Why does it seem Vado owners are getting KINEKT 2.1 vs Redshift Seat Post ?

[GuruUno]

Yes. "Balloon Tires" not "Fat Tires", with wide plush seat, and padded grips well above seat height. Works for me.
There are really only two seating positions for me: Really upright or in pain. Probably b/c I am bone on bone from knees to neck ... nothing left of those disks that are suppossed to be between the vertebrae ? spelling?
Anyway, according to the doctors of 30+ years ago, I'm not even suppossed to be walking, much less riding, running, kicking over my head, and standing on one leg in a tree pose. So I don't miss riding a mountain bike or drop bars.

HA! "I'm not even supposed to be walking"...me too!
I was on crutches 25 years ago and since then with Embrel injections, improved diet, I'm renewed. With e-bikes I lost 45 pounds in 3 years, and I do 10-35 miles a day when weather permits, got rid of a lot of the pharmaceuticals, and doing better than most 70 year olds.
I just love it when I hear the negative nellies say, "You're riding an E-Bike? That's cheating"! I wonder who I'm cheating. Death?
I'm healthier, happier and my Kinekt seat post and handlebar stem make it even better.
I've tried 6 different seats, and yes, after 30+ miles the sits bones hurt.
Tried those 'custom' sized seats made to order, zero difference for me. Still searching for the best one.

 

[Art Deco]

Yep. Only things wrong with an upright position are hill climbs and headwinds ... and I have a motor for those ...

 

[BarryS]

HA! "I'm not even supposed to be walking"...me too!
I was on crutches 25 years ago and since then with Embrel injections, improved diet, I'm renewed. With e-bikes I lost 45 pounds in 3 years, and I do 10-35 miles a day when weather permits, got rid of a lot of the pharmaceuticals, and doing better than most 70 year olds.
I just love it when I hear the negative nellies say, "You're riding an E-Bike? That's cheating"! I wonder who I'm cheating. Death?
I'm healthier, happier and my Kinekt seat post and handlebar stem make it even better.
I've tried 6 different seats, and yes, after 30+ miles the sits bones hurt.
Tried those 'custom' sized seats made to order, zero difference for me. Still searching for the best one.

When I got my E-bike it was because I was Riding on 50 plus mile Trips with Guys 1/2 My age. These are guys in their early 30's late 20's > If they aren't working they are riding : I enjoy riding But have many other interests : Like Golf . It may not be as good cardio : But Golf keeps your Stomach and upper body firm > Biking really doesn't : These guys were pestering me to Ride 3 times a week > 50 miles on a regular Bike is not only hard > It wastes My whole day .

I bought an Ebike : SO I can cover the same territory faster : These guys are roadies . So many times when we stopped it was so the old man could rest for a Few. I'm actually riding another 80 miles a week . Because I can get up and go for a 20 mile Ride and be gone less then 90 minutes :

When these young Bucks say I'm cheating as I fly by them > I say yeah but it's a blast

 

[heymatey]

If anybody wants a Thudbuster that will fit either the Como or Vado, 30.9 seatpost, I have 2 that I will sell, like new, one with almost 1k miles, for $75 ea. to conus. These are the long seatpost. Just haven't gotten around to listing them.

Correction, one is 27.2mm, one is 30.9mm seatpost, both long. 420mm.

Sent you a PM here Marcela!

 

[Art Deco]

If anybody wants a Thudbuster that will fit either the Como or Vado, 30.9 seatpost, I have 2 that I will sell, like new, one with almost 1k miles, for $75 ea. to conus. These are the long seatpost. Just haven't gotten around to listing them.

Correction, one is 27.2mm, one is 30.9mm seatpost, both long. 420mm.

Gotta ask what are you sitting on now instead of Thudbusters?

 

[rochrunner]

I currently have a Thudbuster ST on my Vado, but am not too happy with it. It works on the real "thuds" to some degree, but has almost no compliance over the small, stony bumps that are what recently helped do in my back. So when I get back outside next Spring, I want to have a seatpost that works over the smaller stuff.

Both the Kinect 2.1 and Redshift look to be better than the 'buster, but from what I've read the Redshift appears to be better at what I'm looking for. Most reviews (not just the one earlier in the thread) say it's more suitable for gravel-bike type riding than rougher, more MTB-type terrain. Any comments?

 

[GuruUno]

Well, bottom line is I have both products from both manufacturers (stem/seat). Bottom line: Kinect 100% flawless.
Enough said.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Any comments?

What tyres do you use?

