Submitted by
ffelix
a Cross Country Rider
from Truckee, CA USA
Date Reviewed: June 24, 2008
Strengths: Looong. Stiff. Innovative clamp is highly adjustable. Great scale markings on tilt & height.
Weaknesses: Hard to adjust.
Bottom Line:
The U.S.E. Sumo is an awesome seatpost for several reasons: first, it's long & stiff enough to let you get away with a smaller bike frame. It's hard to find long seatposts, which are really useful to a lot of women since we tend to have longer legs & shorter torsos. That means we're often way too stretched out on a larger frame.
Second, the clamp design is awesome! Traditional seatpost clamps don't actually allow the seat angle to change much, or even at all. But the U.S.E. design allows the seat to pivot infinitely. This is fantastic news for people who have trouble getting the weight off their soft parts.
Another fantastic feature of this seatpost is the permanent scale markings on both the tilt & height, which make it incredibly easy to reposition your saddle correctly after, say, lowering the seat for technical trails or to fit it in the car. No more homemade marks that just rub right off!
There are a few problems, though, which I hope U.S.E. will fix. Putting the saddle onto the post can be a nightmare. The bolt is short, so you pretty much have to take the clamp completely apart, then juggle all the little pieces back together again. This is tricky because the tolerances are snug--the seat rail grooves are a ridiculously tight fit.
Maybe that's to keep the seat from slipping back & forth, but it means it can be really hard to install & adjust the saddle fore & aft. For instance, to get my Saddleco saddle--whose rails are a tiny bit closer together than the Sella I replaced it with--onto the seatpost, I had to lever a wedge of steel between the rails, then use a rubber mallet to adjust it fore & aft. The Sella wasn't as much a problem, though.
Submitted by
evilgeek
a Cross Country Rider
from calgary, canada
Date Reviewed: May 30, 2006
Strengths: stiff but smooth, reasonably light
Weaknesses: clamp is a bit finicky
Bottom Line:
this is for a 400mm x 31.6mm carbon post with SUMO clamp.
i bought the post to save some weight, but also to smooth out the ride of my hardtail, and it does both. it's not the lightest carbon post around, but i still saved 140g switching from my old aluminum post. the carbon post is remarkable in that it's very stiff while peddling, but soaks up high frequency vibration, making it much less tiring to sit on. my old alu post flexed like mad when hammering, but beat me up the rest of the time.
i cleaned my frame of grease before installing, and it hasn't slipped at all. the seat clamp was a bit fiddly, but once set up it's been solid.
Submitted by
Chuck
a Weekend Warrior
from Oakland, CA
Date Reviewed: October 30, 2005
Strengths: Very light.
Weaknesses: Weak, flexy, creaks, the head - which is press fit into the post can spin.
Bottom Line:
I bought the post because it was light - lighter than the Thomsons, and reasonably priced at $90. There were no initial problems, but after use it began to creak. I thought this was the head - composed of many different parts. Lubing seat rails, bolts etc didn't have much effect. Recently the creaking got worse - I could feel movement in the post. Yesterday I noticed my seat had twisted about 10 degrees in the course of a technical climb. I smacked it back to straighten in, and noticed the head was twisting in the post.
Enough of that - I returned it today, and got a Thomson.
I ride hard - so this post may work for people with a lighter touch- but not me. I would not recomend this post to anyone who considers themselves tough on equipment.
Similar Products Used: Thomson, Titec, Syncros etc...
Bike Setup: Foes FXR, AM1 - this and that.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Peter Clark
a Cross Country Rider
from Nottingham England
Date Reviewed: October 14, 2000
Strengths: A very stiff long seat post, which is reasonably light for the length. No matter what shim used it always holds and feels stiff
Weaknesses: The price even though it is a very good seatpost.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the stiffest post I have try which gave a very reasuring feel to my bike as many seat post have either been to short of had to much flex which made the sadle fell very unstable when putting power down on the cranks. Overall this is a very good seatpost esspecialy if you have a small frame which needs a very long clearence from the the top tube to get the right sadle hight. The only problem is the price could do with being $10 cheeper
Similar Products Used: power tools 310mm seat post + Balance 300mm seat post
Bike Setup: KHS comp soft tail for cross country racing
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Charlie
a Cross Country Rider
from Sheffield, England
Date Reviewed: July 14, 2000
Strengths: Post clamp broke on first assembly which doesn't bode well for future use. However the customer service at USE to get a replacement was superb and they turned it around in 24 hours. The product seems really well made despite the initial hicup, so we'll see how it goes.
Bottom Line:
Well designed post, v/light, innovative clamp although broke straight away during assembly. Must have been a bad one. USE were very good at getting it sorted so we'll see how it goes. Not bad product for the money. V.light
Bike Setup: hardtail- full susp ti -allmost anything between- to single speed
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Alex Brown
a Cross Country Rider
from Rochdale, England
Date Reviewed: March 9, 2000
Strengths: Light, strong, double long!! fits all bikes, also available in 320mm guise
Weaknesses: A touch flexy
Bottom Line:
if you run a small frame like me (16" - 6ft tall) then you're going to have trouble finding a lightweight long and DURABLE post. I have run the U.S.E post for over a year now and i agree that is can feel a little flexy but the back of the bike is a little hard anyway. I love this post and have never had problems with slipping or squeaking, maybe 'cos the shim on my bike (30.2mm) is a composite whereas the smaller ones are machined aluminiumn. Gotta be four burning turds for value and performance.
Needed a nice long seatpost to fit a Sunn frame with 26.4mm diameter seat tube. USE seemed to fit the bill- light and one size fits all with the appropriate shim. Had it on the bike for a year and have always had a problem with it creaking due to the shim system not giving proper contact between post and seat tube. Also the post is really flexible so if I rode over a bump it shot me out of the seat with its compression rebound. I've finally had enough and changed to a Selcof Team but thats another story. Stay away from shims!
I havn't been able to find a 400mm long carbon seatpost. I'm looking for a little bit of flex over my current post. Anybody know of one made that won't break the bank too badly. (l Read More »
I have a short torso with long legs. When I need a bike, I'm in between two frame size. I need a medium frame (usually with a 80mm stem) for my torso but I would need a large frame Read More »
I'm looking for a nice, safe, but light and bump-compliant seatpost in 400mm length. It also needs to have a setback of 25mm or so, and it must be 27.2mm diameter for me.
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