Bikeradar's soft-riding road seatposts test

[AJS914]

I have the Ritchey Flexlogic seatpost and it made a tiny difference compared to the previous seatpost. I'd say it made half the difference I felt from switching to 25mm tires from 23mm tires (GP 4000).

I guess what I'm saying is that neither wider tires or a seatpost designed for comfort made enough difference that it could dial out the discomfort from an uncomfortable frame.

Now, switching frames made a huge difference. My C59 feels so much more comfortable than my two previous frames (Parlee Z4 & Calfee Dragonfly) and magically, it feels stiffer than either. For me the Calfee was intolerable even with wider tires. The Z4 was fine and I would have probably stuck with it if it had been a size ML and my roving eye didn't start looking at Colnagos.

[dlcrep]

The Ergon/Canyon seatpost was amazing on my CAAD10. The thoughts of going carbon were put on hold. It was a unusual feeling not bouncing off the saddle while pedaling over uneven surfaces. I was concerned there may be lost of power or the possibility of my fit being thrown off but I didn't notice either.

There were some downsides owning this seatpost. I might have received one with a slight defect as I noticed my seatpost clamp needed to be tightened slightly more than usual. It never slipped until one day the clamp bolt finally snapped after making an adjustment off the bike. Since replacing the clamp, the leaf springs would slip and throw the saddle angle out of spec. I used their carbon paste and 0.5mm carbon shim and it made no difference. This post also requires about 6" of the leaf springs to be exposed. The photo above is at the minimum recommended height.

BTW, If anyone has success with theirs, I have their 7x9 adapter for oversized rails. If anyone is in need, drop me a PM.

[wheelsONfire]

Building a new bike, i was about to buy Ergon but i changed mind. I am not sure i like when you need to change the flip head due to rails diameter.
I also find it questionable what happens if you get dirt between the blades?
There are several things i would worry about using this seatpost for other things than clean dry tarmac.

I went for Syntace P6 due to this. It can handle all sorts of rails and has a huge acceptance for saddle movement, back and/ or forth.
Only gripe i have is with the 27,2mm and internal battery. The 27,2 versions needs a accu-set for this.
Basically this requires that you drill a hole in the lower part of the seatpost to fit a hanger device (accu-set).
This is due to the fact the P6 is oval inside so there is not enough space to fit a battery inside the seatpost tube.
(this is only with the 27,2mm version)

Talking comfort and just changing tires is a bit beyond me, it's simply not a big change on it's own.
Neither is just changing seatpost.
Having had two completely different bikes proved that if i build the bike with concept of comfort in mind, i could go for frame, wheels, tires, saddle and seatpost.
Then we can talk about a true difference in ride feel.
When i mention comfort, some guys mix this up with a different fit, but that is not what i mean.

Just having a third bike built up (road, gravel and trail) and the concept is again taken further on this one.
For those that doubt bikes could really feel different, i just hope you one day may actually have a chance to test ride and you will not doubt this anymore.

[Vermu]

The Ergon/Canyon seatpost was amazing on my CAAD10. The thoughts of going carbon were put on hold. It was a unusual feeling not bouncing off the saddle while pedaling over uneven surfaces. I was concerned there may be lost of power or the possibility of my fit being thrown off but I didn't notice either.

There were some downsides owning this seatpost. I might have received one with a slight defect as I noticed my seatpost clamp needed to be tightened slightly more than usual. It never slipped until one day the clamp bolt finally snapped after making an adjustment off the bike. Since replacing the clamp, the leaf springs would slip and throw the saddle angle out of spec. I used their carbon paste and 0.5mm carbon shim and it made no difference. This post also requires about 6" of the leaf springs to be exposed. The photo above is at the minimum recommended height.

BTW, If anyone has success with theirs, I have their 7x9 adapter for oversized rails. If anyone is in need, drop me a PM.

This seatpost is unbelievable. Had 1 in my old road bike, swapped it to cc and in the process aluminium seatpost was changed to this.
10/10 says my bum-o-meter. Mate told that it flexes surprisingly much while riding.
I use my cc in winter and the difference on uneven ice compared to old aluminium is astonishing.

Though hard to say if flex adds some power loss, hard to say, in 6cm snow the speed isn't exactly overwhelming. As I had in roadbike and didn't notice anything on that part.

But in terms of making the bike comfy, well don't know what kind of roads most are using, but in some parts I wholeheartedly welcome every bit of comfort I can get.

[MisterMuncher]

Zertz always seemed to me to be nothing more than a plug for the engineered gaps in the CF that actually did the shock absorbing, with added Marketanium.

