Intentionally flexy seatposts?

[mhespenheide]

Has anyone used one of the:

[1] Niner RDO carbon seatpost
[2] Syntace HiFlex carbon seatpost
[3] Ergon CF3 seatpost?
or
[4] Specialized's Zertz or Cobl-Goblr seatposts?

I'm really curious about the idea, in general.


Thanks!

[ultraman6970]

IMO you have to add the spec zert ones too, but it is a thing of opinion :P

[mhespenheide]

Good point; edited to add those options.

[eddief]

the concept behind the Ergon makes sense, they look cool, and I'd love to try one.

[ultraman6970]

Ergon have super nice products, the issue is that the distribution channel they have just sucks. You barely can find their stuff.

As for the seatpost, it looks nice but wonder how flexible it is because if too flexible the armonics gets wrong specially if you are a heavy weight spinner and the bouncing and pedaling lose sync quickly. That's why after like 3 years testing seatspost ended up in the aero campagnolo ones.

[zerocool5468]

spec zertz is handy if you're riding rough roads. i think you'd find better comfort with a wider tire size and lower pressures.

[Cornfed]

This is the one I plan to try on my next gravel build. Not the prettiest, but I like the ability to customize and adjust the amount of flex.

http://www.cirruscycles.com/

[teleguy57]

I have the Syntace Hi-flex in 30.9 on my Hampsten. I got it more for the cradle and adjustability, which is very impressive -- very secure and lots of fore/aft adjustability, as well as easy to adjust/yet solid infinitely adjustable tilt.

Having said that, I just scored a Moots post here and will likely swap that in for the Syntace. Aesthetics, you know:)

If I didn't have the Moots I'd be very happy keeping the Syntace.

[ultraman6970]

This one looks interesting.

This is the one I plan to try on my next gravel build. Not the prettiest, but I like the ability to customize and adjust the amount of flex.

http://www.cirruscycles.com/

[Mister Donut]

Isn't this the same reasoning behind titanium layback posts?

[Neil]

On my new bike we are using a carbon ISP, the top tube intersection limits the lever length as it were, so we've gone with a fairly sloped top tube in order to have more flex than the recent road bike we built with the same ISP tube (this new bike is a cross bike).

Sadly I can't back-to-back test against the road bike as it was built for a rider who is significantly shorter than I am.

[Charles M]

The Ergon and the Specialized work...

Another that surprised me is Ritchey's vector / Link saddle and post clamp system.

Genuinely good movement from all three.


I have a suspension post that weighs 3 times what any of the above options do and works roughly as well...

[Waldo]

Spesh CG-R definitely smooths the ride for me, though YMMV. That's in addition to my wide and soft tires.

[wallymann]

looks like it might be pretty flexy, but havent ridden it yet!

http://brown-snout.com/cycling/misc/jl-cutaway-seatpin.jpg

[mhespenheide]

@wallyman,
Is that one of the Miche seatposts? I don't think they're designed to flex that much but who knows...

@charles and vlad,
I'm not sure that I'm open-minded enough to sport one of the cobl-goblr seatposts. I could go with one of the straight-style pave's, but my aesthetic sense only goes so far.

@charles,
I've got an early-nineties Ritchey fully-rigid mountain bike, and old "Ultra", that I might yet convert into a dirt-road drop-bar touring bike to explore the regional forest service roads. I managed to pick up an old Thudbuster seatpost on super-clearance that I'll probably put on it if I ever go through with the build.

@neil,
A good point. For my dreaming-on-paper custom gravel-ish bike, I'd want to run a sloping top tube with a long carbon seatpost to help maximize the effect.

@teleguy,
Any words on the effectiveness of the "suspension" of the HiFlex, beyond its adjustability?



I'm in the process of switching from a carbon Cervelo R3 that barely fit 25's on wide rims to a Cannondale CAAD10 that should fit 30's or even 32's. I'm already planning on going with wider tires. I'm wondering about adding one of the close-to-standard seatposts as well.

That said, the Cirrus looks neat from an engineering perspective!

[thirdgenbird]

@wallyman,
Is that one of the Miche seatposts? I don't think they're designed to flex that much but who knows...

It's not a miche. The miche posts have a single bolt. I haven't noticed any flex in my miche post.

[mhespenheide]

It's not a miche. The miche posts have a single bolt. I haven't noticed any flex in my miche post.

Yeah; that was my semi-sarcastic response to what I had assumed was Wallyman's semi-sarcastic post. Perhaps I should have added an emoticon...
:cool:

[thirdgenbird]

I assumed wallyman was being sarcastic. I nearly posted the line "I assume mine will feel solid till the day it cracks." A statement that I figure is half true.

[billynavarro]

Sounds good :)

[Waldo]

Once you're on the bike, no one will see your CG-R. And when I'm off the bike hardly anyone notices.

[teleguy57]

@teleguy,
Any words on the effectiveness of the "suspension" of the HiFlex, beyond its adjustability?

Hard to say as this is the only post I've run on this frame, and it's hard to attribute comfort -- we have a great material (ti), great design from Steve, nice tubulars, and this post. I do know the bike is comfortable.

I think Syntace designed this for mtn bikes originally, and for those who run with a lot of exposed post. I'm not running the old-school fistful-of-seatpost height, but it's not super high either.

I do recall having seen very favorable reviews on the post other places before I purchased it so you might Google them.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D72egi_QaAA/UyH_Q0vi-nI/AAAAAAAAC3M/pu0nfbHutao/w958-h729-no/DSC_0096.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4_ul71KeaYo/UyH-_LQfyEI/AAAAAAAAC28/xdZHHEP2o7g/w957-h594-no/DSC_0091.JPG

[thirdgenbird]

What a hottie

[mhespenheide]

Agreed on that!