Do Suspension Seat Posts Work? Cane Creek eeSilk+ Review

so i'm sure plenty of you have finished a long day ride and come back with soreness down there or perhaps just some back pain we all know cycling can create wear and tear especially during bike packing trips where you ride multiple days on end often times over rough terrain so today i want to chat about one tool that has truly been eye-opening for me this year and that is the kane creek e silk plus carbon [Music] before i get into it i just want to mention that this video is supported in part by salsa cycles and the new salsa cycles journeyer the journeyer is designed to be a gateway to a wide range of cycling experiences whether riding or racing gravel going bike packing or loading up with racks and paneers or frankly just riding around town journeyers long and low geometry boost stability increasing rider confidence all at a very inviting price point so to learn more about the salsa cycles journey you can hit this card right here or you can visit salsacycles.com i'll admit i'm new to using these types of systems these seat posts and my perspective is that of someone who actually has had success without them but suspension in seat posts have been around for a really long time and after using a few systems over the last year i've got a greater perspective and appreciation for them now there are definitely more factors and ways of making a bike more comfortable like bigger volume tires using certain frame materials and even adding thick bar tape or grips to your bike and i did a whole video on this which is linked in the description below what i have found specifically with suspension seat posts is that the added flex gives elongated comfort during the day but it's also a tool to help with chronic pain like back pain if you're having back issues so while the fedbuster has been around for years the e-silk plus is cane creek's latest suspension seat post designed to soften any gravel or mix surface road it falls in between the thud buster and the e-silk giving riders 35 millimeters of tunable compliance the seat post is available in 31.6 and 27.2 post diameters both in carbon and aluminum varieties i did test the carbon variety the c-post has a max extension of 287 millimeters and a minimum extension of 80 millimeters so the e-silk plus uses the same linkage technology found on both the thud buster and the e-silk seat posts but unlike the thud buster the e-silk series posts use a simple pin tool and quick turn of a bolt head to detach the linkage so that you can easily swap out elastomers which is actually very easy to do the post comes stock with a number five medium elastomer but i found personally that the number three works best for me which does give me a more softer supple ride and i am a hundred and fifty pounds or so king creek does sell the number one elastomer for riders under a hundred pounds or firmer elastomers such as their number seven or ten for heavier riders or folks that are just looking for a more stiff feel so saddles clamped to the post in a rather traditional manner but it does use a titanium thumbwheel bolt on the carbon version which is pretty easy to use and does help micro adjust the tilt of the saddle so seatposts vary incredibly and there's a lot that goes into the comfort of a seat post like the material used the exposed length and of course offset so when you add a tunable suspension seat posts that have those characteristics you have a lot of added comfort and compliance to make for a more enjoyable experience so i'm not super tall i'm five foot nine and a half inches and i typically don't have a lot of exposed seat post on most of my non-mountain bikes but because the post does have a 12 millimeter offset paired with the carbon variety of this post it offers a decent amount of flex and small bump vibration damping so say i was a taller rider i do think i would get a bit more out of the carbon post and the improved spring rate it has over the aluminum post but the beauty of the e-silk plus is that it has that capacity to provide 35 millimeters of compliance or travel whatever you want to call it while also lending those carbon characteristics i found this to not only be extremely beneficial on my day-to-day riding but also when the riding got more rugged the e-silk plus has not only allowed me to maintain a rather natural pedal stroke but it also gave me the additional comfort without being overly active like some other suspension seat posts on the market it almost made me forget that any additional support was there in the first place and that is definitely a defining feature of this seat post plus it's super light coming in at 323 grams which for what it's worth is just as light if not lighter than some aluminum seat posts out there i found that i use the ecl plus only on my rigid drop bar bikes normally where a dropper post would be overkill and while this post might hold one back during a super steep technical descent it's a decent trade-off for comfort especially when the grades level out a bit maybe another downside to this or any suspension seat post is well there's kind of a lot going on here so that means there's just more things to break plus mine actually i had to clean this out kind of often because it ended up making quite a bit of creaking noise in the bushings and pins not the end of the world but definitely an annoyance the e silk plus post is certainly going to set you back the aluminum variety will cost you 219 usd and the carbon variety is 319 usd that's more expensive than some dropper posts out there but you are not only getting a product that works that has made a difference at least in my opinion on my bike packing trips and longer day rides but you're also getting a quality product from a reputable brand a brand that has actually been making suspension seat posts for a very long time no it's not going to be for everyone and yes there are some other cheaper options out there but the simplicity of the elastomers and the subtle nature of the compliance is a winning combination in my eyes so what do you all think about the cane creek e silk plus seat post let me know below as always thank you all so much for watching and until next time pedal further [Music] you

Channel: BIKEPACKING.com

Views: 61,352

Keywords: bikepacking, bike packing, Cycling

Id: Y84EmP4yzXQ

Length: 6min 56sec (416 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 28 2022