Product Review #2: Reverb Dropper Seat Post

This review wasn't planned when Andrea and I started the trip. As I mentioned in the previous entry the short list came down to this seat post from Rockshox and the Kronolog from Crank Brothers. On top of the various other reasons I mentioned I picked the Krono because it was $100 cheaper.

As it turned out, I got entirely frustrated with the Krono and while I have thought I'd get through the trip with it and then just exchange it for the Reverb when I got back to Toronto I changed my mind. A key factor to that decision was finding out that the price @ The Hub was exactly the same as at MEC. The different in taxes was enough to offset any exchange rate difference. And so on the Friday evening, a week after we arrived in NC, I had Jimmy swap them around.

Immediate reaction:
1. It felt rock solid when I tried it out over curbs and such in the parking lot.
2. It came with an extra clamp (to put in your toolbag) that will let you lock the seat post in the event a hose gets ruptured or it stops working for some other reason (that would have saved the Krono from getting a failing grade!)
3. It also comes with a complete bleed kit so you're all set for the foreseeable future
4. The actuator has an extra mount (the MMX) which allows for the integration of it into either the brake or shift lever mount so you don't need an extra thing on your handlebar

Fully integrated in the existing clamps

Bleed kit, great cable guides and seat post lock-out clamp

All of those give the Reverb serious bonus points.

Test Ride #1:
I took it out for a ride on the Turkey Pen loop on the Sunday and immediately enjoyed it on both the descent to the river and then the climb up the other side. Every time I used the trigger it responded well and at least as importantly it never slipped of its own accord.
Reverb Rating: 9 out of 10 (-1 for price)

The Specialized seat post clamp is designed to accommodate the hose so no extra hardware needed

Unfortunately this is the ride I crashed on and so it will be a while before I get to try it for test #2. Looking forward to it though!

Product Review #1: Kronolog Dropper Seat Post

Ok, enough photos of me. It's time to get back to the things I'd intended to write about. So I'll start with one, which turned into two, that I was interested in from the start.

Dropper seat posts are nothing new, they've been used by all-mountain and enduro riders for a few years now. As the technology has improved and the weights have come down these parts are now showing up on more bikes and are more readily available at your local bike shop. The basic idea is this: there is a remote control on the handlebar to allow you to drop the seat for descending and then pop it back up for trails or climbing.

I did some online research, read reviews and product specs and did a small poll of rider I know to see which one to try. It came down to a short list which had two strong recommendations so I had to pick between the Rockshox and Crank Brothers products. I picked the Kronolog from CrankBros.

The Krono is an air-suspension dropper with 5 inches of travel. It has the cable connection at the bottom front (most have a cable that goes up to the top of the seat post to activate) and I thought this made for a very tidy installation. The remote trigger can go on the top or bottom of the bar on either left or right sides, very flexible. The lock/release action comes from a pair of plates which get released by pulling the trigger and lock in place when there's no cable tension. The inner shaft has flat sides so it doesn't rotate and avoids any saddle nose movement.

Seat post with cable mount shown

Release mounted below the bar

All of the reviews indicated that the Krono is sensitive to be adjusted correctly and that it must have 4mm of play in the cable or it can be prone to slipping. I set it up as per spec, made sure the cable had smooth curves and the right play and gave it some test rides around home before we headed out. It looked and felt great.

Test Ride #1:
Our first ride was with Robin and Jouko on some trails near Almond NC. It had been wet for a few days before but the sun came out that morning and it looked like a great day for riding.

Robin and Jouko

The trails were in great condition, still wet in places but perfect for a first ride. Not too technical but lots of fun sections.

I would guess about 20 minutes into the ride I became aware of the saddle height not being right and sure enough it had slipped down. A press on the trigger and it was back up, good to go. Or so I thought. It turned into a frequent event and we stopped a number of times to try to correct it.

One of the common conditions people have written about is that the Krono will slip down a bit and then be happy to stay there so I went with that theory and tried raising the seat post without releasing the trigger. It seemed to help and we were able to do our ride. I gave it a 7 out of 10 at that point and hoped I'd be able to tweak it and get it to co-operate fully. A successful day of riding though and good fun, followed by great beer, food and company before we got on the road.

Test Rides #2, 3 & 4:
Andrea and I then headed on to the Pisgah Forest to meet up with Jeff, Jen & Jamie for the next week. The next test ride was just bopping around the trails a little the first morning to make sure everything was working right. I found the Krono seemed to be slipping more so I decided to take it in to Jimmy @ The Hub to give it the once over and see what might be causing the problem. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just my mistake and he's a great mechanic (a great rider too) so I thought he might be able to work his magic.

Jeff

Jimmy tried a few things and it seemed to be better while we were at the shop but even on the ride back to the campground I could feel it slipping again. This didn't bode well for the week ahead. But our plan was to head to Dupont Forest for the afternoon as it drains well (it had been raining for days) and I figured I could deal with the Krono.

