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New seatpost by Crank Brothers

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,750
439
MA
Have to say I'm very happy with my Specialized Blacklite post so far. Adjusting the post retract speed is easy enough and the mechanical system has thus far proven to be reliable. Does anyone else question the need for an infinite adjustment post vs. a 2 or 3 setting design? Granted I have yet to try such a post, but I've yet to run int a scenario where I needed the post adjusted somewhere outside of the XC, intermediate, or fully dropped range.
 

in the trees

Turbo Monkey
May 19, 2003
1,210
1
NH
Seems to me that the PB article was more about setting proper cable tension with the post which seems to be critical for its proper operation.

I like the features of the Kronolog, but just not sure if i want to be the guinea pig for the first batch. Could be a change for CB, or the same old thing in terms of durability. Who knows?!
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
Seriously, do these guys even have an engineer working for them??
There are a lot of bike companies where this thought has occured to me. CB is definitely up there.

I have tried their pedals, skewers and the Joplin. All garbage.
 

KavuRider

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2006
2,565
4
CT
The grooves that have been machined into the post from the factory are, Brewster says, "purely cosmetic and they are there to hide the marks that naturally occur with use. Over time, the marks form a nice patina, but we found that without the cosmetic grooves, the marks don't look very good." Brewster continues, "The grooves however, are a good indicator of wear. If there are no grooves, it means that the diameter of the circular section has changed, and some sort of bad wear is occurring."
I really want to like Crank Brothers, but...wow...
 

dropmachine

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
2,922
10
Your face.
Makes sense that it would fail like that. Alloy post with steel plates...no contest.

Also, if the installation was incorrect as Crank Brothers cited, then its a fail on CB part again. If a bunch of experienced riders like the guys from PB can't set this thing up right (and I find that hard to believe) then what hope to ordinary muppet riders have?

Nice try CB, but...

 

mattmatt86

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2005
5,347
10
Bleedmore, Murderland
Some other company that actually has the capabilities of making good products should steal their marketing person. I'm trying to think of other companies that have such an inverse relationship between the quality of marketing/aesthetics/colors etc and their actual functionality and quality. Evil maybe?
 

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,882
447
did anyone ride this thing hard before they released it? The first half of the review, I was thinking: "hell yeah, that one-peice clamp and stationary cable stop look great! Maybe I'll try this thing!"

Thank god PB put that thing through it's paces.

I should have known better from my experience with my original Joplin...
 

Pslide

Turbo Monkey
Man I'm glad I went with the Reverb.

What really blows my mind is that CB let it get this far. If PB came to them and said we've got a problem, CB should have sent a new post right away, asked them to send the old post back and asked PB to hold any article until they examined it and figured out why that happened. Instead they gave some lousy excuse, and the biggest mtb website in the world published a crap review with damning pictures right as this thing is being released. This is a big CB fail in marketing and engineering, but good on PB for honestly informing the public.
 

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,750
439
MA
"and without the shaving or slipping that you experienced. Fundamentally, the system works and is robust. When the system is adjusted correctly (with the proper amount of lever play), and the parts are made correctly, then the post should operate extremely well."
LOL :weee:
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,194
4,419
Shi* is hitting the fan. PinkBike has a less than stellar review. CB will eventually be in some serious trouble with so much faulty products. It's not like the dropper seatpost, wheelset or headset market isn't already over saturated with products. I mean love the aesthetics, but man, the function...
That's pretty spot on. How long was the review? Couldn't have been more than a few weeks and the post didn't last that long?

Great idea in concept, failed rapidly in the execution. It seems like a different material on the post would take care of the issue.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Send them to china and have them design defense systems.
 

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,882
447
A hardened steel strip as a wear surface should be fine- but then attaching it will become the tricky part.
They should just halt production until resolved to save time/money/face.
 

KavuRider

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2006
2,565
4
CT
Man I'm glad I went with the Reverb.

What really blows my mind is that CB let it get this far. If PB came to them and said we've got a problem, CB should have sent a new post right away, asked them to send the old post back and asked PB to hold any article until they examined it and figured out why that happened. Instead they gave some lousy excuse, and the biggest mtb website in the world published a crap review with damning pictures right as this thing is being released. This is a big CB fail in marketing and engineering, but good on PB for honestly informing the public.
Agree completely.
 

descente

Monkey
Jul 30, 2010
430
0
Sandy Eggo
The new KS Lev looks very promising too, we will see.
if their reliability is any indication, i had to warranty ~10 KS posts within the last month working at my shop. all were repaired free of charge, but some lasted all of 4 days before failing and turning into a suspension post. i mean, come one.

reverb all the way.
 

descente

Monkey
Jul 30, 2010
430
0
Sandy Eggo
for my shop it was more like 40-50% with the KS post. i think with these kind of posts you will always have a 10-15% failure rate, as there are a lot of fatasses who like to spend way too much time in the saddle which causes blow outs and a lot of people who just don't understand how they should be properly used.
 

reidhresko

Chimp
Jun 27, 2006
35
0
PRB
seems like there isn't a dropper post on the market that doesn't have 10-15% failure rates, reverb included. But with the reverb, you get the best customer service in the industry and WAY more folks I know, myself included, ride the reverb with no issues than have them fail.

To add insult to injury, a pre-production Kronolog shipped to a LBS here with a plastic top clamp for the saddle rails. huh? Broke on installation. I guess CB would say that the wrench w/ 20 years of experience who attempted to install it was at fault, just like the boys at PB....

I think the most reliable product CB has ever made is a sticker and I won't even put that on my bike. Cool idea (as usual), but ****ty, ****yy execution (as usual).
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Quoted for ridiculousness from the bikeradar article...:
We have someone in Taiwan working on this.
But what I think most of you fail to see is that they managed to make the operating lever the CB symbol. I mean, does anything else really matter?