Tandem Cycling - Stoker suspension seat post

We have a suspension seat post on our tandem and find it very helpful for me. My husband will have to get a different elastomer for it, the one we have on it now will almost "launch" me when we hit certain bumps in the road. Anyone else use them and if you do what kind do you like?

+1 Cane Creek Thudbuster ST. Malkin had me put the stiffest elastomer (black) in it to minimize the bounce/launch.

Cheers!

Cane Creek Thudbuster ST for stoker - agree with brewer45 - find the right elastomer for you.

I weight 110 pounds and we have the "black" elastomer but it just seems to be to stiff for me, any recommendations of what else to try?

Blue would be one step softer. Grey would be two steps. PM me with your address. I'd be happy to send you my unused elastomers for the cost of shipping.

Cheers!

Although as I re-read the original post, it seems that the launch effect is what you're trying to avoid, so a softer elastomer would only make the problem worse.
Which brings me to questions:
1) Is captain calling the bumps appropriately? This really depends on the stoker. Some captains call everything, while others know the magnitude of bump that needs to be called and ignore the little stuff. I call all the big stuff I see in time and warn about patches of rough road.
2) Are you clipped in and comfortable on your pedals?
3) Is your seat position dialed in for your riding style?
4) Are you riding "heels down?" The added spring of riding toes down proved to be bad for stoker Malkin. She's riding more heels down now and reports much less feeling of being launched.

There are just so many variables that the elastomer may not be the real issue.

Cheers!

...LOL and one more thing.

You and your captain should just come to Utah for a ride with us and zonatandem...

Cheers!

Stoker Kay's butt's been fine without any type of suspension for 33+ years of tandeming. Pilot does call out the bumps and on occasion that he misses one (ouch!) he voices 'bump back'.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

1) Is captain calling the bumps appropriately? This really depends on the stoker. Some captains call everything, while others know the magnitude of bump that needs to be called and ignore the little stuff.

If I had called out all the "big stuff" for the Eastern Sierra Double, I'd still have laryngitis.
http://web.mac.com/tomalperin/escapade/Journal/Entries/2008/6/9_Eastern_Sierra_Double_Century.html

I have a Thudbuster black elastomer. It's fine, esp. when the captain is a tad slow to call out the bumps. i had a suspension seat post on our first tandem and it was awkward. The Thudbuster is much more comfortable.

We generally ride some bumpy roads on a regular basis with our 90's C'dale on 28c tires at 120 psi. My stoker has a seat that fits her well that she has used for years with no suspension, although it has an Easton EC90 post now. A few years back I tried to get her to use a suspension post because I thought she would be more comfortable, even though she was not complaining....I should have butted out (pun unintended) because she hated it .... she likes what she had and as long as I called out the big ones, live is good.
As always with tandems..each to his/her own.

Bill J.

+1 Cane Creek Thudbuster ST. Malkin had me put the stiffest elastomer (black) in it to minimize the bounce/launch.

Cheers!

+1 Except we use the long throw model. We use it in the stiff catastrophic mode. The LT model has a much finer adjustment. I try to call out the bumps but I usually misjudge or don't see them in time to adjust the pedals so the butt can be up. We actually stopped riding because of the bumps, then we found the Thudbuster. All is fine again. The Thudbuster is a must for us.

We're both pretty new to tandems, but Anne and I are both long time Thudbuster users and automatically installed them on our MT2000.

Anne's got the LT in the stoker position. Yes, it'll launch the seated rider, especially if you manage to compress a heavier-than-you-need elastomer. It's *very* effective -- the Thudbuster plus a good saddle was the key element in completely turning around Anne's attitude towards off-road riding a number of years ago. She rode longer distances, stopped for breaks less, and began riding slightly more challenging terrain beginning the first day we installed her Thud. Downside? It bobs when sprung correctly, and if you're a gram counter, it's porky.

I've used a ST on my hardtail for the past 4-5 years. I realize how much I underestimated this seatpost recently, after switching to a non-suspended post. It's very subtle suspension -- Hyde to the LT's Jekyll. I'm enjoying it on the tandem, mainly because I enjoy staying seated on this bike as long as possible because my legs are more noodley after a workout of a climb.

My thoughts are the SL would be excellent over deficient pavement.

+1 Thudbuster.

The test was riding around inside of, and out of, a grass parking area full of dips, holes, and various bumps. Stoker didn't complain a bit. CT has all sorts of frost heave, cracks, potholes, etc, and the bike paths have tons of "root heaves" since they just lay pavement on top of the ground. The root heaves are the worst, like miniature speed bumps 4" tall and 6" long, usually 6-12 in the space of 10 feet, sometimes stretching out for 100 feet at a time. Okay, so they're more like a cattle guard. Terrible regardless. Thudbuster can't deal with them but I have a hard time just holding onto the bars.

cdr