Side-to-side play with remote seatposts?
hi lee – any issues with side to side play with the maverick and the gravity dropper? i want to get an adjustable post, but am worried about the seat wobbling from side to side.
thanks! great site. glad things are looking up for you.
Reymond
The more you click, the more I can post. Lee Likes Groceries dot com! |
Hey,
I have a couple seasons on both the Gravity Dropper and the Speedball.
– They both have some side-to-side play.
– The Gravity Dropper has more play. Especially now that it’s worn.
– I never notice the play while I’m riding.
Rock,
— Lee
I have some wobbly seat play in my gravity dropper, but I can hardly notice when riding, like Lee says. I do notice it when I work on my bike though. I have 2 other friends that have had issues with their speedballs, but know many others that haven’t had a problem at all.
They’re all going to have some play. It’s inherent in the design and gets worse as you shred harder. However, even if the seat was displacing 2″ side to side, I’d still rather ride that than not have one at all.
I almost think the slight bit of movement makes it more comfortable, kinda moves with you. You honestly wont notice any movemnet after one ride . You will be so stoked on it function that movement is a non issue. As Curtis above stated: It could move 2″ and I still dont think I could ride a xc or trail bike again without one. My Gravety Dropper is a must have item for me. I though one on a friends road bike to see if I could break 50mph on a local hill. 49mph with it up and 52 with it down. The remote is the ticket.
thanks for the inputs guys. am sold. off to look for a speedball. am stoked
You mean you go faster down just because of the aerodynamic advantage? Wow, so pretty soon we’ll see adjustable posts in the TdF!
Looking at the Speedball, but not sure I want anything mounted on the bar. Already stop to drop and raise, so really just looking for quicker/easier solution. But convince me a bar mounted remote is the ticket. Is it durable (and if not, what’s a replacement cost)? Could it be a hazard in a crash scenario? any cable routing issues anyone has had (I ride a 07 Blur LT)?
thanks!
Tony – my bar lever has been holding up well. I can use it on the fly, which is a big deal. You’ll use it many, many times per ride.
Tony, I have the remote Speedball mounted on my ’07 Blur LT and I love it. Cable routing was not a problem – the remote just follows the other cables. I have never had any trouble with it during a crash. My only complaints are: (1) I have a hard time keeping the screw that holds the seat on tight enough to keep the seat from moving; and (2) my LT came with a straight seatpost, but the Speedball effectively sits back about an inch or two. That was a problem for me until I bought a Specialized seat, which has longer rails than the WTB seat that came on my LT.
I have smacked my GD post bar switch a few times, I bent it once on the street but still functioned fine. GD offers all small parts cheap.
todd, thanks for the detailed feedback. I ordered my speedball r through my LBS…he’ll install it for a burrito (I love my LBS!).
I’m pretty stoked about this upgrade…I hope it lives up to all the hype and testimonials I’ve read around the internet.
Like anything, I suppose it has a few bugs (wiggle and some reports of seepage and/or complete blowouts of the cartridge), but all of these complaints have been followed up with stories of the great customer service from Mav’s.
I’ll give my full report in a week or so after I get the work done.
As far as whether the reomte is worth it: It might depend on where you ride. If you only ride long mountain climbs followed by a fast descent, maybe not, but if you have any rolling or alternating sections then the remote is the key! I use my remote almost every time I use my front shifter: Big ring and low saddle for down and little ring/high saddle for uphill. Also if your long descent has some mellower sections where you might want to sit for a bit and coast or pedal, you will want the seat partly up, but then you’ll drop it way down for the steeps and jumps, so even on a downhill run I’d still want the remote.
A German bike magazine ran a test with a XC-pro (who was against the extra 350g of the adjustable post) riding an Specialized Epic (XC bike) on a short XC loop with 330ft of vertical. He was 5 seconds faster on a 30 second descent! There was no measurable delay on the climb but theoretically he was 1.5 seconds slower, still a net gain 0f 3.5 sec on a short loop!