The post that I received back looked like the i950 that I had sent back, but came in new packaging and was renamed the KS Supernatural.įirst things first, for anybody out there looking to buy one of these seatposts, make sure it is the Supernatural (no setback), or the Dropzone (setback). The distributors in Canada were sold out of these things, so I was only able to get a replacement post for one of my bikes about two months later, and the one from my hardtail just had to be returned for credit. My wife’s currently still works, but even then, it has so much more play in the bushing than I remembered from all the posts we sold people just one year before. Both went down with the same problem: They just squished up and down like a blown out suspension seatpost. One made it two rides, the other maybe three or four. Both the posts on both of my bikes failed really soon. Even at a discount, this was an expensive investment, but I was sure it would pay off. Last spring, I was so confident in the KS Seat Posts, that I ordered three of them, (I work in a bike shop, so why not?) I bought one for my hardtail, one for my all-mountain bike, and one for my wife’s bike. This was the evidence I needed, and I began to crave having a dropper post back on my bike again. Of the ones that did leave the shop and see a season of regular abuse, very few if any came back failed. I watched for one full season, and to my surprise, I observed maybe only a half-dozen failures, the majority of those were not working right out of the box, so didn’t even leave the shop. I worked in the bike shop and watched as the mass of addicts moved towards the KS post. Was this budget suspension component company really going to be able to pull of a trick that Crank Brothers, after three or four years, still seemed incapable of? Anyways, when the Kind Shock came out with their take on the dropper seatpost, needles to say, I was hesitant. Just so all you addicts out there know, there is possibility for recovery, it just takes a little time. Going with out the dropper for the next year was not so big a deal. Crank Brothers would replace them a couple of times before just forcing you to take your money back. Working in one of my local bike shops, I’d seen enough of these things failing, and knew that playing the warranty game was going to be futile in the end. I never even sent it back to get it fixed or replaced. It added so much flow to the riding at every moment, at least until it quit staying up. Short insignificant downhills, technical climbing switchbacks, playing around on the street before and after the trail ride, and even lowering it to sit comfortably with my feet on the ground when waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. You see, the thing is, you only need to use this drug twice to become addicted to it, which sounds similar to how I’ve heard heroin works! I found myself dropping the post in places I never thought I would. The origianl Maverick Speedball Post, which later became Crank Bros.’ Joplin. Not surprised, yet it still pissed me off. I bought a Crank Brothers Joplin of my own. I believe it was the first time I ever spent hundreds of dollars on something that I was almost completely sure would FAIL! It was crazy, but I did it. I have never seen a bicycle product that was so addicting! After a couple of years I couldn’t stand the curiosity any more, and decided to try one of these so-called-amazing seatposts out for myself. There was just one thing: Despite all the ruined rides and warranty hassles, these people still couldn’t get them off there bike. As I do with any new “fad”, I sat on the side-lines for sometime, first rejecting them as a stupid gimmick, I watched amazed as riders all around me, many of them friends, continued along in this love-hate cycle of buying posts, having them break, getting them replaced, only to have them break again, and so on…and so on…and so on… A Year Long Test of Kind Shock’s Remote Height Adjustable Seatpost from success to failure and back againĭropper seat posts, made famous by the notorious Crank Brothers Joplin (a design based on the original Maverick Speedball) have been available for quite a few years now.
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