rekmeyata

If price is a concern, and you don't want to spend over $200, there is another much cheaper option that has gotten good reviews, and that is the Suntour NCX, it sells for just under $100, it comes in 27.2, 31.6, and 30.9, it is heavier than the Redshift, but it's also lighter on the checkbook! The Suntour has far out performed other seatposts in that price category, some think it's either better, or as good as the more expensive ones, but weight weenies will cringe at the fact it's at least 300 grams heavier than others, except for the Cane Creek Thudbuster then it's about 50 grams heavier than the Thud.

The Thud uses elastomers to control the shock, those elastomers only will last about 5 years before they stiffen up due to age, but they're cheap to replace, plus you don't have the degree of adjustability you get with the Suntour or the Redshift. The Suntour you can adjust the stiffness with a tool, it does use a coiled spring so it won't stiffen up as it ages thus not needing replacing.

If weight is not a concern, I would get the Suntour. I had entertained that seatpost before I got the RedShift one, but the seatpost was going on a touring bike, and I was trying to keep the weight down as much as possible due to all the gear weight I would be carrying, so for me the Redshift was the better choice saving me over a half a pound of added weight to pedal around with.

Indigo82

You can check how I modified Suntour suspension seatpost for two of my folding bikes. I made a post several years ago here: https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-b...l#post20879468

Duragrouch

Good thread. These kind of mods would be easy when I was employed and had access to a full machine shop. I have a choice:
- I can make an all-new seatpost as you have done, which might require reducing the outside diameter as you have done to fit in the frame bushing, which is a bad idea on two fronts: a) Your reduction in size constitutes a stress concentation at the highest point of moment, and b) surface finish must be extremely smooth for similar reason, to reduce "notch sensitivity", or
- I can go to a smaller standard size tubing and use multiple bushings at the frame to step down the size, or
- I can take an existing 33.9 seatpost, take the top hardware off somehow (or if constant wall thickness, cut it off and invert the post), and use multiple bushings at the top, with a slot cut for clamping, to adapt to a more standard size of suspension seatpost.

I have a long 33.9 seatpost that has a huge hole worn in the side about mid-length if I recall, the person I bought the bike from was a trucker and the seatpost rubbed where he had it stashed. I may experiment with that, seeing if I cut it at the hole, is there a standard length suspension post long enough to make up the difference, and do the last option above.

But I don't bike off-road. I should first try to ride any bike with a suspension post, to see if I bob on the seat due to pedaling, and if significant improvement in road ride.

I think I might get more benefits from a suspension stem, but that is currently impossible as I have an early Dahon Speed with a fixed-height steel stem, with the handlebar clamp welded integral with the stem tube. I'd have to measure the diameter to see if a modern stem would clamp to the outside of the tube.

zacster

I've been using a Redshift stem for a few years now and don't give it any thought. The idea that the handlebars shifts angle doesn't really matter, it isn't like it goes up and down 15 degrees. It is a lot more subtle than that. I'm not riding on gravel, mostly roads. I wish I had something like this over all my years of riding, it really makes it easier on the hands. But really, there is no exaggerated motion with them, just shock absorption. It is tunable too, you can change the elastomers to give more or less motion. I keep it on my road bike, but when I was looking to do a tour the plan was to shift it to my commuter/touring bike.

PromptCritical 

I have an eeSilk stem on my road bike (single) and it is great on the San Diego "paved" roads, but three months in, it is still disconcerting to have the bars move while braking. It's not enough to affect the handling, but......

PromptCritical 

We have a Cane Creek Thudbuster on our Tandem and it is great. A word of caution though. The mechanism is ~4" or so tall, and we got quite a surprise when adjusting the seat height. I had to turn the seat mounting fixture upside down to lower the seat height enough for my stoker and she is 5'8" tall.

I have Cane Creek's eeSilk seatpost on my single, and it fits well and is very nice.

