Sprout97 

Rather than hijack another recent thread, I'm starting here anew. For those teams who are using Cirrus Cycles' Body Float seat post, what are the stoker comments? While the Mrs. has been happy with her current configuration of a Brooks saddle atop a Specialized Pave carbon post, I'm looking at possibly getting the carbon Body Float 3.0 at Christmas. My wife is a petite 5'2, and her current seating adjustment should clear the BF required minimums. Thanks in advance for y'all's inputs.

luker

My wife has her allroads bike set up with a body float, and she won't use anything else. I'm cursed with switching it out every time we take the tandem out. I suppose we will have another on the tandem soon...

As an aside, I have one as well, and while not quite the fan that Patti is, I really like it in the rough.

sch

I suspect that at some cadence there will be a resonance with the cadence/seat post springs resulting in the stoker
bouncing up and down. I have seen it with other similar seat posts and with the mono-beam seat mount now
obsolete. Most of the time cadence/spring constant will be non-reenforcing and only the saddle will move
but at the resonance point the stoker begins to bounce up and down.

mtseymour

My stoker says that the Bodyfloat keeps her in a good mood after long, hard ride (>70 miles and 3-4,000 vertical feet of elevation gain). Otherwise, she'll just make excuses to ride her comfy Giant Advanced Pro single.

The Bodyfloat has been discussed in other threads but it's simply the best suspension seatpost. We've tried the Thudbuster LT, Specialized GOBL and they don't come close. The Bodyfloat is highly tune-able, stable at high cadences, and the travel is un-affected by temperature. You may use any 2 springs (white, purple, black, orange) for the preload and damping, and the new tuning knob makes it easy to fine-tune the ride from plush to firm without any tools. The knob will fit older models and cost $16.

jnbrown

My wife is very happy with the Body Float, we used to have a Specialized Pave like yours I don't they help much.
Your stoker will love it.

Paluc52

We replaced an older suspension seatpost on our steel-framed Trek T200 with the Thudbuster. My wife was not much impressed. When we sold the Trek and bought a used Canondale (aluminum frame) that had an alloy post w/o suspension, I thought the cost of a Body Float was justified. It was; she loves it. With the Body Float, I only have to call out really big bumps. If I miss a big one, she isn't punished as she was with the lesser posts. However, she has sometimes been unclipped from her pedals. All in all, extremely satisfied. I highly recommend the YouTube videos Cirrus puts out to help you dial in the best settings for your stoker.

Road Fan

Would this be true for a Thudbuster as well?

mtseymour

We found the reverse to be true: the Thudbuster ST is far more prone to pedal-induced bobbing. The Thudbduster relies on one elastomer to support the rider's weight. Since the Thudbuster has no damping, it's very difficult to get the right spring rate. My stoker found the medium (#5) elastomer to be too bouncy. The firm (#7) elastomer was less bouncy but too harsh over small and big bumps.

For these reasons, elastomers are obsolete on mtn bike forks and rear suspension. Like a good rear shock (eg. Rockshox Monarch, Cane Creek Inline DB), the Bodyfloat allows independent adjustment of the spring rate (1 of 4 springs), damping (1 of 4 springs), and preload. The end result is plush travel with minimum amount of bobbing. With proper setup, the Bodyfloat is stable even at high cadence (80-100 rpm).

Sprout97 

Well, I broke down & ordered a carbon variant this evening. A Christmas sale would've been nice, but no such luck on their website. Still. I'm looking forward to seeing if the Mrs. will like it. Adjustments also look to be a much easier process than the Pave post (a real PITA with her Brook's saddle). OTOH, they told me over the phone that there's a 30-day return policy. That speaks well of their company's integrity.

twocicle

My stoker's desire for a Body Float varies depending on the time of day, direction of wind, and of course if we have just ridden a particularly punishing section of bombed out pavement. No kidding. Today after the first 20 miles of smooth, the answer was NO... I'm fine (with the Pave carbon post and Terry Butterfly carbon seat). Then after 10 miles of banging frost heaves every 20 feet, she whimpered a - Well maybe we should think about it cause I'm bruised.

Other than the carbon post and 2 accessories (adjustment screw and cover bag) in the 3.0 package, what is the diff between that and the Alum post 2.0 other than the carbon costing a lot more and bling? Given the entire top section is the same, I doubt there is much of a weight variation and no need for carbon damping since the float takes care of all that. The Alum post might actually have more facility for attaching a post rack (should not do this with a carbon post).

mtseymour

The two posts are functionally the same, with the carbon posts being slightly lighter. According to Cirrus, "both models have the same basic mechanism. BF 2.0 is our base Aluminum model. The BF 3.0 has either a Carbon Fiber or Titanium shaft and are etched with additional fine-tuning post height and saddle angle indicators as well as a hand control knob."

