Submitted by
BIGHaroHucker
a Downhiller
from Salt Lake City, UT
Date Reviewed: April 27, 2010
Strengths: Lightweight, Extremely strong, Very comfortable.
Weaknesses: None that I have experienced.
Bottom Line:
I bought this seat after bending several rail system seats. It didn't matter who they were made by or how strong they were supposed to be, I bent them. I am 6'9" and almost 300lb, and ride intermediate downhill/freeride. This is the ONLY seat that has held up for me. I bought it over 3 years ago and it has held up like a champ. It was a little sticky at first, but once broke in I really like the feel of the seat. I highly recommend this seat to anyone that bends seat rails.
Bike Setup: Haro X7, Marzocchi 888, Fox DHX5.0 Shock, SDG I-Sky
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Submitted by
TimP
a Cross Country Rider
from Cape Town, South Africa
Date Reviewed: January 18, 2010
Strengths: Light weight, looks and ease of use. No issues with seat coming loose, ever. Use it properly and it works perfectly. I have the SDG Bel Air SL seat whih is extremely comfortable and durable. Still 100% after 4,5 years.
Weaknesses: None at all.
Bottom Line:
This is teh best seat and post combo I have ever used. Its very light, not bthat expensive and looks great. the seat is extremely comfortable on long rides too. If I break it or wear it out, teh same post and seat are going back on...
Weaknesses: does not work, the seat keeps tilting back, even after tightening the bolt as hard as possible. after 5 times on re- tightening the bolt has now worn out and cant be tightened fully. hence the issue is now much worse
Bottom Line:
if you like looking at your bike but dont ride it then buy the Ibean.
Submitted by
Glynn Preston
a Cross Country Rider
from Kettering
Date Reviewed: June 4, 2009
Strengths: Light, easy to adjust
Better than kore I have broke 2 of their posts to date!
Weaknesses: Limited choice, harsh ride.
Bottom Line:
This is definiatly a love it or hate it product, it is light & cheap, & with loads of adjustment (dont understand these people saying it has limited adjustment)
Also I cant see how people are having slipping trouble as a medium torque leaves this super sturdy!
I have an sdg saddle, but started off using kore posts, my carbon one snapped within 6months & an ally one followed shortly after! The sdg post seems much more rigid.
No-one seems to have mentioned the harshness of the ride with these set ups, on my hard tail I really start to suffer on long day rides as there are no rails to add a bit of give.
I would suggest that on a full suss this product would b near to perfect!
Similar Products Used: Various carbon & top end standard systems
Bike Setup: Hummer xc, Nixon platinum, full xo
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Submitted by
Bribaba
a Cross Country Rider
from London, UK
Date Reviewed: April 23, 2009
Strengths: Immoveable, single bolt design. Study and light.
Weaknesses: No layback available as yet.
Bottom Line:
I've used this almost since it came out and never had a problem with it. It sits there, doesn't move and feels good with like minded saddles. Having got a new bike which requires a degree of layback, I may have to switch unless SDG come up with something.
Similar Products Used: Lots of different 'rails' saddles.
Bike Setup: Boardman Team hardtail
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Submitted by
Bobmajob
a Cross Country Rider
from Norwich, Norfolk, UK
Date Reviewed: January 3, 2009
Strengths: Light?
Weaknesses: Weak bolt. Proprietary rail system.
Bottom Line:
The I-Beam seatpost was part of a a complete Dahon Flo that I purchased. While setting up the bike I wanted to shift the saddle forward. The seatbolt was a loose fitting 5mm (I tried 5.5mm but that was too big) and the bolt burred and became useless in the process of trying to loosen it. So I stuck with the seat in its original position - thinking that the bolt must be tight. But I was wrong, the saddle slipped further back wrecking the little grooves on the rails. So both saddles and seatpost wrecked. I'm not a heavy rider so I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone.
Similar Products Used: Thomson Elite, Ritchey something, various unbranded
Bike Setup: Wheels, handlebars, the usual.
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Submitted by
Sandlover
a Cross Country Rider
from Namibia
Date Reviewed: November 19, 2008
Strengths: Light would be the only thing that springs to mind.
Weaknesses: Limited Saddle selection. Because of the I-beam. No place on the saddle to put a saddlebag. This is a personal thing as I do a lot of weekday rides of around 60 minutes and don't always want to carry a backpack with me.
I find it easier to "fine tune" saddle levels with two bolts as opposed to one on the side.
Bottom Line:
When I first saw the i-beam couldn't work out what the fuss was about. It does work, just limits your choice of perch.
I was convinced to give it a try when I bought my new bike mainly because of the weight advantage. Setup was nothing spectacular no quicker than the specialized with a conventional saddle.
Because you don't have much saddle choice the system limits you. It was also supplied with a shim as the post is too small for my seat tube. Net result, it constantly slides down. Fault of the LBS I know, but just adds to the irritation.
And that coupled with the saddle rubbing me raw leaves me massively irritated !! Something that has never happened to me before on any other saddle that I have used.
Because it is all proprietary components I will now have to replace everything. You either like that or don't; I don't.
Similar Products Used: Single release specialized seat post on Stumpy and Enduro that I demoed would be the closest.
Bike Setup: Morewood Shova St;DT 150 Fork ; I-9 Enduro wheels ; Forumula "The One" Brakes; All the rest Controltech and Sram.
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Submitted by
Adam Hunter
a Weekend Warrior
from UK
Date Reviewed: October 19, 2008
Strengths: Easy to adjust, saddle and post setup alot lighter than standard post and saddle with rails, cheap
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
Excellent post, paid £40 from wiggle for the post and saddle. I shaved a couple hundred grams off my old setup. Adjust it once and it doesn't move or need touching again. Perfect.
