Reid Welch
1 MW
It arrived on Friday.
The Thud Buster is a parallelogram linkage shock absorbing seatpost
sprung with easily replacable elastomer cylinders.
The elastomers are colored white, gray, blue and so on, to denote
increasing firmness.
The kit as supplied is well-boxed, contains the TB fitted with default blue elastomers. Included are a pair of gray and a pair of black elastomers.
Because I'm 150lbs weight, I asked the inventor/vendor at Thud Buster.com to swap out the black bumpers (I'd never use those)
for a pair of softy-whities. The whites are super plush under my light butt, but they cannot last very long; I'm overtaxing their design load limit. But soft, ah, so good!
At present I have a mix of one white and one gray.
The product really is astounding! Better than my most optimistic dream.
I can ride fast across my neighbor's turf--a bumpy, rutted acre,
and remain fully on the saddle--no discomfort. It's like bobbing over waves of water instead of thumping my buttski into every gopher hole.
On asphalt, the same result. I can relax, lightly holding the handlebars,
sit well back on the saddle to save my groin..and bob along gently oscillating. By not having to grip the handlbars hard, as before, very little shock is inputted to my upper body; this saves my wrists from pain.
Thud Buster has transformed my ride.
Another wish was granted by the Thud Buster:
to set the seat farther back--as far as possible.
This gives my bike the geometry of a "crank forward" Rans bike.
It's much nicer work to pedal now. In fact, it's fun to pedal now.
Leaning back if I like, and pulling on the long handlebars, my legs can
dig into the pedals. My upper back, lats, get a good stretch and work into the load. It's toning for the upper body.
The Thud Buster does all that it claims.
I'm also impressed by the quality of the construction;
it's very substantial.
The bushings are sintered bronze and the four journals are steel.
These are large in diameter. Wear should be nil.
Yet, the bushings and pivots are easily replaced if they ever wear.
Elastomers will fail in time. Five minutes to replace them.
The device looks like a lifetime investment.
I got mine from Thudbuster.com--the "LT"/ long travel model.
Other vendors sell the Thud Buster for as little as $100;
but then you have to pay extra for the "Crudbuster" mud and dirt boot,
which is not really required if you have a rear fender and ride in the street.
Five inches is wanted, minimum, between the top of the bike's seat tube receptacle and the seat's mounting rails. If you have much less than that, the ST Thudbuster is indicated instead of the LT.
Good product; ten stars on a scale of five--assigned for the TB's excellent first impressions
Reid
I'll get some detail pictures up soon.
Will show how the setback looks, and how I can lay the seat even farther back
by shortening one or both elastomers a bit---OR by preloading the elastomer stack. : I prefer the former, cos it's set-back that I want for my ride.
The Thud Buster is a parallelogram linkage shock absorbing seatpost
sprung with easily replacable elastomer cylinders.
The elastomers are colored white, gray, blue and so on, to denote
increasing firmness.
The kit as supplied is well-boxed, contains the TB fitted with default blue elastomers. Included are a pair of gray and a pair of black elastomers.
Because I'm 150lbs weight, I asked the inventor/vendor at Thud Buster.com to swap out the black bumpers (I'd never use those)
for a pair of softy-whities. The whites are super plush under my light butt, but they cannot last very long; I'm overtaxing their design load limit. But soft, ah, so good!
At present I have a mix of one white and one gray.
The product really is astounding! Better than my most optimistic dream.
I can ride fast across my neighbor's turf--a bumpy, rutted acre,
and remain fully on the saddle--no discomfort. It's like bobbing over waves of water instead of thumping my buttski into every gopher hole.
On asphalt, the same result. I can relax, lightly holding the handlebars,
sit well back on the saddle to save my groin..and bob along gently oscillating. By not having to grip the handlbars hard, as before, very little shock is inputted to my upper body; this saves my wrists from pain.
Thud Buster has transformed my ride.
Another wish was granted by the Thud Buster:
to set the seat farther back--as far as possible.
This gives my bike the geometry of a "crank forward" Rans bike.
It's much nicer work to pedal now. In fact, it's fun to pedal now.
Leaning back if I like, and pulling on the long handlebars, my legs can
dig into the pedals. My upper back, lats, get a good stretch and work into the load. It's toning for the upper body.
The Thud Buster does all that it claims.
I'm also impressed by the quality of the construction;
it's very substantial.
The bushings are sintered bronze and the four journals are steel.
These are large in diameter. Wear should be nil.
Yet, the bushings and pivots are easily replaced if they ever wear.
Elastomers will fail in time. Five minutes to replace them.
The device looks like a lifetime investment.
I got mine from Thudbuster.com--the "LT"/ long travel model.
Other vendors sell the Thud Buster for as little as $100;
but then you have to pay extra for the "Crudbuster" mud and dirt boot,
which is not really required if you have a rear fender and ride in the street.
Five inches is wanted, minimum, between the top of the bike's seat tube receptacle and the seat's mounting rails. If you have much less than that, the ST Thudbuster is indicated instead of the LT.
Good product; ten stars on a scale of five--assigned for the TB's excellent first impressions
Reid
I'll get some detail pictures up soon.
Will show how the setback looks, and how I can lay the seat even farther back
by shortening one or both elastomers a bit---OR by preloading the elastomer stack. : I prefer the former, cos it's set-back that I want for my ride.
