twocicle

No offense taken, hence the jibe about getting our tandem modified - again

Luckily my stoker says she has no need for a shock/suspension post back there on the Calfees, and that is after using very stiff Thomson posts for a couple years now. We ended up with the carbon railed (FWIW) Terry Butterfly to offer her as much comfort as possible. We couldn't find any women's racing saddles that she liked.

Bad1

We've been using the Ergon off set seat post on our Macchiato for over 5 months now with a 27.2 shim. Seat post shows no scarring, chipping, are any other noticeable bad effects from using at all.

Ritterview

So jealous you got that early release setback seatpost. I Tweeted Ergon about this, and this is what was tweeted back:

ErgonBike ‏@ErgonBike 23h
@Ritterview The CF3 Setback and Flip-Head are not available in N. America at this time. We currently have no availability date.

So, what does the stoker think of the Ergon CF3 setback? Does it smooth things out?

Bad1

Stroker feels that it has smoothed things out quite a bit, she complained that at higher cadences of 90 & more it got a little bouncy, so I improvised by using The clamp off one of the flashing rear lights you can purchase, and basically choking up on the seat post to stiffen it up a bit, after playing around finding the right position this seems to work quite well for her/ 132# stroker.

Ritterview

We at last got the Ergon CF3 Pro Carbon SetBack, and took it for a ride today on a route where the road is in need of repaving.

Mrs. R really liked it. It smoothed out the bumps, and gave her more confidence on the rough descent. Its been awhile since we trialed the Specialized CBL-GR, which she also liked, so we can't really compare. But likes the functional look of the Ergon CF3 are much better.

gracehowler

Pretty hot looking!
R

twocicle

Reviewing the seatpost manual, I still have a couple questions:

1. What is the distance from the middle of the saddle rail (horizontal line taken from up the center of the post) to the minimum post insertion marking?

2. How much rearward sag is apparent with the rider weight "preloading" the post leafs (obviously depends on rider weight, but an example would be fine)?

3. Find a source for the "Flip Head Kit"? We would need one since our stoker saddle has 7x9mm carbon rails (default clamp is for 7x7mm round rails only).

ct-vt-trekker

Thanks for the info-
Due to your post and other positive reviews I bought one of these on Ebay earlier this year- Brand new never installed and it's been great. Much more compliant over bad potholes and rough roads than the Thompson Elite we had been running. It's just right for our use. My stoker hated the suspension seat posts we'd tried.

Bad1

twocicle on the Ergon post we have the distance from minimal insertion to center of seat rails is 241.3 mm or 9.5"

Wife weights in at a hefty 127# and sag is 1/2-3/4 of a inch.

Also on page 12 of the seatpost manual Ergon list a optional 7x9 oval adapter for carbon rails, which you would think would be readily available.

Canyon also has the Canyon | Pure Cycling | Technology | VCLS Post 2.0 same post that you may also be able to find with the 7x9 head, two brothers own each company separately, problem with Canyon no sales of there bikes directly to the USA, I don't know if that holds true for accessories?

twocicle

+1

Looks like I've created a new "need it" request from my stoker.

After I built up a new Specialized Amira single bike for my wife and initially used one of our many Thomson Elite posts to complete the original build, she rode that and was very happy with the road feel. We needed a seat post with a little more setback, so I swapped in a S-Works SL carbon post and didn't say much about it to her. Next ride, she came back and surprised me with rave reports about how much smoother the ride was with the carbon post. Well, after asking her for the last couple years if she thought she could use a different post (current is Thomson Elite) on the tandem, now she realizes there is a BIG difference even without any fancy suspension or dampeners and so wants a carbon post on the tandem too.

I've heard of some technical issues with the Ergon (movable leafs causing post creep in the seat tube & collar, for one), and the 266gm Specialized CG-R likely won't work that well for a 95lb rider, so I'll be installing a Specialized S-Works SL Pavé post which has a nice light weight of ~200gm and no technical issues other than that it is a carbon post. I usually prefer a 2-bolt saddle mount as the older model had, but the single bolt design is said to work quite well too, so I'll just need to deal with that difference. The price point is pretty good as well.

Of course using a carbon post now means we can no longer use a post mounted rack as we have done in the past while on supported tours. As such, will be doing a couple minor modifications to the Calfee to allow use of a standard pannier rack... something I hadn't planned for with the original build. The mods will involve simply changing out the seat stay/chainstay binder bolts that Calfee uses, plus maybe install a dual bolt seat post collar to allow a rack attachment there. Tada.

Time to start shopping for a new lightweight pannier rack... Tubus Airy is looking good.

Chris_W

The Tubus Airy is great if you're putting side pannier bags on it, but it's far too narrow to mount a rack-top bag, which was probably what you were using on your seatpost mounted rack. I really like the Racktime Light-It, you can even buy a separate mounting kit to make any rack-top bag easy to put on and off with just a clip. The Light-It comes in different sizes, the one listed for 26" wheels is tall enough to easily fit over 700x28 tires and fenders on a couple of different bikes of mine.

twocicle

Chris, thanks for the heads-up on that. I didn't realize the lighter weight Tubus racks were so narrow at the top. Since we already have a Topeak RX trunk DX for our lightweight setup, I'm going to try out the new Topeak Roadie rack they have specifically for the RX series. This one connects to the brake bridge and seat stays, so we won't need any special seat post collar or fixing bolts. Not sure yet if it will clear a disc brake/caliper, and also if maybe it can attached to Calfee's rack bolts instead of mounting on the seat stays... checking it out.

