teachndad

Hi,

I recently bought the REI ADV 1.1 tourer and have been working on getting some mileage in on it. Daily rides vary from 12 to 20 miles on suburban roads. I would say about half the roads in my area are in fair to good condition. It's really hard to find a smooth shoulder anywhere. Even the added recent slurry coat over the existing road bed brings in a lot of vibration through the forks to my hands. The handlebars are covered in padded handlebar tape. I have lowered my air pressure from the first day at 70 psi to 45 psi as of right now. The ride still feels harsh.The tires are new 38mm Marathons. It could be that for years I have been riding full suspension mountain bikes on both road and dirt and I just got hugely spoiled.

Many of the roads in my area also have what I will describe as expansion cracks in the asphalt. So, when you are riding about every 15 to 20 feet, there's an expansion crack, so it's a hit on the front tire. These cracks are typically @ an inch tall. Speed bumps on streets feel can be jaring. I am over 60 and the body isn't as forgiving as it used to be. I do ride with my weight balanced and unweight over bumps as much as possible using both my hips, elbows and shoulders. I do not have excessive weight body weight over my handlebars or at least I don't think so.

So, I did some research and discovered Redshift stems and seat posts. They have great reviews on youtube. People really love them. Is anyone riding/touring with them or really like them during the training phase? They are currently on sale before Black Friday for 25% off bringing it down to $139 USD.

An aside, I also looked at the Redshift seatpost. But, my seatpost is 25.4 and Redshift doesn't make the seatposts that narrow.

Cheers,

Rod