zowie

Thank you for the reply Yuri
I'd put on a Brook to start as I always do.
This seems like a perfect not-my-road-bike for street shoes, moderate gravel, rain, light luggage.
I especially like the gearing. (Hate typical compact doubles,)
I sold a Specialized AWOL-Something because it was just too over the top adventury and heavy for my needs, tho it was superb for what it was.

Wondering if I can live with the flat bar which is not what I'm used to.
Cheaper, more bag and accessory options, while the brifters on the bullhorns look like a weakness.

cyclezen

Whatz Dis 'Flat Bar' ding ???? Sounds like a great way to dislike ridin...
DropBar all the way ! The Microshift Brifters and Advent X Clutch RD are awesome! Reliable, seem bulletproof, and never miss a shift.
I have and use the 10 spd Microshift road stuff on one roadie, and both this and the Advent X gravel stuff works as well as any of my Shimano 105 or Ultegra stuff...
If you decide you don;t like the Microshift stuff and 'upgrade', I'd be happy to buy your take-offs ... I have a roadie/CX frame I'm thinking to build up with 1x 10 spd, and the microshift stuff would suit perfect... Trying to buy drivetrain stuff right now is almost impossible - even prices from china are ridiculous...
Ride On
Yuri
If you were referring to my mention of 'flats' - that was for PEDALS, which I tried on the X, but found I prefer 'clipless' - Crank Bros eggbeater compatible...
flat bars give me hives...

zowie

Good to know.
(And I understood you meant pedals)

Cnguyen323

hope the kid knows how cool this build is!

I’m always jealous of this color of X because of that orange fork. I’m thinking juin techs or maybe some decent 2 piston mech brakes. I’m a thick rider so I’ll benefit from improved braking.

how are you liking the hy/rds?

OkFine

One of the few complaints I had about the X was the flat black fork. It just didn't flow with the rest of the bike. I know it was a cost saving step and I do appreciate that in the spirit of what the bike is, but I took advantage of fixing it when the TA conversion kit came in. I figured I'd go loud and match the lettering instead of matching the green. I think it turned out nicely.

I'm really enjoying the new braking system. I can't give all the praise to one thing or the other since I changed them all at the same time, but the only thing I don't like is how loud the rotors are at harder braking moments. I'm hoping that sort of breaks in or I'm changing them. I'm about 188lbs right now and the kid/trailer is about 70 depending on what else is in there to occupy him. That's a lot of weight and momentum to control and these brakes are doing well so far I think.

And he knows!

Earl5607

my first upgrade was a 36t narrow wide chain ring. It gave up a little speed on the top end but have that .75-1 climbing gear on the low side has made all the difference with Colorado’s mountains.

dwmckee

The Shimano GRX aluminum gravel wheelset is about $450 and weighs ~1550 grams. Hard to beat that. With the money you save you could get a great set of Rene Herse super light tires to compliment the whole setup nicely.

Senathon

Did anyone of you install a QR Seat Post Clamp on your Poseidon X? If so, what brand did you go with? I am getting my Poseidon X on Thursday.

cyclezen

mine came with a std seatpost clamp, as noted in the photos...?
are you wanting to put ON a QR clamp?
Ride On
Yuri

Senathon

Sorry, I meant to say install not replaced. Yes, I am putting on a QR clamp as one of my upgrades.

cyclezen

I'm interested in hearing why you would put on a QR post clamp?
I can see wanting to go lower for extended downhills on dirt/non-paved sections, but for that I''ve considered adding a dropper post.
A dropper post with suspension... like the PNW coast Dropper post.
I had a QR on my old school mtbs. but after a few uses, never found I wanted to make use of it while riding...
One upgrade I did put on my X was a suspension post - older Rockshox post - to take the edge off some of the thumping... it works really well.
I have ride buddies who have put on the Redshift suspension seatpost, and they like their's a bunch also.
Other 'upgrade' I can recommend is the Redshift Shockstop Stem - take the edge off the hits one gets coming up thru the front end.
Not quite like mtb suspension forks, but just enough greatly reduce what does come thru.
For me, it has no effect on steering control or ride quality - I really like it - a bit pricey and adds a small amount of weight - but all well worth it for me.
Ride On
Yuri

Senathon

I was going to use the QR for adjusting on my riding patterns, but it sounds like a Dropper would be better than a QR. Also I have a feeling that my son might borrow my bike and just force the seat up and down without tools which is why I was looking at a QR.

cyclezen

If any is considering an X or Redwood...
Poseidon has all their bikes now on 'Black Friday' Pricing - $100 off
So X Dropbar for $649, Flatbar for $549, Redwood Dropbar $849, Redwood Flatbar $779, Triton road $599...
Ride On
​​​​​​​Yuri

dwmckee

Two Poseidon bike repairs came in the shop this week and I feel like I just have to warn folks about this.

