And the handling of bike with these stems was terrible. I tried it once, and it was like riding with a super slack front hub. The bike is hopping nervously and you feel like being a bystander. No control over the front wheel.
> Even worst, back in these days good working forks, as the legendary Mag21 were available.
> 
> ...


Dude, you just have to know how to tune it!

Just kidding. But, at the time I found it to be an improvement over my non-suspended front end. It took the sting out of the hits and gave me better control.


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

I was about to get mad at my wife for rearranging the boxes of old bike literature until I realized whe had uncovered the long-lost box labeled "Product Files A-H." Been looking for it for six months, and it was about ten feet from my scanner, which should give you an idea of how much crap I have collected in the last 30 years.

Looking through it I found the Girvin literature. Here it is.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

I still have some NOS flexstems, as well as an NOS Softride beam kit. At some stage I might build a "suspend the rider, not them bike" bike again. The last time I used a softride beam it was on a Rocky Mountain TeamComp frame.


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## scant (Jan 5, 2004)

Wheelspeed said:


> Speaking of old parts,
> 
> I sadly had to discard my seatpost-pump recently. It was a seatpost with a screw-on schrader valve fitting near the seat, and a handle that unfolded at the other end of the seatpost. So, you could remove your entire seat+seatpost and pump up your tire. It was o.e. on my '90 Cannondale. Pretty amusing nowadays.


odyssy aer-something or other. my friend andrew had one. was supposed to be lighter than an XT seatpost & mt-zefal pump.

I rode a flex-stem for a few years & really liked it aside from the weight (no flex issue for me, I must have been 8st at the time, hahaha


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## SteveInNH (May 30, 2006)

*I remember*

I remember buying one of those from Nashbar (I think) in around 1992. It was in the closeout section of their mailer and was very cheap. I put it on an old Trek that my sister-in-law is still riding. The thing still looks brand new. 
My Dad's old Cannondale SE1000 had one too.


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

*lousy pic of a lousy pic, no scanner*



Rumpfy said:


> Ruthie Mathis won world championships on one. )


im still not gonna put one on it


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## Repack Rider (Oct 22, 2005)

scant said:


> odyssy aer-something or other. my friend andrew had one. was supposed to be lighter than an XT seatpost & mt-zefal pump.


Odyssey Aerator.


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## wazzer987 (Aug 18, 2008)

I bought one of these 15-16yrs ago for my rock hopper, I remember I could use different compound rubbers from my skate board collection.
I also remember around that time really wanting a Pace mountain bike which had square tubing and hydraulic rim brakes, imagine, hydraulic brakes on an mtb!


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## KDXdog (Mar 15, 2007)

This Moto bar has been out for a couple of years now...I don't know, at moto speeds, I don't think I'd trust it, reminds me too much of my Old Flexstem!

I had a bad shoulder, chronic dislocations until surgery. Flexstem actually helped, untill I bought a Mag21. Now that I think about it, I actually had the original one, then "upgraded' to the aluminum model!!!!

I did try the sotfride stem, but it moved "downwards" about 10 times more then the Flexstem. Just felt like I was diving forward too much.


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## darmtb (Jul 23, 2008)

I have a Titanium one piece bar/stem version on one of my old mountains bike, that I used on road, I also have a new Al one in a box somewhere.

I have an old late 80's raleigh frame to build up sometime, so it'll end up on that and save my wrists


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## ejrejr (Aug 15, 2006)

*Cooks cranks*

I have a 95' Marin Team that still has the purple Cook's cranks. The original round ones. I turned it into a single-speed, and still beat around on it. Unfortunately the Rock Ring doesn't line up with the cranks. 

Yeah, okay, i'm screwin' with ya'. I had a long hiatus and "came back" last year. Looks like the "experts" were wrong about disc brake's. 

Funny though - i'd still KILL for red Cook's cranks. Mmmmm, The Billet Years ((tm) - thanks pinguwin!).[/QUOTE]


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## mik_git (Feb 4, 2004)

you sure you posted in the right thread there... you just bumped a 5 year old thread to post nothing to do with what the thread was about... cook cranks are nothing like flex stems... well I don';t think anyway...


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## milehi (Nov 2, 1997)

Someone dumped a Otis Guy beam bike with a Softride stem at my friend's shop last week. The frame is too big for me so I only did a parking lot cruise. I may have to grab it for the OG straight blade fork.


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