Duragrouch

Sounds like you've stepped into my wheelhouse. So, when braking, the forward weight transfer will naturally want to compress a suspension stem, with either a single forward link (swingarm) or double (parallel) links. Now, technically, if either of those links faced *backwards* toward the rider, there would be an optimum angle pointing upward, that would allow vertical travel for suspension, but under forward force, would not compress. This is the same with car front suspension, trailing arms (original VW Beetle) would "pro-dive" under braking, whereas a leading arm suspension (or links that provide virtual geometry for the same effect), can experience "anti-dive" to various degrees, up to 100%, depending on the inclination of the leading arm. (In auto parlance, we are talking about Side View Swing Arm length).

Links pointing back from the steering axis to the rider, would provide weird steering geometry. But it should be possible to have a stem with a platform that projects, say, 4" forward of the steering axis, and from there, project links 4" aft toward the rider (or say, 3", if you like a more forward stem with the handlebars forward of the steering axis), so you get your anti-dive, your steering is correct, and you have suspension for vertical bumps.

I should get paid for advice this good.

Tourist in MSN

When this thread started in January, I had minimal interest in suspension seatpost or stem. But my next tour that I am planning right now will be on narrower tires at higher pressures than I have usually toured on in the past.

After thinking about it more, looking at some reviews including a review from CyclingAbout, last night ordered one of these:
https://www.cyclingabout.com/vibrati...atpost-review/

With the current REI 20 percent off one full price item to members sale, plus an extra 5 percent kickback for using REI branded credit card, price was right.

And last night on a whim, bought a nearly new one of these on Ebay last night at a pretty good discount from new price too:
https://www.cyclingabout.com/vibrati...n-stem-review/

Last summer did a brevet and there was a long stretch of concrete highway with expansion joints about every 25 or 30 feet that were quite jarring on my rando bike with 32 mm tires. I do not know if I will ever put these on that bike, but remembering how uncomfortable that stretch of highway was is still fresh in my memory. That gave me a bit more incentive to consider these suspension devices for my light touring bike.

I often use the drops on my drop bars, the Redshift stem is not expected to perform well at all in the drops, that pushed me to the Kinekt stem instead.

At my weight of roughly 80 to 85kg, or about 185 pounds, those should both work well for me with the extra Redshift spring installed and using the stiffer Kinekt spring.

UPDATE (Mar 30, 2024):

Instead of a new post, chose to edit this post.

Last night put on the seatpost, previously had installed the stem. So far have only ridden 1.5 miles on the bike, all on pavement. Was looking for rough patches to ride on. So far am quite pleased.

The stem is pretty stiff, I can just barely see it move which is probably what I am looking for, I just want something to cushion the big hits. The stem appears to be an earlier version (I bought it used on Ebay), I am not sure but I think the medium spring is installed. The extra springs are not color coded so I can't visually see which spring is or is not installed.

I weigh between 80 and 85 kg, I added the second spring in the seatpost, set it at level 3, it seemed too soft so I increased it to level 4 but have not yet ridden it with that setting, but I think that will be perfect.

The bike has 37mm tires, I usually pump them up pretty hard because these tires have some flat protection, not the ultra flexible tires, thus harder is better to reduce rolling friction.

I need to figure out a new way to carry spare spokes, carried them in the seatpost but the suspension seatpost has suspension hardware there instead. With multiple bikes I like to keep the spokes with the bike instead of in panniers that are switched to different bikes over time.

Yan 

They do nothing on the drops. Any time the road gets bumpy I jump back up to the hoods.

Tourist in MSN

That is the reason I got the Kinekt stem instead of the Redshift, the Kinekt should work as well in drops as on the hoods. The seatpost I got is Redshift.

Xavier65

Yup, I have such a seatpost too. So impressed, I got one for the missus too.

However, as some people have observed, a very annoying 'circus clown squeak' can develop. The problem is that one assumes the noise is coming from the piston, and no amount of lubrication will fix it. I eventually discovered that one of the several hinge pins was the culprit.

The only other time the seatpost has a slight negative aspect is a tad of pogoing when ascending certain gradients (resonant frequency between pedal strokes and suspension I guess), but I can't remember the last time I noticed this (probably got used to it).

Overall, highly recommended!

Dano369

Heavy but super tunable, perfect for ebikes.