[kgt]

I still wonder in what kind of test did Spec tested the 18mm of deflection...

[nathanong87]

butt dyno. everything with bikes is about the butt-dyno.

[Marin]

They did it in the butt tunnel.

[BeeSeeBee]

I still wonder in what kind of test did Spec tested the 18mm of deflection...

I think they mentioned testing at a 1000N force, which is in terms of that would feel like on the road. If I did my math right, for my 65kg self, to exert 1000N of downward force on the seatpost, I'd have to hit it at ~55km/h(?) which I don't feel like I do, but again, I have no idea.

[Trkorb]

Totally agree with you there Calnago, the aesthetics of the trek system depend on you not having a huge amount of the actual frame showing below the seat mast itself.

Because the seat mast is wider, it can look very strange if there is a big section a lot thinner below it, I think your Emonda is perfect in that regard, just the right amount showing below.

I ride a 60cm trek with an 84cm saddle height and have had a couple of seat mast Treks, but I just cannot get over how bad they look so it has put me off getting another one.

[Calnago]

Yeah... I have a friend with an older Madone, smallish size, and short seat mast and I never liked it looks wise as the collar sat right in the middle between the top tube and the saddle. After learning "why" Trek does it the way they do, so they can have free reign in "tuning" the seat tube below the top tube with varying layups etc., it made a lot more sense to me and was more palatable to my senses, but I still prefer the look of a seat collar close to the seat tube/top tube cluster.
Conversely, I don't generally like the looks of super thin seatposts (older std 27.2, or thinner) stuck in frames with large diameter tubing everywhere else.

[aerodynamiq]

Wonder what this says about the "ZERZT" rubber plugs added to some Speci frames.

Most likely a gimmick. Be interesting to see some data on it.

I've compared a 2013 S-Works Tarmac to a 2013 S-Works Roubaix and the difference was astronomical when it came to comfort. If the zerts works or not, I can't tell, but something really does.

[TheKaiser]

I haven't seen any mention of the actual look of the BikeRadar charts. Can anyone who knows anything about that sort of thing chime in?

My assumption is that the very neat dotted lines are theoretical extrapolations of a deflection range based on actual readings that were taken over a much smaller range. The actual readings are reflected by the slightly messy solid lines that occupy the middle portion of the dotted lines.

But if that was the case, why did they only test actual deflection on the Specialized post over a 2lb range, but they tested others over a greater than 10lb range? And why did the they test each post under a dramatically different load (in the min insertion chart they seem to have loaded the Ergon from 160-172lbs, whereas the Specialized was loaded from 196-197lbs)?

It just doesn't make any sense for an supposedly objective lab test. There were over a half dozen comments relating to these topics posted on the Bikeradar page within a few hours of the article being published but now upon checking I suspiciously notice that the article has 0 comments. Maybe they are putting all of their efforts into censoring comments, and don't have time to double check their data. James Huang recently announced he was leaving Bikeradar, so I suppose he might have phoned this one in on his last day and no one else took ownership of it, to make sure it was up to snuff.

I'd also like to know more about the vibration test, like what was the frequency and amplitude of the vibration, etc...? That would help to determine its real world relevance.

EDIT: I just re-read the Velonews test (had originally seen it in 2012), also done at Microbac labs. It has a much more thorough account of the methods, which is nice, including describing the bumpy roller used for vibration tests. However, it seems to use a different methodology than the Bikeradar test for deflection, describing a full bike and a rider sitting aboard, rather than the jig and mechanical application of force shown by Bikeradar. I actually prefer the look of the Bikeradar deflection setup from a precision perspective.

[mpulsiv]

Wonder what this says about the "ZERZT" rubber plugs added to some Speci frames.

Most likely a gimmick. Be interesting to see some data on it.

I've compared a 2013 S-Works Tarmac to a 2013 S-Works Roubaix and the difference was astronomical when it came to comfort. If the zerts works or not, I can't tell, but something really does.

Comfort that you felt directly from seatpost or overall frame comfort? Both bikes had same wheels and tires?
Are you one of those riders who are too sensitive to any minor changes?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[superdx]

@dlcrep
Is the height really at the minimum level? I have the Canyon VCLS 2.0 and definitely at that height it's below the minimum marker. If you have a ruler handy, what is the height you've got it at?

I had to ditch the VCLS on my SS EVO / CAAD 10 because it was below the minimum level, plus without regular (carbon) paste re-application, the seatpost creaks like crazy.

Loved the seat post while I had it installed, the ride was so comfortable.