I suspect that Cirrus offers the BF 3.0 because some captains are weight weenies, and are willing to spend more to get the lightest ride. It's the same reason that some teams (ie. the captain) are willing to buy Dura Ace, carbon wheels, Calfee Dragonfly, etc. The hand control know is only $16 if you buy the 2.0, and is more convenient than using a Allen wrench for on-the-fly tuning.

After test riding the Bodyfloat 3.0 (with Charlie Heggam as captain), I'm fairly certain that you'll be happy with either version. It manages to be stable and plush, which is not easy to do. The Bodyfloat is like a low-travel version of high quality mtn bike rear shocks (eg. Fox Float, Rockshox Monarch, Cane Creek DB Inline).

twocicle

To me it looks more like a Steadicam stabilizer/isolater setup

I should have looked this up on their Website FAQ last night...

Sizes & Weight:
BodyFloat is around 250g+/- more than a standard rigid seatpost. Material, diameter(mm)/length(mm) & weight (w/o saddle, with Purple springs):


CF 27.2/330=453g; CF 27.2/380=468g
Ti 27.2/420=529g
AL 27.2/350=515g; AL 31.6/350=518g; AL 31.6/420=555g

The AL adds a bit more weight than I thought, but nothing a hacksaw can't improve.

My stoker is a couple pounds under 100lb so that means the white springs. But based on their rider position selection, that shows she might need a mix of white upper and purple lower.

jnbrown

When we got ours, Charlie who is the owner happened to be coming to our area on business and came by to install and adjust it himself. One thing he did was ride behind us to see how the post was working, so you might want to get somebody to do that or find somebody to take your place on the tandem so you can ride along. I already know the answer, yes she will like it. Also she may find the Brooks saddle may not be needed any longer and could with something lighter, my wife uses a Selle Italia Diva.

jnbrown

The easy answer is get one and try it for 30 days, I would bet you won't be sending it back.
We have the Aluminum version, paying extra for carbon to save a few grams didn't make sense to me.
There is a ride we do every year that is east of Paso Robles that is incredibly scenic and quiet but has some terrible patches of roads. After last year we had doubts about ever doing it again. But we did do it again this year and the Bodyfloat made a huge difference.

mtseymour

+1

As a weight weenie, I was not keen to get the Bodyfloat. Let's face it, it's a bit clunky. However, it works so well that my stoker is happy on reasonably light-weight Terry Butterfly Century saddle (270g). When using rigid seatposts, some stokers must ride on heavy, thickly-padded saddles.

The other benefit of the Bodyfloat is that we can pedal right through small bumps and ripples. With other suspension posts, we tend to stop pedaling and get off our saddles. So we're willing to add a bit of weight to get more comfort and go slightly faster.

Charlie also helped us with the suspension tuning. It's definitely worthwhile to carefully choose the right springs and preload.

twocicle

After we spent a full week riding around Watsonville and La Selva, I have no doubts those horrible, horrible roads influenced Craig Calfee to create the Manta bike and he also gave some good feedback on the Bodyfloat too.

Sprout97 

Post-install update: I installed the 3.0 on the Speedster. The Mrs. was having some bouncing issues while pedaling, but fine while coasting. (I skipped the recommended setting of "1" and began with the shipping setting of "3" -- believing that was how Cirrus set it up during the discussion & ordering process [NOT the case].) We did a couple of adjustment on the ride (definitely easy to adjust!), but she was still having the disconcerting bouncing issues. I called Cirrus back up and explained the situation. While there's a crossover range between the purple & black springs, they recommended swapping the as-shipped lower purple spring for the included black spring. Rationale? Because she rides in a more upright position which places more pre-load on the main spring. I swapped the lower spring out (a bit tougher reinstalling the retaining crossbolt -- aligning the bolt holes is harder when you can't see through to the other side). After the installation, I did have to lower the seat height as the spring isn't compressing as much when she's sitting statically. Again, we're following Cirrus's idea of a starting setting of "1" on the pre-tension. Now that all the measurements are set, we'll begin to play with the tension setting.

Thus far, Dar is reporting that she's not feeling the bumps nearly as much, so that's a plus. Side note: she does/did like her Pave post, but added that the Body Float is a keeper. Just gotta find that sweet spot on the tension pre-load. Either before or after today's ride, she wants to try a "3" setting for gross tuning and adjust for the follow up if required.

jnbrown

There should be zero bouncing while riding normally on a smooth road. I would reduce the tension until it starts to bounce and then increase it a bit to where it it no longer bounces to find the sweet spot. Good luck

sch

So, any captains using a bodyfloat?