 

[GuruUno]

Me? I'm using stock OEM tires right now, pretty happy for the most part. However, I do have to say that I've gone into a few turns at a high rate of speed (15-20 mph) and did not feel 100% confident so I will be considering replacing them in the Spring. Any recommendations as to the best of the best? I do 95% pavement riding, minimal gravel trails at times.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Not you Guru. Roch. The easiest thing to do to reduce rapid road vibrations is to increase the tyre size (maximum is 51-622 slick for Vado with fenders) and ride at somewhat reduced inflation pressure. Good rule is to keep the tyre pressure at halfway between minimum and maximum allowable figures. I have recently replaced 1.75" knobby tyres (which I needed for off-road) with Specialized Electrak 2.0 Armadillo ones. The rapid vibration capability of the latter is excellent, only you cannot ride on anything worse than gravel or hard/dry dirt with Electraks.

Bear in mind, I ride my Vado with Kinekt 2.1 and while bumps are "smoothed" excellently by the seat post, there is no other way to reduce rapid vibrations than by tyres (and the pressure).

P.S. Excellent demonstration of the tyre capabilities can be done by riding a full suspension e-MTB. You can totally lock the suspension out and you'll notice no difference in the ride quality on gravel. What makes the e-MTB feel so plushy are thick tyres, say 2.6", ridden at relatively low inflation pressure. But ride through bumps or potholes, and that's where any form of suspension (fork or damper or suspension seat-post or suspension stem/handlebars) perform their function OK.

 

[Marcela]

Gotta ask what are you sitting on now instead of Thudbusters?

SSL, I'm sitting on a Brooks B67. Working good so far. More comfortable than the B17.

 

[Marcela]

I currently have a Thudbuster ST on my Vado, but am not too happy with it. It works on the real "thuds" to some degree, but has almost no compliance over the small, stony bumps that are what recently helped do in my back. So when I get back outside next Spring, I want to have a seatpost that works over the smaller stuff.

Both the Kinect 2.1 and Redshift look to be better than the 'buster, but from what I've read the Redshift appears to be better at what I'm looking for. Most reviews (not just the one earlier in the thread) say it's more suitable for gravel-bike type riding than rougher, more MTB-type terrain. Any comments?

I found the Thudbuster to work great over the smaller stuff. I have a cobblestone like drive and feel none of the vibration rolling over it at any speed, except the handlebars of course.

At one time I had the opportunity to do a back to back ride on two different brand trikes, one suspended with the elastomer, the other with a leaf spring. The elastomer was hands down the better ride. The leaf spring was not the spring suspension you are referring to of course. Just an fyi.

 

[rochrunner]

Not you Guru. Roch. The easiest thing to do to reduce rapid road vibrations is to increase the tyre size (maximum is 51-622 slick for Vado with fenders) and ride at somewhat reduced inflation pressure. Good rule is to keep the tyre pressure at halfway between minimum and maximum allowable figures. I have recently replaced 1.75" knobby tyres (which I needed for off-road) with Specialized Electrak 2.0 Armadillo ones. The rapid vibration capability of the latter is excellent, only you cannot ride on anything worse than gravel or hard/dry dirt with Electraks.

Bear in mind, I ride my Vado with Kinekt 2.1 and while bumps are "smoothed" excellently by the seat post, there is no other way to reduce rapid vibrations than by tyres (and the pressure).

P.S. Excellent demonstration of the tyre capabilities can be done by riding a full suspension e-MTB. You can totally lock the suspension out and you'll notice no difference in the ride quality on gravel. What makes the e-MTB feel so plushy are thick tyres, say 2.6", ridden at relatively low inflation pressure. But ride through bumps or potholes, and that's where any form of suspension (fork or damper or suspension seat-post or suspension stem/handlebars) perform their function OK.

I have the OEM tires at a reduced pressure, which helps somewhat. But I probably mis-characterized the surface in question and think that nothing short of a fat-tire bike would make it comfortable using tires alone. As far as seatposts go, I watched a Youtube video where the tester rode with a Kinect and Redshift back-to-back on the same train -- which looked a lot like what I'm dealing with -- and came to the conclusion that the Redshift was better for the smaller range of bumps and the Kinect for the larger ones. And with an e-bike I'm less concerned about bounciness, climbing, etc.

Interestingly, I've had no trouble on this same route when riding my regular hybrid. I think that the difference is that when I'm pedaling hard on the hybrid the force on the pedals takes the corresponding amount of weight off of the seat, whereas on the e-bike the assistance has me sitting more solidly planted. This is probably part of why I complained about a rough ride back when I first got my Vado.

 

[rochrunner]

I found the Thudbuster to work great over the smaller stuff. I have a cobblestone like drive and feel none of the vibration rolling over it at any speed, except the handlebars of course.

At one time I had the opportunity to do a back to back ride on two different brand trikes, one suspended with the elastomer, the other with a leaf spring. The elastomer was hands down the better ride. The leaf spring was not the spring suspension you are referring to of course. Just an fyi.

