Suspension seat posts



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Naaman Landers

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Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?
 
> Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?

Yes.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR
 
I have a fat-tubed Klein road bike that's stiffer than hell, so I added a USE post to it. The setup was maddening because the USE seat clamp is the worst in the industry -- legendarily awful. All in all, I don't think the post provides much benefit.
 
RE/
>Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?

My 'real' bike is an FS, but I've got a ThudBuster on my hardtail second bike.

For me it's the diff between riding in comfort and not being able to ride the thing. You still have
to keep your weight on the pedals to unweight the saddle over bumps, but it smooths out the
roughness and insulates you from the occasinal 'gotcha' bump. Also tried a coil-sprung saddle and a
springy-rail saddle(Brooks B-72). They worked too, but the ThudBuster is head and shoulders above
them in comfort. Can't comment on durability yet.
-----------------------
PeteCresswell
 
"Naaman Landers Jr" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Good? Bad? Care to comment?

> > > Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?
> >
> > Yes.

No.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR
 
"Naaman Landers Jr" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?

Yes. As of this year, I'm planning to put suspension seatposts on all of my bikes.

I just bought a RockShox suspension post for my new Weyless/XTR hardtail. It's very comfortable, and
has nice damping characteristics. I'm 198 lbs, and the stock RockShox post works fine (though there
is noticeable sag). I bought the RockShox post from PricePoint.com for $44.95. Incredible deal on
one of the best shock posts out there.

My Van Dessel SuperFly disc hybrid/touring bike has a nice unbranded suspension seatpost. It's
not quite as buttery as the RockShox; but it works. It has an adjuster to take out slop, which
is a bonus.

I also have a USE that works great on our tandem. My wife/stoker was complaining about my failure to
call out bumps. Now she stays seated over everything. The USE shock post soaks it right up.

I'm very happy with suspension seatposts, and would say that the RockShox post is the best value
that I've seen.

HTH,

Barry
 
dennisg <[email protected]> wrote:

> I have a fat-tubed Klein road bike that's stiffer than hell, so I added a USE post to it. The
> setup was maddening because the USE seat clamp is the worst in the industry -- legendarily awful.

Is that the one with the 2 small allen bolts holding the 2 small ally parts together? If so, once it
is on, I never have a problem with it,though it is a pain to get it set right.

>All in all, I don't think the post provides much benefit.

I think for on-road use it would be pretty useless, but I've got a Use SX on my cyclo-cross bike,
and it makes a hell of a difference - I can stay seated on some bumps where before I had to stand up
to go over them. Alan.

--
Change the 'minus' to 'plus' to reply by e-mail. http://www.dvatc.co.uk - Off-road Cycling in the
North Midlands.
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?
>
I used a RockShox post for ~ 1 year. It did take the rough edges off bumps, but I eventually got rid
of it because I would rather suffer the bumps than put up with a varying saddle to pedal distance.

Rick
 
dennisg <[email protected]> wrote:

> I have a fat-tubed Klein road bike that's stiffer than hell, so I added a USE post to it. <snip>
> All in all, I don't think the post provides much benefit.

So you are saying that even a suspension seatpost can't take the sting out of your *incredibly
harsh-riding* big-tubed aluminum frame? I wonder why that is?

Would anyone in the class like to venture a guess? ;^)

Chalo Colina
 
Thudbuster from Crane creek seems to be the best, I used one a few months on the HT after my FS
broke, thuds tuneable to ones weight and you can preload it, good post if you can score it under 90$
since its immune to siction and the direction of travel doesn't really affect distance to pedal like
the seat post shocks. It will not handle the big hits or studders well cause no rebound adjustments
but does well on XC trails and dirt roads. Have fun!

Tauras http://www.kcbx.net/~tsulaiti/surfreport/

"Naaman Landers Jr" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?
>
>

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Originally posted by A Lee
dennisg <[email protected]> wrote:

> I have a fat-tubed Klein road bike that's stiffer than hell, so I added a USE post to it. The
> setup was maddening because the USE seat clamp is the worst in the industry -- legendarily awful.

Is that the one with the 2 small allen bolts holding the 2 small ally parts together? If so, once it
is on, I never have a problem with it,though it is a pain to get it set right.

-----------

Yes, it is. It was a royal pain to set up, and it's not particularly gentle on the seat rails. But once it's on, I guess you don't need to fiddle with it much.

-----------

>All in all, I don't think the post provides much benefit.

I think for on-road use it would be pretty useless, but I've got a Use SX on my cyclo-cross bike,
and it makes a hell of a difference - I can stay seated on some bumps where before I had to stand up
to go over them. Alan.

-----------

Right again. I was hoping to see some benefit on my road bike, thinking it might absorb some of the smaller, higher frequency stuff. Mostly, what it did was add weight.

--
Change the 'minus' to 'plus' to reply by e-mail. http://www.dvatc.co.uk - Off-road Cycling in the
North Midlands.
 