Carbonfiberboy 

This is what we use with our carbon stoker post (CGR):
Arkel Randonneur Rack - Seat Post Rack - Carbon Seat Post Friendly
Arkel's Rack bag | Trunk bag

twocicle

Hanging 10-15lbs from the stoker's carbon saddle rails might not work in our case or at least is an unknown risk.

twocicle

Quick update to my post #35 above, ran into a little snag combining the Specialized Pave SL seatpost with a Terry Carbon Butterfly saddle. Problem is due to the Specialized side clamp 7x9mm vs the Terry's 10.4mm carbon rails. I had never run into this issue before, since I have always used 2-bolt seatposts and no side clamp versions.

Terry advertises this saddle as having 9.6mm high rails. That would still work in the Pave clamp, however the actual rail height (measure 2 saddles) is 10.4mm, which exceeds the Pave's clamp capacity. To resolve the issue, we belt sanded the bottom of the solid carbon Terry rails to 9.4mm (reduced 1mm) which fit the Pavel clamp without further issue.

Terry (and Selle Italia who AFAIK makes this saddle for Terry) should know better. The accepted standard for carbon rails is 7x9mm. The Terry Carbon exceeds that height by 1.4mm, not to mention their own advertised height by .8mm. Idiots.

34505838

From the pages of Velo: Getting the most from your post - VeloNews.com

does anybody know how much the zertz elastomer weighs in the cobl gobl seatpost?

Chris_W

Yes, the weight is precisely: Not enough to worry about.

mtseymour

Since no one has mentioned the Cirrus Bodyfloat suspension post, we'll share our experience.

Our first suspension post was the Tamer suspension post on our Santana Picante. It's good but it was not reliable and it was tricky to find the right spring rate.

When we got our Co-Motion Periscope, we tried the Thudbuster ST. It provided a lot of suspension travel, but the medium elastomer was too bouncy when pedaling hard. We settled on the "hard" elastomer because it was more efficient but it was less compliant over small bumps and ripples.

On our current ride, the Calfee Tetra, we splurged on the Specialized COBL because of the light weight, and thought the modest travel (1" or less) would be enough. It worked pretty well because my wife could pedal normally, even when we were over 90 rpm. However, the COBL just couldn't handle the bigger bumps. She didn't like it when I couldn't avoid a big bump or things like expansion joints.

During the 2015 Northwest Tandem rally at Bellingham, we saw that Cirrus was offering demo rides at the final rest stop. Several teams were waiting to swapping out their existing seatposts for the Bodyfloat. Like the Thudbuster, the Bodyfloat is a linkage design. Unlike the Thudbuster, uses two springs instead of one elastomer. One spring provides the "preload" so that the rider is sitting in a neutral position. The 2nd spring dampens the suspension travel and can make the ride plush or firm.

Unlike all the other suspension posts, the Bodyfloat doesn't affect pedaling efficiency, and can absorb small and big bumps. There preload spring can accomodate a bigger range of body weight than elastomers, and is un-affected by temperature. The Bodyfloat moves up and down, while the other posts move in an arc or back and forth. According to my wife, the Bodyfloat feels like a rigid post, until there's a big bump. She can then feel the linkage move, but there is no pain or discomfort.

Cirrus had several reps at the demo, with Charlie Heggam doing the fitting. The fitting process (setting the saddle height/tilt, spring rate, damping) took about 30 minutes. Charlie and the rest of the crew are tandem riders and designed the Bodyfloat primarily for tandems, although it can work well for single cross and gravel bikes. I estimate that 80-90% of the teams that tried the Bodyfloat bought it on the spot. It was a really convincing demo!

The Bodyfloat is ideal for teams that value comfort AND speed. When the Thudbuster and COBL, we tend to slow down and coast over bumps (so my wife can hover above the saddle). We're faster with the Bodyfloat because we can pedal and maintain our speed over most bumps and ripples. it also helps that my stoker is happy even on long rides of 70-100 km.

The Bodyfloat is similar in weight to the Thudbuster. I confess to being a weight weenie and have tricked out our Calfee (eg. Lightning carbon cranks, carbon wheels, etc). But the Bodyfloat's weight penalty is a no-brainer. It's much easier to save weight with other components (eg. bars, tires, stems) than give up the comfort from the Bodyfloat. Needless to say, we quickly sold the COBL post.

After several long rides, we visited the Cirrus factory in Bellingham to check the Bodyfloat setup and do a tandem bike fit. We spent a short time experimenting with the damping but the Bodyfloat was pretty dialed-in. The interesting part was the bike fit and discussion on riding technique. Charlie is a former racer and an experience tandem rider. We took me out and I got to try the Bodyfloat as a stoker. It was quite an eye opener because I felt the Bodyfloat in action and learned what a stoker has to deal with. Although we're an experience team, Charlie improved our technique for starting/stopping, making tight turns, etc. He also suggested a shorter stem for me, and a higher stem and different saddle for my wife. Our Calfee now rides much better! Charlie and the crew at Cirrus know their stuff, and provide great service.