Do you have the short or long travel?

 

[Marcela]

Do you have the short or long travel?

long travel.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Just as a side remark: The best test of any type of rear suspension is to ride over a speed bump at speed. With Kinekt, I can do it almost not noticing the bump. The experience is very similar to riding over the same bump with the full-suspension damper Only off-road riding is different; there, I often utilise 90% of the Fox Float DPS Performance EVOL damper. At similar conditions, Kinekt gets bottomed out

 

[MikeSL1]

Here's an interesting video comparing the two:

It would seem to me that to get an accurate comparison, one should use the same saddle on both seat posts

 

[FlatSix911]

Is the Kinekt a better design ? I have already mentioned I have the Redshift : But I noticed on 2 other forums as with this Forum :
The Vast Majority unless they already had a Redshift like I do > Are getting the Kinekt 10 to 1 over the Redshift .

Curious as to why

Here's a good technical comparison blog post... the Redshift has a better design that maintains full travel with increased pre-load.

How does the ShockStop Seatpost Compare to Other Suspension Seatposts?

During the development of the ShockStop Seatpost, we logged hundreds of miles on basically every type of suspension seatpost on the market. We figured out what we liked and what we didn't. Then we rolled our experience into the design of the ShockStop Seatpost.

redshiftsports.com

The ShockStop and BodyFloat Seatposts are both designed to "float" the saddle within the travel of the suspension, isolating the rider from vibrations as well as larger impacts. Both utilize linkage-based designs with 35mm of stated travel, and they’re similar in weight (ShockStop 497g, Bodyfloat 525g). Despite these similarities, there are some meaningful differences between the two designs:

• Preload Adjustment vs. Suspension Travel - Both the ShockStop and BodyFloat allow the user to adjust the spring preload (the amount of force required to make the saddle start moving), but the way that the adjustment is accomplished is very different. With the BodyFloat, as you increase preload, the linkages compress downward, which means that you lose suspension travel as you increase preload. If you’re toward the upper end of the weight range for a given spring setup, or if you want to ride a more traditional, stiffer-feeling setup, you’ll have dramatically reduced suspension travel available when you encounter a larger impact.
  
  With the ShockStop Seatpost, the preload adjustment is accomplished by compressing the spring upward from the bottom of the post. This means that the travel range of the linkages is unaffected by preload - you always have the full 35mm of travel available regardless of where the preload is set.
• Appearance - Bicycles are sleek, elegant machines, and we believe that adding comfort should not mean sacrificing aesthetics. One of our primary goals with the ShockStop Seatpost was to create a sleek, understated design that matches the visual design of modern bicycles. Admittedly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but we think that internalizing the spring element and minimizing the visual bulk of the mechanism allows the seatpost to maximize both form AND function.

 

[GuruUno]

Here's a good technical comparison blog post... the Redshift has a better design that maintains full travel with increased pre-load.

How does the ShockStop Seatpost Compare to Other Suspension Seatposts?

During the development of the ShockStop Seatpost, we logged hundreds of miles on basically every type of suspension seatpost on the market. We figured out what we liked and what we didn't. Then we rolled our experience into the design of the ShockStop Seatpost.

redshiftsports.com

The ShockStop and BodyFloat Seatposts are both designed to "float" the saddle within the travel of the suspension, isolating the rider from vibrations as well as larger impacts. Both utilize linkage-based designs with 35mm of stated travel, and they’re similar in weight (ShockStop 497g, Bodyfloat 525g). Despite these similarities, there are some meaningful differences between the two designs:

• Preload Adjustment vs. Suspension Travel - Both the ShockStop and BodyFloat allow the user to adjust the spring preload (the amount of force required to make the saddle start moving), but the way that the adjustment is accomplished is very different. With the BodyFloat, as you increase preload, the linkages compress downward, which means that you lose suspension travel as you increase preload. If you’re toward the upper end of the weight range for a given spring setup, or if you want to ride a more traditional, stiffer-feeling setup, you’ll have dramatically reduced suspension travel available when you encounter a larger impact.
  
  With the ShockStop Seatpost, the preload adjustment is accomplished by compressing the spring upward from the bottom of the post. This means that the travel range of the linkages is unaffected by preload - you always have the full 35mm of travel available regardless of where the preload is set.
• Appearance - Bicycles are sleek, elegant machines, and we believe that adding comfort should not mean sacrificing aesthetics. One of our primary goals with the ShockStop Seatpost was to create a sleek, understated design that matches the visual design of modern bicycles. Admittedly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but we think that internalizing the spring element and minimizing the visual bulk of the mechanism allows the seatpost to maximize both form AND function.

Kinekt...by far the best, and also the stem, what a difference!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Redshift may write what they like