One was in the repair stand and we noticed the right side of the handlebar seemed lower than the left. At first we thought it had been crashed and the bars were bent but we could not find any evidence of a crash. We kept investigating and finally clamped the seat tube vertical with a level in the stand, held the steering perfectly straight, then measured across the bars with a level and by measuring from the bar ends to the ground. The bars were clearly crooked with the right side end almost an inch lower than the left side. Then we checked out the other Poseidon we had in the shop and found it was crooked in the same way by almost the same amount! We were unable to determine if the heat tube was welded crooked in the frame or if the stem was flawed, but both bikes were almost identically crooked.

There are other low-cost but good quality gravel bikes out there like the entry level Salsa Journeyer (Advent, Claris, Acolyte and Altus models as low as $1,029) that are just a couple hundred bucks more expensive than the Poseidon. I suggest considering these bikes as an alternative to the Poseidon as they may be a huge jump up in quality for a reasonable amount of additional money.

jonathanf2

If that's the case, the owners of the bike are covered under Poseidon's original owner lifetime warranty policy if it's a frame issue. Also if you work at a bike shop, how hard is it not to remove the carbon fork and remove the bars from the stem to accurately check? Even my 9 year old son with a torque wrench can figure that out.

t2p

I believe he owns the shop

and a bike owner might not be too happy if they dropped off their bike (for whatever) - and the bike shop disassembled their bike to inspect a suspected frame/fork/stem(?) quality issue (without first consulting with owner etc)

dwmckee

We were able to confirm the defect without disassembling the bike by quickly leveling it in the stand and measuring to the floor. It would be up to the bike owner to file any warranty claims.

My reason for posting this is, for a new buyer in the price range between $800 and $1500, you can get a huge amount more bike for just a couple hundred dollars more in price. For folks looking to buy a gravel bike I think this is worthwhile information to consider.

mstateglfr 

You have a very talented 9 year old. Many adults dont know how to accurately use a torque wrench.

dwmckee

Our customer picked up the pair of Poseidons today and acknowledged the defect. With his approval we did some more investigation and found both stems were crooked by about 3 - 4 degrees which you can see by eye. We've seen just about everything over the years, but this is the first time we have seen two defective stems. Since there were two bad stems from bikes bought at the same time my guess is that this problem could affect other bikes purchased around the same time as well, but that is just a guess. If you ride a Poseidon you might want to check out your stem; these bikes were purchased 2 years ago so parts are most likely out of warranty.

NitroExpress

Actually, Poseidon frames (not including the fork) are guaranteed for life. If this is truly the case, I’m sure Poseidon would make good, especially since it is two frames.

dwmckee

Maybe, I could not say either way, but a stem normally is not considered part of a frame.

NitroExpress

That is very true, I was talking about the head tube. I was assuming you helped out your customers and determined what this issue was...

dwmckee

Yep, see comment #145 above. With customers permission we dug a little further and were able to figure out the stems were simply defective.

RH Clark

Other than the defective stems on the Poseidon's you checked what makes the Poseidon less desirable than a brand name bike at a couple hundred more? I am in the market and honestly want to know.

NitroExpress

RH, for what it's worth I'll share experience with my Poseidon, I have about 500 miles on it. Not sure which one you are looking at, I have the X Ambition.
1.The claimed weight of 25lbs (W/O Pedals) was pretty accurate.
2. The frame welds look fine, they are not perfect, but no issues.
3. The bike was very easy to put together, although I have been building bikes since 1974, so if you have NO experience with this you may want some help.
4. I did have to adjust the brakes, not a big deal 3mm Allen wrench.
5. I also had to adjust the derailleur, again not a big deal...
6. Stock tires are 40mm Kenda, I swapped out for 43mm Panaracer GravelKing SK's (much lighter and I wanted the added width for bikepacking).
7. Stock cassette is steel, I switched out to alloy (8 oz lighter).
8. Seat is personal preference, I sold stock seat and put on a Brooks C17.
9. I got the bike when it was $800, I have $1,100 into it.
10. They do offer a Thru-Axle upgrade for $300, which includes a full tune of the bike and tubeless set-up, this would be worth it.
11. With Shimano SPD Pedal E-PDM324 and (2) bottle cages, the bike weighs 25.05Lbs; I'm happy.
12. No issues with anything else, if there is a much better bike out there for $1,200, I'm not aware of it; especially with Aluminum frame & Carbon fork.
13. Looking at reviews, I think the Advent X group is as good or better than other groups in the same price range.
14. All that being said, going to your LBS will get you full service... I can see the advantages of that.
15. The brakes are spongy, I will upgrade to JagWire housings, <$35.