We had a blast riding, the trails there are awesome and I was really getting comfortable having a seat I could drop out of the way for the descents. I didn't like the loss of power as it slipped down while I was trying to power my way up climbs though. That was probably the worst part.
Krono Rating: 6 out of 10

At the end of the private airport runway

The next big ride was the Pink Beds loop we had done before. It starts with an hour long climb and then gets into a descent, some nice flow along a river, a tough climb followed by a long and moderately technical descent. By this point I was using the Krono so it only had about an inch to drop (seat post almost fully extended to compensate) and with the exception of the final descent I didn't use the dropper function much. I did lower it for that last descent though. And it felt great.

I've always had a problem getting my weight far enough back to be stable on drop-offs and such and the Krono did enable me to overcome that and tackle some tricky bits I wouldn't have tried before. Although to be fair I'm sure the 29" wheels on Stumpy were part of that too!
Krono rating: 4 out of 10

Final ride: not worth writing about in the context of the Krono but it was some great trails back in Dupont. When I put together the report on the GoPro Hero3 I'll talk more about the trails.
Krono rating: 2 out of 10

After trying the Krono for a week and trying everything I could, I gave up on it. It looks great, doesn't work for me though. If it's so sensitive to adjustment that a reputable mechanic in a reputable shop can't get it to work then I believe the design is flawed.

Stay tuned for more details of the rides. And what I finally did to "fix" the problem!

The Halo Vest

A lot of friends have said they intend to drop by for a visit (and Tony was the first as he dropped in this morning... great to see you, and thanks Tony!). Just so people aren't too surprised by what a Halo vest looks like here are a couple of photos.

It is basically a shoulder harness to support the rigid neck brace. The brace is held in place by 4 pins. (stop now if you're squeamish).

There are few complications with a halo however the main ones all have to do with the pins. The pin sites need to be kept clean and they need to be maintained at a consistent tension. I _may_ get used to someone using a torque wrench on my head over the course of the 3 months I'll be wearing this but I'm not convinced of that.

And yes I have hair. Not sure how I"ll shave my head with this on...

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A Hardware Upgrade

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, the last entry is just before Andrea and I headed down to North Carolina. In addition to looking forward to having fun riding and getting caught up with some friends I was also intending to write up some product reviews.

I still intend to write those up but I'll skip ahead in time to fill in the latest part of the story first. And I guess it's a product and services comparison too... so I'll just dive right in.

Last Sunday (April 7th) we went on a great and moderately difficult ride starting from Turkey Pen. This was all new terrain to us, although Jamie, Jen and Jeff knew the trails well. In fact Jamie injured himself on this set of trails last year, and had to go through an extended period of healing. This year it was me.

With about 5 miles still to go on the return trip I made a mistake and caught a rock with my front wheel which popped up and sent me flipping backwards. As the trail was along a steep part of the slope I fell something like 20 feet and slid a ways down. The bike went further.

I knew right away I'd hurt myself and that the worst injury was my neck. Some other cyclists were close behind and stopped to lend a hand. They gave me the usual "don't move, what's your name, do you know where you are & what day it is, etc" and it was all good there. I hadn't lost consciousness and could wiggle all my bits. But my neck was locking up and was sore. I walked back up to the trail with some help and gathered my wits. About the time the rest of our group came back to see where Andrea and I were I was ready to start heading out. But there was no way I could ride; couldn't lift my head enough to look ahead and couldn't rotate it to see side to side. Walk it was... something between 5 to 8 km to the trail head.

Thanks to Jamie and Jeff for shuttling my bike out, it made it easier for me to walk and helped speed up the exit.

Then it was a slow drive down the bumpy road back to the highway, then to Transylvania County Hospital.

To cut a long story short, I left NC with a standard cervical brace and a diagnosis of "stable fracture to vertebrae C1 & C2". Andrea stepped up to the challenge of driving us back home, the first time she's had to drive Babe that much. And she did great.

My North Carolina neck brace

Once home I made an appointment with a neurologist I've been seeing for a different problem; he was not confident in the "stable" portion of the diagnosis so he sent me to Sunnybrook Hospital. That was this past Friday.

They did CT scans, an MRI, and some x-rays and took a very close look. And I'm glad they did. Multiple fractures to C1 made is highly unstable and left two options: surgery or a "halo". They decided to go with the Halo cervical brace, which is designed specifically to support and immobilize the top of the spine (C1 & C2). Not a simple procedure, not a short-term cure. No surgery required though. And I was discharged into Andrea's care Monday afternoon.

This hardware upgrade will be an intimate part of my life for the next 2-3 months.

I'll save the personal photos of me and the new hardware for later. Here are some simple images to help set the context...

And I'll still write up those other product reviews. That will be more fun.

Pre-install

The halo requires a special wrench, affixed to the chest at all times

My new best friend: the flexible straw