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I have hit it on very tight switchbacks, but otherwise all good. It's also a bonus when putting the bike on vertical bike racks on shuttle trailers

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It’s never restricted my movement in tight switchbacks.
Really, the only time I even realize it’s there is when I’m moving the thing around my garage and can’t spin the bars tight enough to make the bike do a U-turn.

I can personally attest to this design. I crashed hard OTB at a bike park this past summer, after landing on my front wheel. Aside from my broken collar bone, there was ZERO collateral damage. Not a scratch on the frame from my fork crown.

Now I could have just been lucky, but I have to assume the wheel turned during that crash. And I was moving very fast. Maybe knock block saved my frame...


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Knock block: The magical feature where people who don't use it think it will ruin their ride, but people who do use it don't even know it's there. Go figure.
 
Might be a daft question but can you just replace the knock block stem with a standard one if you don't like it?
You can get an adapter that goes in place of a spacer that allows the knock block to continue to work but allows you to run whatever stem you like.

After about a year on my bike the only time I ever notice it's there is moving the bike around in the house or loading it in the car if I decide to not use the rack. Never have hit it on a ride.

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Without a knockblock of some sort, the top of the fork can hit Trek's straight shot downtube. It doesn't take much to bend or otherwise damage the damping controls on the top of the right leg.
 
Not a problem in tight switchbacks. If the turn was sharp enough to make contact with the knockblock, the rider would be lifting and whipping the rear end around anyway, on any bike.
 
I haven’t experienced any issues with the Knock Block while riding yet. The only time I ever hit it is when I’m moving the bike around in my garage. Other than that it’s kind of nice when transporting my bike hanging over the tailgate pad on my truck.


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I've bought a 40 and a 50 mm stem right off the bontrager website. Only took a couple days to get to the trek shop , shipping was free.
Where I have a problem with it , is maneuvering it in the house and getting it to sit proper on my tailgate , although it does work , it could sit a little better without knock block.
Never had it hit on a ride , I'd probably fall before that happened.
 
I don't notice it while riding. I don't find it very necessary, but the only actual downside is hauling and storing your bike. I typically will remove the front wheel and turn the handlebars all the way so I can lean it up against the wall and take up a minimum space.
Knock block limits this and at most you can only be about a foot away from the wall because your handlebars will hold it away.
 
Never had an issue with it, literally don’t notice it while riding . However that doesn’t mean it was necessary in the first place . It’s there to save the frame in a crash and there are other ways to achieve that .
One draw back is you can’t use an angle set or reach adjuster headset . I’d quite like to do that as I like playing with the geometry just to see how it feels .
 
Big nay

I have this horrible knock block on my Trek Remedy 8. I would love to remove it, is there really no way to just get rid of it? :madman: I'd rather wrap bar tape around the top of the down tube to protect it than keep this thing.

Anyone tried to do an x-up on a jump with this abomination? Major hampering. Have also hit it plenty of times climbing on tight switchbacks. On straight climbs & on the descents, don't notice it of course (except the x-up case).

Big Trek fan, but I would not buy another bike that has this gadget onboard.
 
I don't notice it while riding. I don't find it very necessary, but the only actual downside is hauling and storing your bike. I typically will remove the front wheel and turn the handlebars all the way so I can lean it up against the wall and take up a minimum space.
Knock block limits this and at most you can only be about a foot away from the wall because your handlebars will hold it away.
Why don't you just undo the stem bolts and spin the bar round?
 
File down the frame chip lip and use a regular headset and stem. Or buy the carbon frame chip from Hopp Carbon that doesn’t have the knock block lip. Got the idea from post 267 in the 2020 Trek Supercaliber Official thread.
 
Having just ordered a new Trek, I'm slightly concerned about Knock Block. Maybe this is just because I personally detest proprietary crap on bicycles. But if it really (I mean really) doesn't interfere with turning tight enough on uphill switchbacks and it really does prevent frame/fork contact, then maybe I'll be okay with it.

Anyway after watching Trek's vid about Knock Block (
) it sure looks like it'd be easily defeated. Looks to me like the "stop chip" in the frame near the head tube could simply be removed. If that's harder to do than it appears, then perhaps the tabs on the stem spacers that engage the stem could be ground off. I would prefer to run whatever brand & model stem I want.

But then again maybe I'll find Knock Block to be totally innocuous. Guess I'll find out next year when my bike arrives. Yeah, I said next year. Thanks, COVID.
=sParty
 
I’m running the adapter thing so I can run a Thomson stem. I haven’t had an issue with KB interfering, but have considered it wouldn’t take much to modify the system to either delete KB, or increase the wheel travel (make the tab narrower). I’m just leaving it alone.
 
I thought I would hate as I do all proprietary crap. The reality is, I only notice when I’m moving it around the shop as others have said.
 
I have this horrible knock block on my Trek Remedy 8. I would love to remove it, is there really no way to just get rid of it? :madman: I'd rather wrap bar tape around the top of the down tube to protect it than keep this thing.

Anyone tried to do an x-up on a jump with this abomination? Major hampering. Have also hit it plenty of times climbing on tight switchbacks. On straight climbs & on the descents, don't notice it of course (except the x-up case).

Big Trek fan, but I would not buy another bike that has this gadget onboard.
sell the remedy and buy a session. you can do sick x-ups on that
 
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