Submitted by
Joel
a Weekend Warrior
from Silver Spring, MD
Date Reviewed: March 4, 2008
Strengths: Solid and easy to adjust. Doesn't move and the SDG seat it's a comfortable ride. No more seat rails to bend
Weaknesses: Post started to bend after 3 months (27.2) but then again I am a 270lb fat dude. I have yet to find one that can hold my weight. I am sure if my frame could take a 30 mm or higher I would be fine.
Bottom Line:
After reading a few reviews of other people having problems with the seat sliding off, I would defiantly have to disagree. I am 270lbs and I have been way back on the seat and it has budges. I can honestly say I thought I would have broken this post by now but after 3 months of use I am just starting to see a little bit of bend where it goes into the frame (I would have this on any other post due to my size). I have not had to re-tighten or adjust the seat at all since I started using it over 3 months ago. Since there are no seat rails to bend, I can reuse the seat and replace just the post if I bend it. I have bent many seat rails and past as you can imagine with someone my size. So far this is the strongest I have used and I will keep on using!
Bike Setup: Frame T6061 aluminum Fork FOX 32 TALAS RLC, 140+120+100mm Rear shock Manitou Swinger 3-Swinger Air Crankset FSA Afterburner MegaExo 44/32/22 Shifters SRAM X-7 Trigger Brakes Avid Juicy 7 Brake levers Avid Juicy 7 Front derailleur Shimano LX E-type Rear derailleur SRAM X-9 Head set FSA Orbit Z Bottom bracket FSA Afterburner MegaExo Rear cog SRAM PG991 11-34 Front hub Chris King ISO Rear hub Chris King ISO Rims Mavic 823 Disc UST Tires Maxxis Ignitor UST, 26x2.35 Stem Cannondale XC3 Handlebar FSA XC281A OS Seat post SDG I-Beam Saddle SDG BelAir SL Pedals Shimano PD-M520 Chain SRAM PG991
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Submitted by
dez
a Downhiller
from sydney nth beaches n.s.w. australia
Date Reviewed: December 10, 2007
Strengths: simple strong good design
Weaknesses: I had the carbon post and have switched back to the alloy due to the amount of movement in the seat tube. No matter how much I cleaned or tightened it the post would wiggle from side to side and end up dropping. Every time i landed on the seat it would slip down really frustrating
Bottom Line:
stick with the alloy post carbon is a waste of money
Submitted by
kevin
a Downhiller
from portland, oregon USA
Date Reviewed: December 2, 2007
Strengths: Cool looking, great theory.
Weaknesses: Everything. I built up this bike and was extremely excited about getting it out for the first time yesterday. I mean I poured my heart into this bike. Within the first 10 minutes I made one slight bounce on it and the whole top cantered back and the seat slid out and shot off the rear wheel. That being a milisecond before my manhood was shot off the rear wheel after a nice scraping by the post itself.
THAT HAPPENED THREE MORE TIMES IN TWO HOURS! And yes, after the first time I really inspected to make sure every tooth was set and tightened the FU*K out of it.
Like I said, this is a great looking, clean set up. IT JUST DOES NOT WORK AT ALL.
Bottom Line:
Bottom line. Junk. Pretty to look at, worthless in reality.
Similar Products Used: Thomson elite (switching back to, along with another seat now)
Bike Setup: Mongoose EC-X 4x, Pike 454 Dual Air,Transition Revolution wheels,Azonic Nitro Cranks/Bash, Juicy 7's,Nevegal 2.35's,Funn 10 year orange bars, SIC LLc stem etc....
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Submitted by
Clifford Josey
a Weekend Warrior
from Medford Oregon
Date Reviewed: October 14, 2007
Strengths: Simple design, super light.
Weaknesses: Can't slam seatpost as low as other designs on longer seat tube frames.
Bottom Line:
Previous 2 reviews should be erased. This is the most adjustable, trouble free, lightweight seat/post design out there. Almost indestructable. Those guys didn't read the instructions or something. If you want to save weight on your big bike, this is the way. The I-fly, FRD, and I-sky seats are all great. I have used them all. Get It.
Submitted by
John Runner
a Downhiller
from Connecticut
Date Reviewed: October 7, 2007
Strengths: Light, Adjustable
Weaknesses: If you sit on the seat then it will roll backwards around the pivot and drop you onto the rear wheel. I must tighten it several times per ride, and the next time I sit on it, it collapses again. It is really, really annoying. Stick with rails.
Bottom Line:
The post and the SDG seat are very light, but you cannot sit on them because the seat will rotate back on the post because of the stupid Ibeam interface. It is a flawed design. I want my rails back. Its cheap and light though, so If youre a freerider who never sits on his seat, go for it! However, if you sit on your seat, look at a non-Ibeam seat. (however this is all based upon the assumption that I didn't get a dud, maybe others are better. However, I'm not going to risk it to find out. Thompson, here I come.)
Hi guys and gals,
Does anyone recommend SDG I-Beam saddles? I'm not so much after shape/comfort advise, obviously that's a personal decision, but how is the actual I-Beam rail as Read More »
I'm currently running an EC90 seat post (190g) and WTB Sillverado saddle (200g). The saddle leaves something to be desired in the comfort stakes and my shorts get caught on the sad Read More »
Having just killed one old seat, another on the way out, and my only remaining seat currently NOT agreeing with my hind end, I just realized that I'm pretty much out of decent seat Read More »
I just wanted to post that I love my SDG I-beam. I am 6'9" and 300lb and wear out bikes in a big way.
I bought a specialized HR comp a few years back and tore the cranks off in Read More »
It was in the mag a few years ago. I think it was a DH bike. I think it was a grey color with some blue graphics. Does anyone remember who made it? Read More »
