Suspension seatposts

[Catrin]

How much of a difference do suspension seatposts make on hardtails? As much as I like the idea of a FS bike, with the purchase of one custom bike this year I doubt that I could swing it, so a suspension seatpost would seem helpful. Not that I am really looking until after the women's clinic. Nope. Just curious, yeah, that's it. Curiosity ;)

[hebe]

My hybrid had a suspension seatpost, my hardtail didn't. Now neither of them do.

The trouble I had with the suspension seatpost was to do with getting the saddle at the right height and getting started on the bike. With a suspension seatpost you need to set the saddle higher than normal, so that it's at the right height once your weight is on it. I found that this made it difficult for me to get the saddles at the right height - if I had it high enough it was an effort to get on and if I had it low enough to get on comfortably then it was too low for my leg length once it had settled under my weight. I appreciate that this is all somewhat of a beginner's problem and will go away once I'm consistently setting off without being sat on the saddle. But definitely one to try before committing.

I don't have a problem with the actual suspension bit. My mountain bike has a suspension front fork which soaks up a lot, and it is surprising how quickly you get used to standing out of the saddle with bent knees/elbows. I do this in town too for speed-bumps etc. I guess it will depend on your own particular needs and the kind of riding you want to do.

[SheFly]

I don't think a suspension seat post on an MTB that you ride in the woods is going to buy you much. You're better off ensuring that you are off the saddle for rooty/rocky sections anyway, using your legs as your suspension, and the front fork to take up a lot of the slack as well.

Like Hebe, I could never get the suspension post on our tandem just right, and found it pretty uncomfortable. Maybe for the road? But not for real MTB riding.

SheFly

[limewave]

I don't think a suspension seat post on an MTB that you ride in the woods is going to buy you much. You're better off ensuring that you are off the saddle for rooty/rocky sections anyway, using your legs as your suspension, and the front fork to take up a lot of the slack as well.

Like Hebe, I could never get the suspension post on our tandem just right, and found it pretty uncomfortable. Maybe for the road? But not for real MTB riding.

SheFly

I agree with SheFly on this. You want to be out of your saddle a lot when you're on the mountain bike and using your legs as the suspension. The clinic will probably help a lot with getting used to that.

[Catrin]

Thanks - my fitter had made that suggestion. I need to get the whole "out of the saddle" thing figured out ;)

I certainly do not need it for the road, my lovely steel frame takes care of that for me :)

[Artista]

I tried a suspension seat post on my hard tail mountain bike for 3 rides. I really hate it.
It feels like a trampoline when I hit rocks & tree roots
The bouncing sometimes dislodges my feet from my platform pedals
I think the trampoline effect causes "butt-steering", making the bike difficult to control
I suspect that the suspension robs some of my pedaling power when I'm pushing hard uphill

The blasted thing is coming off before my next ride.

[Irulan]

Ask yourself how well you use your body as suspension first. (neutral position) IMNSHO a suspension is a pretty minimal fix. When you need suspension the most you should usually be out of the saddle anyway. Suggestion: waituntil after your clinic.

[Susan]

I had a suspension seatpost too and hated it. Sitting on it feels awkward, a bit insecure.
On a MTB it won't work at all.
I suspect those were just invented so that salesmen can tell people "No it hasn't got a rear suspension, but it has a suspension seatpost that works just the same!" - which is bs honestly, because a suspension-seatpost won't help at all in difficult terrain and, as the others pointed out, you really shouldn't sit on your butt there anyway (but even if you would, it's not the point of a rear suspension to keep your butt comfortable :)).

[Irulan]

There have been a lot of great threads right here on how to use your body. If I weren't on my phone I'd do a search. Use "neutral position" or "attack position" as your terms.

[Artista]

it's not the point of a rear suspension to keep your butt comfortable :)).

So what IS the point of rear suspension?

[Cataboo]

I agree with getting the height of a suspension seatpost right - it sags over time so if I stayed sitting down too long, it would be too low, and so I'd have to stand up, let the seatpost come back up.

I definitely was in the seat a lot longer and more when I had a suspension seatpost. The bf said "the good thing about those seats is that they teach you to stay in your seat, and the bad thing about those seats is that they teach you to stay in your seat..." It did make bouncier sections easy enough for me to just ride sitting down, but in some ways that discourage getting more skills of standing up out of my seat or moving my position on the bike depending on what I was doing. If I was going down a bumpy downhill, I could just sit in the seat - whereas, if it was uncomfortable sitting in the seat, I'd have straightened my legs and caught on to putting my weight backwards downhill a lot sooner.

[Catrin]

Interesting and informative discussion, thanks! I am not making any decisions until after the clinic - including in whether to get a mountain bike this year or next spring ;) As much as I want to do this, I also know that I only have 2,000 miles under my belt and that isn't very much - so will just have to see how it goes at the clinic.

Thanks again!

I've been told my Gunnar could handle non-technical beginner mountain bike trails quite well - but I am not about to take my expensive custom steel beauty on a mountain bike trail - I believe in having the "right horse for the course" as someone else said here in another thread. I would, however, take her on limestone :)

[Susan]

So what IS the point of rear suspension?

If you ride on difficult terrain, it will help by swallowing bumps, thereby adding more traction and of course making your ride smoother. While a suspension can swallow a lot of pedaling power when riding on smooth asphalt, it helps a lot going uphills on loose gravel or rocky terrain by providing more traction. Going downhill, it's often better to get out of the seat for a variety of reasons - you can shift your weight to avoid going over the handlebars, jump over roots or use your feet as suspension for instance - so a seatpost-suspension won't work. If you don't have great biking skills, a full suspension bike will help to ride more difficult trails. If you already have great bike handling skills it will swallow some of the impact when jumping for instance.

When you look at common rear suspensions you will see that they are built in a way that gives the rear wheel the possibility to move separately from the frame itself while absorbing the occurring forces. Therefore, a rear suspension works whether you stand on your pedals or sit on your saddle and helps to keep your rear wheel on the ground when the trail gets bumpy. This can't be provided by a seatpost-suspension.

[spokewench]

How much of a difference do suspension seatposts make on hardtails? As much as I like the idea of a FS bike, with the purchase of one custom bike this year I doubt that I could swing it, so a suspension seatpost would seem helpful. Not that I am really looking until after the women's clinic. Nope. Just curious, yeah, that's it. Curiosity ;)

I used a suspension seatpost for a while. They absolutely do not mimic a FS mountain bike, but they do help. If you cannot afford a FS bike, it will help you, but it really depends on where and what type of riding you will be doing. If you live somewhere where there are a lot of rocks, rough areas, get a FS. If not, you may be able to make do with a seatpost.

[spokewench]

I don't think a suspension seat post on an MTB that you ride in the woods is going to buy you much. You're better off ensuring that you are off the saddle for rooty/rocky sections anyway, using your legs as your suspension, and the front fork to take up a lot of the slack as well.

Like Hebe, I could never get the suspension post on our tandem just right, and found it pretty uncomfortable. Maybe for the road? But not for real MTB riding.

SheFly

They help with stutter type bumps when you have to be pedalling to keep going. That type of riding. They are not for sitting on your bike going down hill, etc. I agree you do take up much of the bumps with your legs and out of seat riding, but there are times when you ride a hard tail that these posts will help. I used one with my old very stiff aluminum Klein before FS really was much of an option to most of us.