Compact seat posts

mdrainie said:

I have a Miyata Two Ten touring bike that has served me well for twenty five years, however I am now 61 and could use a softer ride for medical reasons. I have tried the standard suspension seat posts at local Toronto shops but with everything adjusted as low as possible they still raise the seat too high. Are there any suspension posts that offer a more compact vertical design? The picture shows the bike as I ride it without the suspension post.

FWIW. Consider a BROOKS B67 saddle ... it is the single rail version of the B66 which had two two coil springs attached to dual rails. It will actually move vertically when you press down on it.

The only (?) drawback is that it will feel as though it weighs a ton before you put it on your bike.

ANOTHER saddle which will yield even more than a B66-or-B67 is one of the replica HAIRPIN saddles ... they are extraordinarily heavy.

I think the Tr!ckyD!ck (parallelogram-type) suspension seatpost that is often used by Stoker's requires about 4" between the rails & the top of the seat tube ... maybe, it's less ... maybe, it's more!?! I'm not sure what seatpost sizes it is available in other than 27.2mm.

It looks as though you might have almost (?) enough seatpost exposure if you were to use a 'normal' saddle.

As far as a pogo-stick type suspension seatpost, if you are moderately handy, I think that you can modify one so that it will be slightly shorter than an off-the-shelf post.

Simply (easy to say, huh?) take the plug out of the bottom of the seatpost, and then simply (again with the simply!) shorten the spring and thereby lower the telescoping portion within the main section of the seatpost ...

A 4.5" hand grinder will greatly facilitate cutting through the spring ... remove less than you think you want to! Test the fit. You can remove more, later.

I guess the shortened spring will make the post's suspension slightly stiffer, so the less you remove, the better.

You could replace the coil spring with NEOPRENE -- Neoprene comes in various densities -- it is what Thudbuster seatposts use to control the rebound on their parallelogram seatposts.

Hope that helps -- the DIY explanation is a bit abbreviated, but you probably get the idea without further elaboration.

BTW. Are those 27" or 700c wheels & tires?

Having your rear wheel relaced x4 will make it infinitesimally more vertically compliant.

If those tires are only 700x32, then consider using 700x42 tires and reduce the air pressure by 5-to-10 PSI.