SentinelAeon

I am mostly driving on asphalt in city and some of the roads are really bad. I have only front suspension. I had a back injury in the past so to reduce pain and reduce stress on my back, i sometimes lower pressure in my tires a bit. Lower pressure reduces speed of my bike quite a bit and i was wondering, would it be a better and easier option to get some kind of seat suspension ? I do know that any kind of suspension equals lost energy meaning slower bike, but would a very stiff seat suspension still be better then lower pressure in tires ? Maybe something like this ?

thumpism 

I would recommend keeping your tires aired up to reduce rolling resistance and to help prevent flats. I have tried a couple of suspension seatposts, the telescopic ones with about one inch total movement. Not much help. A linkage type like the one you pictured or a Thudbuster brand (similar mechanism) might be better.

BobbyG

Anything that keeps you riding is good. My wife has a comfort bike with a suspension fork and a suspension seat post, and a seat with springs. For the last 7 years I have been padding my handle bars, and using gel seats. I went to bigger, softer tires on my road bike.

alcjphil

Maybe better information about the bike you ride and the city where you ride it would help get you the best suggestions for solving your problem. For the most part, suspension on bicycles is designed for riding on very rough surfaces. By comparison, roads are very smooth. Your comfort problems may have more to do with bike setup than with whether or not you have suspension

Currmudge

The paved surfaces on my side of town can be rougher than many off-road trails, so I know what you mean. I've ridden full-suspension for most of the last 16 years, and am presently back on a hard tail. Handle bumps through anticipation and momentary 'hovering' just above the saddle. I use a telescoping post, and would love to try a thudbuster.

DeadGrandpa

I use a Thudbuster seat post, the ST (short throw) version, on both my carbon adventure bike and my steel folding bike. If you ride paved, dirt or gravel roads, that is likely all you need, not the LT (long throw), which is more for rough mountain bike trails. Note that you must order the same size diameter post as you currently have installed. The post comes with elastomers of various density, and you select/install the one rated for your body weight. They are pricy but good. Good luck.

Kindaslow

I have three of the Body Float seat posts. They are amazing! My experience is that they are far superior to anything else on the market, given that they truly adjust to your body weight and preferences.

AdvXtrm

I tried about 8 or so different seats. I finally settled on this one as the most ergonomically correct, including for my man-parts.
Selle Royal - Men's Respiro Moderate

I also installed this suspension seat-post, and I can tell you this combination has been amazing for me. The seat practically disappears beneath you, and it literally feels like you're riding on air, with absolutely zero hot-spots or pressure points at all. Discomfort simply no-longer exists with this setup for me. If you're happy with your current seat, then I'd suggest just getting this suspension seat-post; you'll be glad you did.
Suntour - NCX P12 Suspension Seat-post

Western Flyer 

I got a ST Thudbuster for riding dirt and gravel roads during long distance tours. It is barely noticeable except on really rough dirt roads. I don’t suffer from chronic back pain but I’ve found even on long days exclusively on paved roads my back and rear end feel far less fatigued at the end of the day.

I assume the Thudbuster elastomer blocks are designed for a more upright mountain bike position. I ride with dropbars with aerobar clip-ons, so I use the block rated for one weight range under my actual weight. My though is I’m putting less weight on the saddle in a more aero position. Right or wrong it seems to work for me.

dabac

I don't think that applies to seat suspension.


With sus forks and frames, what happens is that it's hard to isolate the downward push to the pedals only. (some of) it also becomes a downward force on the bike in total.
And the suspension tend to react the same way to the bike being pushed down by the rider as it does by the wheels being pushed up when passing a bump.


With a sus seat post, hard pedaling will reduce load on the suspension element. But since you're still bracing against gravity and body weight just as you would on a rigid post, there's no pedaling energy lost.


Some people have worried about sus posts messing up their saddle height adjustment.
I haven't had that problem.
I've simply set it so that the sagged (with me in the saddle) height ends up where I want it and that's been fine on a short travel sus post.
The dips below ideal saddle height are so short that I don't notice them.


While I find that my Thudbuster ST works well to ease butt discomfort during longer rides - particularly when fatigue begins to set in and I begin to miss going light - I'm not sure it's effective enough to bring good relief to bad back pains.