[email protected] (Tauras) wrote:

"Thudbuster from Crane creek seems to be the best, I used one a few months on the HT after my FS
broke, thuds tuneable to ones weight and you can preload it, good post if you can score it under 90$
since its immune to stiction and the direction of travel doesn't really affect distance to pedal
like the seat post shocks. It will not handle the big hits or studders well cause no rebound
adjustments but does well on XC trails and dirt roads. Have fun!

Tauras "

Is Thudbuster one of the parallelegram<sp?> designs? I've wondered about how those affect the
rider's effective position in relationship to pedals, handlebars, etc. as they're compressed.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner
 
RE/
>Is Thudbuster one of the parallelegram<sp?> designs? I've wondered about how those affect the
>rider's effective position in relationship to pedals, handlebars, etc. as they're compressed.

My first couple of rides were disconcerting. Since it moves aft under load, my involuntary reaction
was that the frame had broken.

Now I don't notice anything at all.

One thing though: having a spring saddle or seatpost doesn't change the rules. You still need to
transfer weight to the pedals over bumps...so maybe I've just had my riding technique slightly
albeit involuntarily improved by this thing.
-----------------------
PeteCresswell
 
----- Original Message ----- From: "(Pete Cresswell)" <[email protected]>
> My first couple of rides were disconcerting. Since it moves aft under
load, my
> involuntary reaction was that the frame had broken.

Its more of a floating out back feeling than any other post so indeed it feels strange at first, but
its close to a FS feel on the backside so I didn't notice it as being hard to adjust to coming off a
FS. I did spend 7 weeks in between frames on a hard fork/thudbuster and had a great time but at not
quite the same speed. I would not jump it (but might mount it on the kids BMX for their butts sake)
but its a much more complient design to take out the road chatter and small XC trail rocks. For me
suspension for trails has always been a case to seek higher tire pressure to ride faster with less
wasted energy. That is, the gain suspension gives you, is the efficiency to pedal without having to
take every pebble up the ...

> Now I don't notice anything at all.
>
> One thing though: having a spring saddle or seat post doesn't change the
rules.
> You still need to transfer weight to the pedals over bumps...so maybe I've
just
> had my riding technique slightly albeit involuntarily improved by this
thing.

Alas that's a shortcoming to any seat suspension. Nothing quite like riding a hard front triangle
and having the springs/oil do the hard work fore and aft while the decaying knees get a break. I
would not trade my FS for any suspension seatpost and the fork du jour.

BTW a great cover can be made for the thudbuster with an old wetsuit sleave, just past the wrist
section, cut to fit and it keeps the crud out of the thud ;)

Tauras http://www.kcbx.net/~tsulaiti/surfreport/

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1
Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----
 
Sounds like someone works for the company they recomend!

Notice the floating rear triangle on cheap £50 full suspension bikes. Why de we not see them at the
upper end-except klien tee hee- because changing the distance between seat and bottom bracket is
muscle deadening. Instead we are willing to put up with @$%^ chain tension to suspend our body,
because even this is better than the fixed chain line body bouncing urt's. Stiff bikes are very
good-unfortunately they take skill and time to learn those skills. Choose smooth lines that dont jar
your back, float through the rough stuff. and ENJOY BEING ABLE TO CLIMB!

"B. Sanders" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:K8zqa.631861$L1.179706@sccrnsc02...
> "Naaman Landers Jr" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?
>
> Yes. As of this year, I'm planning to put suspension seatposts on all of
my
> bikes.
>
> I just bought a RockShox suspension post for my new Weyless/XTR hardtail. It's very comfortable,
> and has nice damping characteristics. I'm 198 lbs, and the stock RockShox post works fine (though
> there is noticeable sag).
I
> bought the RockShox post from PricePoint.com for $44.95. Incredible deal
on
> one of the best shock posts out there.
>
> My Van Dessel SuperFly disc hybrid/touring bike has a nice unbranded suspension seatpost. It's
> not quite as buttery as the RockShox; but it works. It has an adjuster to take out slop, which is
> a bonus.
>
> I also have a USE that works great on our tandem. My wife/stoker was complaining about my failure
> to call out bumps. Now she stays seated over everything. The USE shock post soaks it right up.
>
> I'm very happy with suspension seatposts, and would say that the RockShox post is the best value
> that I've seen.
>
> HTH,
>
> Barry
 
Naaman Landers Jr wrote:
> Has anyone had experience with suspension seat posts?

Suspension seatposts are an over-complicated, Rube-Goldbergesque solution to a problem that was
solved over a century ago.

Up until the 10 speed fad of the early '70s, the overwhelming majority of bicycles had saddles with
springs built into the framework. This is a much simpler and more reliable solution.

Suspension seatposts are subject to wear and developing a lot of slop, and also often require
lubrication of their moving parts.

I particularly recommend the Brooks Champion Flyer for those who want a bit of suspension in back.

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/saddles/brooks-flyer.html

Sheldon "Everything Old Is New Again" Brown
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