Slowtwitch Forums: Triathlon Forum: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when?

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Slowtwitch Forums: Triathlon Forum:
quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when?

Marco in BC

Oct 5, 08 16:45

Post #1 of 8 (132 views)

quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when?	Can't Post

so, every time I am out mtb-ing when I am on trails I see people lowering their seatpost as far as they go, but occasionally you see folks that instead have it in a normal riding position and they seem to be ok too. What is the correct thing to do? I mean, with the seatpost up I can still stand on the pedals and pedal no problem, and if the trail is steep I can always move 'behind' the seatpost no prob if needed...

Is this something mostly related to big jumps? I can see that if you land a 12' drop you might want to have more space to bend your legs to take the hit, but wouldn't the seatpost up be better for 'normal' riding/small drops and also allow more balance for skinnies and/or sketchy terrain? When watching xc-type races everybody of course has their seat-posts up and they can still negotiate quite technical terrain no problem.

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A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

renorider

Oct 5, 08 16:53

Post #2 of 8 (122 views)

Re: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when? [Marco in BC] [In reply to]	Can't Post

The lower the seat is on downhills, the more leeway you have to move your body around on the bike. Think MotoGP...
Some of my friends have Gravity Droppers, pretty cool gizmo. Check it out.
____
Eliot
blog thing

chamuco

Oct 5, 08 17:10

Post #3 of 8 (114 views)

Re: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when? [Marco in BC] [In reply to]	Can't Post

A lot of people lower them down to take on steep downhills. As you mention, if you go behind the seatpost and have no problems, dont worry about lowering it down. If you plan to do any racing on your MTB, its best not to lower it down when you are training, because in the race, you will not want to stop and lower your post for the DH.

Marco in BC

Oct 5, 08 17:27

Post #4 of 8 (103 views)

Re: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when? [renorider] [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Some of my friends have Gravity Droppers, pretty cool gizmo. Check it out.

wow, that is quite a cool concept, hadn't heard of it before!

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A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

Murphy'sLaw

Oct 5, 08 17:36

Post #5 of 8 (101 views)

Re: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when? [Marco in BC] [In reply to]	Can't Post

Us old school mtb dudes (I guess if anything was done more than a decade ago, it qualifies as old school) would just hang our asses off the back of the saddle, rather than lowering it. Not like we were gonna constantly stop to adjust the seatpost up and down.
Just had to be careful not to get "flossed". ;-)

As was said, the lower saddle height makes for better technical handling and descending, if that's your kettle of fish.

Part of it is just the image thing too.
Not unlike riser bars on EVERYTHING, when for XC riding or moderate trail riding, riser bars actually suck monkey balls. :-p

float , hammer , and jog

On ST hiatus from 11/1/08 until Spring '09

Xterraguy15-19

Oct 5, 08 17:40

Post #6 of 8 (97 views)

Re: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when? [Marco in BC] [In reply to]	Can't Post

yeah it really helps for steep and technical or a combination of the two sections. The key is to keep your weight on the back wheel and steer with your front, because the more weight you have in the front the harder it is to steer and control the bike. The only reason to have a high seat actually is so you can pedal efficiently
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"I decided to do this race two months ago..."
Xterra World Champion Ruben Ruzafa during a post race interview

flying wombat

Oct 5, 08 20:35

Post #7 of 8 (72 views)

Re: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when? [Marco in BC] [In reply to]	Can't Post

For nearly all cross country riding you are best leaving it where it is, I would only lower it for the super steep technical stuff with jumps and drops, in which case I wouldnt be riding my XC bike anyway! Its only when you are really worried about endoing going over the edge of a ledge you need to lower the saddle.
Crank brothers http://crankbrothers.com/seatposts_joplin.php also makes the "Joplin" seatpost that telescopes up and down. I could handle the version with the lever under the saddle, but the remote version bugs me because I hate having extra cables and levers on the bars (thats just me!) I saw a Scott Spark that in addition to brakes and shifters had remote lockouts for front and rear shocks and a remote seatpost lever, It was amazing he had time to steer the bike between adjusting all lever positions.

Kevin
tri-mesa.com

paragoncycling.com

Marco in BC

Oct 5, 08 21:04

Post #8 of 8 (68 views)

Re: quick mtb q: lowering your seat-post, why/when? [flying wombat] [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

I would only lower it for the super steep technical stuff with jumps and drops, in which case I wouldnt be riding my XC bike anyway!

the key is having a 2nd bike, and since for the moment I just have my xc (with about 3in of travel) I kinda have to make do... if I had a norco shore I probably would use that!

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A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.