Spring Seats vs. Suspension Posts - What's the Better Choice?

[ruffruff]

I just put a Kinekt 2.0XL on my bike. It is well designed, fit and finish is excellent, you can cut it down if needed. The up front cost is high on them but I feel it is well spent and it's a buy once cry once situation.
I use it on my pavement/gravel bike and the ride is excellent. The only thing and this is extremely minor, it took a bit to get use to the little click you feel when you stand up from the spring rebounding from your weight. But again, pretty minor. If I had to do it all again I would buy the Kinekt again.

One last point, all these seatpost have a weight range. Kinekt XL goes up to 320lbs.

 

[AHicks]

Al Hicks, The Silent Assassin

OK, another one of my side trips...
One of my favorite time of day/places to ride takes me through an area where I see a LOT of wildlife just before/at dusk. It's a rarely used single track, much of which is sort of a tunnel through the trees with a few open areas. The fact I'm on a bike, a quiet one, lets me breeze right by critters that I would have never even had a chance to see on foot. It's like the fact I'm not on foot totally removes the danger of my presence. It's like they're thinking what the heck is that? Telling deer their invisible cloak isn't working today riding within just a few feet of them is a blast! They're like "what the hell?". Anyway, I attribute a lot of my sightings to the fact my bike is silent. Maybe that's just my imagination.... -Al

 

[ruffruff]

OK, another one of my side trips...
One of my favorite time of day/places to ride takes me through an area where I see a LOT of wildlife just before/at dusk. It's a rarely used single track, much of which is sort of a tunnel through the trees with a few open areas. The fact I'm on a bike, a quiet one, lets me breeze right by critters that I would have never even had a chance to see on foot. It's like the fact I'm not on foot totally removes the danger of my presence. It's like they're thinking what the heck is that? Telling deer their invisible cloak isn't working today riding within just a few feet of them is a blast! They're like "what the hell?". Anyway, I attribute a lot of my sightings to the fact my bike is silent. Maybe that's just my imagination.... -Al

Absolutely, I've ridden right up to deer that are bedded down along a swamp.

 

[m@Robertson]

I ride down into the low 30's - right at freezing, so 0 degrees celsius - and none of my Thuds have been any worse for wear. Riding in freezing weather, I'm not that attentive to my ass' comfort level as I'm a lot more focused on other things not freezing off so can't speak about loss of effectiveness.

My Satori Animaris did develop a squeak over time but being on an ebike, I had enough wind noise in my ears it didn't rise too high into my level of awareness.

I just put a Kinekt 2.0XL on my bike

Thats the same one I have and I'd agree it is both the most expensive post on the market and has the best fit, finish and apparent quality of materials, although the new Thuds are quite a step up from their previously very good level of fit/finish. They've definitely closed the gap.

I spent some time talking to Kinekt about this post as well as their suspension front stem (which I also own and use on the same bike). Just prior to buying, I was just over the weight limit of their standard posts and just into the lowest weight limit for the XL. I asked if this post could be downgraded if I lost weight and the answer was no. Different springs for the different posts so absent a major rebuild it could not be done. So I bought the XL, ended up losing weight and dropping below the minimum weight by a fair bit and ... it still works fine. Chalk it up to personal preference I guess. Its on a bike I pedal exceptionally hard. Speaking of which thats the only downside to the Kinekt posts. If you pedal hard and your rpms gets high, your body pogo's in the saddle.

 

[haneyrm]

I’ve been using both on my bikes for some time now and have decided to go back to using just the suspension seat post. I can’t seem to get a spring loaded seat to stay quiet. I keep getting annoying squeaks and keeping them quiet is just not worth the minimal improvement they provide. I found that by loosening the spring tension on the NXT seat post, it feels almost identical to having both the suspension post and spring loaded seat.

I think this is very seat, post, rider, tire, terrain dependent .

 

[SwissJetPilot]

I ordered a Brooks B73 knock-off saddle from Amazon just to try it out. For 30-Euro I can get a feel for how a spring seat performs and won't feel bad for tossing it if it doesn't work out.

 

[Marcela]

I have the B67 like that missing the front spring. There can be noticeable movement side to side, be interesting to see how that front spring works. Should make the front end happy.

