Foiled again! The official launch date for the Kronolog is March 5, and CB has asked us to remove the pics and specs. Perhaps they’re not final, who knows. If you saw the goods already, consider yourself ahead of the curve. If not, rest assured we’re using the next couple of weeks to get some of the more technical questions answered and get some better photos. Possibly even some real, actual hands on time with the new post! Stay tuned…
Crank Brothers seems to be the Apple of bicycle products. These guys “get” design and obviously have a really good ID team or house it out. But whatever the case, it’s not just engineering. They appreciate the value of great aesthetic design in addition to functionality.
Love how the thumb lever is their company logo. Nice detail.
“mounts to a 31.8 handlebar and uses standard shifter cable…”
Wouldn’t you want to mount it closer to the grip/shift/lever area of a bar? The 31.8mm area of most bars is pretty far centered (by the stem), at least on all the bars I’ve ridden. May just be a typo, but I sure hope that clamp isn’t 31.8mm. That would disqualify the Bros for me.
that is an awesome seat post. that is on my list for the future. crankbrothers makes the best in everything they do. i use their cobalt 3 seatpost that is strong, iodine 3 stem that is solid, iodine stainless headset, and of course candy 3 clip less pedals. anyone that has had a bad experience is purely on little knowledge of how to install and/or what the item is meant to be used for.
@evan i think crankbrothers is a branch of the apple brand, i actually own a 2nd generation ipod nano that i have had going for over 7 years! no problems at all
if the post is really infinitely adjustable, the clamp has to grip the smooth inner shaft tightly enough to support the rider’s weight over impacts but still allow thumb actuated release.
The air spring pressure has to be high enough to help support the post, but low enough to allow rapid drop.
And too much lube (or moisture) will cause the clamp to slip, too little will cause slow return.
This seems like a design that will be tough to execute in a reliable package. Crank Brothers does not have a great track record in this regard.
Evan – really? You’re entitled to your own opinion but others are entitled to opine that Crank Bros products are the fecal matter of the bike industry.
I hope that other suck^^^ … uh gear testers have the privilege of reviewing this fine Crank Bros thoroughly refined and quality-assured seat post and good luck to all!
Shit. I thought I was cynical until I read those comments. Sure like most of Crank Brother’s ideas it looks like something that is a good idea. If there past attempts at manufacturing are any example of how this thing will work, I’m guessing it will be a good idea to stay away.
@bone, I’m pretty sure any infinitely adjustable height seatpost currently on the market uses fluid and a valve to hold the post in place, no mechanic clamps are involved. Which makes this unique and also gives Dave’s question validity.
Another POS from Crank Bros. These guys fancy themselves like Apple or Bang Olufsen but they miss the mark everytime. They’re all about looking cool and being different and the latest trendy colorway but their reliability is a joke. I lost count of the freehub failures for my riding buddy after 6 (everytime they claimed the newest latest redesign). The Joplin had 1/2″ slop out of the box and failed routinely as well. I’ve even seen their headsets rust and fall apart.! The eggbeater was their only real novel idea and those too failed all the time the first few years and even now, 10 years later, semi-regularly. Never had a Shimano pedal fail on me.
I tried this new post on Hans’ bike…felt like the biggest pile you could imagine! Rough as hell and still had some slop. The 3″ long blob tat cable entry takes the cake though. WTF is the point of a dropper post if I my seattube effectively becomes 3″ longer?! Do yourself a favor and do not be tempted by yet another CB eyecandy pile of junk.
Impressive that so many sleuths have exposed the fatal flaws without even holding one! Since my crystal ball skills aren’t quite as polished I will withhold judgement until I try it. It certainly must be an improvement over the wretched Joplin, I like the feature changes and it looks great in the pics. Hopefully it’s a performer on the trail.
craigsj – Pretty sure his comment meant you couldn’t drop your seat as low. Adjustable seatpost or not, I defy you to drop in on a steep gnarly descent with the seat tickling your underside. If that protrusion is indeed 3″ long, my 18″ seatube now becomes 21″. I for one think tcmtnbikr’s comment was right on the money…einstein.
I have worked in the sports action industry long enough to realized the opinions of bike shop guys are really either based on their ego or fact. Are they willing to look at a product and facts about that product or are they just forming an easy negative opinion to have one. I have been riding CB pedals and wheels for 2 years….whatever issues they had before that are history cuz the stuff rocks now.
And on Customer service and warranty, I have noticed that if i call in ANYWHERE being a jerk-know-it-all i get far less help and service than if i call in being cool. Of course bike shop guys never call in with ego or attitude….never.
I really wish CB was a public company because I would love to short their stock. I don’t care how much flashy industrial design, packaging, and colors they come out with, they’ve !@#$’d themselves and their brand with deplorable reliability. If they’re around in 5 years I’ll eat my shorts. I literally threw their wheels in the garbage after the 5th failure. I wouldn’t even sell the new warrantied wheel they gave me…why subject some other soul to their crap!
WTF, No matter what CB comes out with you guys sh!t on it. What do you guys do in your spare time? Not ride, if you are sitting behind a screen in your underwear making comments on a product you have never tried. What happened your xbox live server go out? Just because CB wont sponsor your 3 person biker gang you are pissy? Or you cant afford the stuff? What is it? Cuz i ride the stuff and it works. You want rank and file stuff the big “S” companies pump out and make you buy cuz they own half your shop….fine offer your customers the same crap the shop down the streets sells too. Dont give any support to guys trying to think outside the box, nah just keep being too cool and write shit online pretending you ride when all you do is fix flats part time and rent your parents basement out.
As a mtn biker for 20 years, a shop owner, and Crank Brothers user, I agree that their stuff is really sh*t in the reliability department. I mean, I have had only 1 pedal failure but that was on an old pair that were due for replacement after many rebuilds over the years.
The great thing is their stuff is easy to work on and invites a hands-on approach. The bad thing is if you don’t maintain the stuff (90% or more of the market) the CB stuff has a higher than average failure rate. Much higher.
In a given season, I will send back 6-8 pedals to CB. Maybe 1 to look, but usually they’ll send me an axle and we’ll fix it in house. It saves us 10 days of snail mail time compared to CB who requires us to send the offending part back in for repair. Never delt with a Time pedal failure in the last 7 years. Maybe 1 shimano pedal a year but they too will send a replacement versus us waiting on a repair.
Given the parts and materials we see in CB pedals, its a crime that they don’t offer replacement pedals while companies that manufacture more complex (at a higher cost) pedals will gladly send us replacements.
The cranks… oh those sucked. Never saw one that didn’t fail.
The wheels… we keep seeing exploded freehub bodies.
The Joplin… a known poor design repackaged from Maverick. They leak or need service if you use it heavily.
After a decade riding CB, when my next set wear out, I’m jumping ship. Sorry guys, get your act together.
I’ve just left the bike industry after working in shops for nearly 10 years. Every Joplin post we sold went back. Every one. We decided to stop selling them as soon as we’d seen how (relatively) reliable the Reverb was.
Here in the UK the distributor (2pure) are excellent with warranty for them- you send it back, they fix it. I guess when CB pick up the tab it’s OK for them. They fail repeatedly too.
Personally I’d not touch their products and could never recommend them to customers having seen freehub failures and riders with an axle left in their crank and pedal body on their shoe 10 miles from home. I used the Smarty and Mallet when I lived in Australia. The Smarties I used for on road commuting and while I was in Oz there was maybe 1 day of rain a month, probably less. The Smarty bearings were dead in 3 months, pedal totally siezed and the cleats lasted 2 minutes.
For your own sake, avoid their products.