SentinelAeon

Currmudge: That is what i mean, yeah, many city roads can indeed be worse then offroad paths. I usualy do "hover" over my seat when going over bumps, but sometimes you simply cannot see the bumps or they are indeed bigger then they seem. I am not looking for something that will feel like having rear suspension, i am just looking for a little buffer, anything is better then nothing. It would be awesome if i could adjust the tension of the spring to my liking, i guess this is possible with most springs of that type.

Kapusta

I think what you are describing is exactly when a suspension seatpost makes sense. I say this as someone who personally does not like them for trail riding. But I would definitely consider one for this application.

wschruba

I can emphatically recommend the body float saddles. I used one on an e-bike for about 2 months, and intentionally sat down over everything. If you use the right springs, the saddle doesn't drop much just sitting on it, and it can be limited in travel from full stroke (a couple of inches, if I remember correctly) to practically immobile (millimeters).

SentinelAeon

I just checked the prices of some of those suspensions and i have to say this are worth a few times as much as my whole bicycle. I will have to settle for something cheaper.

I found this, it costs about 25€, has the option of adjusting tension, what do you think ?

XLC : x-cellent Components

Berg417448

I've had one similar to that one. They are just OK. I'd buy a better quality post if you can afford it. They can have issues like this:

fietsbob

2 thud busters, 1 ST, 1 LT.. they work fine..

canklecat

For the money it's hard to beat the value of the right tires and pressure in finding a compromise between comfort and efficiency.

I'd like to try a Thudbuster or Body Float but both cost more than I paid for my bikes. The Suntour is closer to my budget.

I have a permanently splintered C2 vertebrae from a car wreck and thought I'd need a full suspension bike or front suspension and seat post suspension. But finding the right tires and pressure turned out to work well enough for me.

The bike I resumed bicycling on in 2015 is a comfort hybrid with spring suspension fork, long wheelbase, and heavily padded saddle with springs. I still ride it on days when my back and neck are aching -- and again recently after falling earlier this month and banging up my ribs and back. I tried three sets of tires before finding a pair that suited me. Cost $50. The maximum recommended pressure, 85 psi, felt like riding on steel. The suggested pressure for my weight (160 lbs), 75 psi, still felt harsh. I kept experimenting and found 50 psi on the front and 50-60 psi on the rear suited me best. Over a year I see no difference in my average speed -- about 12 mph with that bike, regardless of other factors. The perception of felt speed or sluggishness doesn't necessarily translate to measurable differences for those of us who aren't finely honed athletes. Felt comfort matters because I'm more like to ride more often and longer distances.

When I added a lighter rigid fork mountain bike last summer I figured it would take some adjustment. I swapped handlebars for slight riser bars -- this took a lot of pressure off my neck because my head, neck and back were better aligned to accommodate the damaged vertebrae.

Then I fiddled with tires. I already had two sets to experiment with but they weren't quite right. I ordered a third set, Continental Speed Rides (only $22/pair at the time from Amazon), experimented with various pressures and once again found them perfect for me around 40-60 psi, much lower than the maximum 85 psi on the sidewalls. Again, tires and pressure had no measurable effect on my average speed, about 14 mph with this bike. But the difference in comfort was significant. More pressure didn't feel or measure faster. It just felt harsher, like too much energy was being wasted on vibration and jolting on chip seal. It felt squirmy and unstable on gravel trails. It was tolerable only on smooth pavement. We don't have much of that.

Kapusta

I think you have found what many others have: optimum tire pressure is often far less than the maximum pressure.

If you haven't already seen this, I found it very helpful:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/janheine.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/tire-pressure-take-home/amp/

canklecat

Yup, read that and others. I just go by how it feels. At 160 lbs and riding pretty moderate trails (our pavement is often worse) I'm not in much danger of pinch flats. I've hit some pretty hard pavement edges when new road construction/destruction caught me off guard, including a few days ago. No problems with pinch flats or damaged rims. So around 50 psi seems to be my sweet spot with the 700x40 and 700x42 tires on my bikes.

curbowman

There's a very thorough article in the website of Rodríguez Cycles:
The Cirrus Bodyfloat Seat Post at R+E Cycles

Lazyass

Morgaw suspension saddle

bikestudio

You need to suspension saddle so you can search a saddle which has good suspension it will relieve you and comfortable into all terrains.