 

[ActionJackson]

I ordered a Brooks knock-off from Amazon just to try it out. For 30-Euro I can get a feel for how a spring seat performs and won't feel bad for tossing it if it doesn't work out.
View attachment 105566

Maybe it’s called a 睾丸夾 - gāowán jiā (testicle clamp) in China.

 

[SwissJetPilot]

My new seat arrived today. It's actually not too bad given my low expectations for a no-name brand Chinese made saddle.
At least it's actually leather and not pressed cardboard as I saw with some others at this price range.
It's clearly no where near a Brooks B73 saddle for quality or craftsmanship. But let's see how this works out once the rain quits -

 

[theemartymac]

I have elastomer spring seats (Serfas) on both my ebikes with Suntour sea posts. The combo works fine for me, as overall bike weight is not a concern. I find the Suntour seat post set on the stiffer end soaks up the big impacts well, and the elastomer spring seats soak up the minor vibrations very well. Since many bikes come with a Suntour or similar as the stock option, that seems like one of the cheapest ways to balance out the package vs upgrading to a significantly more costly suspension seat post.

 

[SwissJetPilot]

@ theemartymac - Do you have any pictures or a link to your Serfas saddle?

 

[theemartymac]

@ theemartymac - Do you have any pictures or a link to your Serfas saddle?

I use a super cruiser on one, and the E-gel cruiser on the other. Both are very big, but the smaller models in the line should be great too.

Serfas CRS-1 Super Cruiser Bicycle Saddle : Amazon.ca: Sports & Outdoors

Serfas CRS-1 Super Cruiser Bicycle Saddle : Amazon.ca: Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.ca

Serfas E-Gel Cruiser Bicycle Saddle : Amazon.ca: Sports & Outdoors

Serfas E-Gel Cruiser Bicycle Saddle : Amazon.ca: Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.ca

 

[SwissJetPilot]

 

[Marcela]

Some neatsfoot oil will help it along nicely.

 

[SwissJetPilot]

@ Marcela - Thanks, I'll look in to it.

As the metal work on this saddle has a bright finish, I'm considering painting over it so it matches my bike which is matte black. The challenge is the springs which would probably cause normal paint to crack under use, therefore a rubberized paint might be the better option.

Does anyone have experience with these paints, or another brand, which might be more suitable for this application?

• Dupli-Color Custom Wrap
• Mibenco Liquid Rubber Spray
• Plasti Dip spray

 

[AHicks]

Regarding painting the bright work, my focus would be on proper prep (clean, no leftover oil from production!), including a light scuff with scotch brite pad or similar, and an attempt at keeping the paint as thin as possible. First coat should be just a misting, with no attempt at full coverage. Second coat, applied when the first doesn't come off on your finger, but not fully dried, should just cover. Rustoleum should be fine....

 

[dodgeman]

I personally think you will have trouble getting paint to stick. When it flex’s I think the paint will want to flake off. Plasti dip would work the best.

 

[Dewey]

I use a Brooks B66 sprung saddle on my converted Breezer Downtown, in part because in addition to commuting I use it to tow a weehoo trailer cycle that attaches to the bike via a seatpost collar which means I can't use a suspension seatpost. I find it comfortable enough, rather the one thing I feel I need to change are the handlebars. I live on a hill and work near the bottom of a river valley so the ride to work is either downhill or flat for 30 minutes by the end of which I'm getting tingling pins and needles in my wrists and hands, I think a more upright posture would help. It's the reverse riding home and I don't need the handlebar lift so I am going to try an adjustable stem like this.

 

[SwissJetPilot]

Well after a brief 10-km run on road, farm road and gravel roads, this saddle did not disappoint. I weigh 93kg and the spring suspension was definitely adequate for my needs without being a trampoline or squirming about under my weight. It was completely silent and after a few stops to readjust the fore-aft position and sort out the height, I'm not unhappy with it at all. The leather is quite hard, but from everything I've read this is not uncommon until its "broken in" a bit. When this wears out or fails, I will seriously consider an upgrade to a real Brooks B73. But for the moment, this is a suitable alternative to a saddle at nearly 5x the price.

 

[Marcela]

I'd leave the seat alone re paint. Try it and see if it bothers you that much. That is chromed and might end up looking worse than you started. That bull hide will never 'break in' unless you sweat on it or put something else like the neatsfoot oil. Course, if it doesn't break in, your ass might.