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TECH NEWS

Redshift reinvents suspension seatpost for gravel and road

ShockStop design offers 35mm of travel and is user tuneable

Redshift is the latest brand to unveil a suspension seatpost aimed mainly at gravel and road use, the new ShockStop offering 35mm of travel with user-selectable spring stiffness and adjustable pre-load.

If you were into mountain biking in the 1990s you’ll know all about suspension seatposts, big names in the market including USE and Cane Creek. They might not be so popular in mountain biking these days but they’re still around and newer models such as Canyon’s S14 and S15 VCLS seatposts – split-shaft designs that rely on leaf spring technology – are aimed at the road. The developing gravel and adventure bike market is giving this sector a boost.

Check out the Canyon VCLS design here.

Redshift has already reinvented the shock-absorbing stem – another product-type that made its name in 1990s mountain biking – and is now offering the ShockStop seatpost via Kickstarter (usual Kickstarter rules apply, of course) for the first time. 

redshift_shockstop_seatpost_-_7.jpg

Find out about 6 of the best comfort-boosting seatposts to soften road shock and cosset your bottom! 

“The goal was simple: improve rider comfort, while enhancing rider efficiency and enjoyment,” says Redshift. “Riders spend more time putting power to the pedals and less time bracing for impacts, equalling increased comfort and performance. The seatpost offers riders of all types 35mm of tuneable travel, perfectly matched to road, gravel, e-bikes, and mountain bikes.

redshift_shockstop_seatpost_-_10.jpg

“The ShockStop has an internal spring which applies force on the seatpost's four-bar linkage, which in turn suspends the saddle and rider. As you ride, the seatpost allows the bike to move under you as it encounters uneven terrain, which reduces the accumulated effects of bumps and vibrations by up to 60%. The four-bar linkage ensures that your saddle angle remains constant through the full travel of the suspension.”

redshift_shockstop_seatpost_-_14.jpg

You can choose from three coil springs of different stiffnesses and adjust the pre-load to fine-tune the responsiveness.

The RRP is expected to be US$199 – around £140 – although the early bird price on Kickstarter is US$129 – around £91. As ever with Kickstarter, the project has to achieve its funding target for any money to be taken. The estimated delivery is November 2018.

Here are all the tech deets:

Diameter 27.2mm (shims available for larger seat tube diameters)
Suspension travel 35mm
Length 350mm
Weight 497g
Rearward offset at 25% sag 10mm
Rearward offset range 0 to 22mm
Maximum rider weight 110kg (17st 5lb)
Material 6061 T6 aluminum
Production process 3D forging and 5-axis CNC machining
Finish Black anodised

Check out the Redshift ShockStop suspension seatpost Kickstarter project here.

https://redshiftsports.com/

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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5 comments

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LastBoyScout | 5 years ago
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Surely that design means that every time you hit anything, the saddle is going to move back and increase your reach? Looks like you'll spend half your ride time shuffling backwards on the saddle.

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fukawitribe replied to LastBoyScout | 5 years ago
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LastBoyScout wrote:

Surely that design means that every time you hit anything, the saddle is going to move back and increase your reach? Looks like you'll spend half your ride time shuffling backwards on the saddle.

It's goes up and forward when you un-weight (e.g. front wheel hits an obstacle) and down and back when you get a hit up the arse - but we're talking about a couple of handfuls of mm travel, just enough to try and alleviate the knocks and that movement is transitory. Total travel is not massively more than other current options, e.g. Trek IsoSpeed, which have been well used over the years so I can't see that being an issue unless someone rides with their arms so locked out that actually turning the bars involves moving their saddle position. I don't notice any reach issues on my old Trek Domane FWIW, just a bit less of thud over lumps.

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ktache | 5 years ago
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I highly recommend the Cane Creek Thudbuster ST, just enough to take the buzz out of the ride, not really enough off road, better than nothing but for our rough roads almost perfect.  The LT version would have been more comfy but I needed more seatpost space for light and Crud Gaurd.  I think the ST (Short Travel) has 1 1/2 inches of travel, the LT 3 or more.

12 or more years old now, occasional service, but the Crud Gaurd kept most of the filth off.  Purchased the neoprene cover a little over a year ago, had been taking her to Swinley forest without the Crud so I could drop (manually) the post when the going was getting fast and downhill, but the post got covered in filth.  Now protected.

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ConcordeCX | 5 years ago
0 likes

Try one  of these

Avatar
pedalpowerDC | 5 years ago
1 like

With all of the development going into droppers of all sorts, I was surprised to find there were so few options currently available for nice suspension posts. I needed one for stoker on a new tandem (stokers can't see the holes you are hitting and unweight their butt like the pilot can), and I ended up going with the Cane Creek Thudbuster ST. It's obviously pretty blocky in size and shape, but it seems like it will work well. Cane Creek seems to have really refined the functionality and estetics over the decades of production.

I was tempted to try the Canyon/Ergon, but there's only 100mm of exposed post on the bike. The Canyon would have fit the bike style: eTap Disk, ENVE 3.4, race fit, but it seemed unlikely to work very well.

You'd expect some of the dropper companies to be ready to switch out a few parts and sell a nice suspension post. I guess it's a small market at the moment.

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