I have a Maverick Durance, which although the effective seat angle is 72 degrees, the seat tube bends quite drastically thus…

I have pretty much given up on the Maverick Speedball post I had fitted in the picture (it’s blown up on me a couple of times now, despite proper servicing) and currently have a KS i900 fitted (also very unreliable IMO). Just got a small tax rebate, so thinking of binning the others (or ebaying for spares repairs) and fitting a Reverb.

BUT… Will it be ok? Before the Speedball, I had a Thomson post fitted, but to be able to run my preferred Spesh saddle, I had to run a Thomson layback, back to front, otherwise the nose pointed skywards. Before that, I had an SDG Bel Air on a Thomson inline post, and I could just about get the desired angle on that. Will I be able to keep the saddle flat enough with a Reverb, or will it be nose skyward time?

I really don’t think a reverb is going to make much difference from the KS 900. I run a reverb and most of my the people I ride with run the KS I would say they are about the same in reliability, but the KS need the cable cleaning quite a bit.

You own one of those ^^ and that’s your worry? 😕

Not what I asked to be fair.

Happier fixing/rebuilding a Reverb than the i900 anyway (work in a shop with a Fisher’s account and direct access to the kit to rebuild them) as well as it being a better design.

tbh the angle is probably causing the reliability problems. The benefits of having the seat tube at that angle are going to be offset by the poor loading of the seat post. Bad enough on a normal fixed one but even worse for a dropper.

The angle of that seatpost has got to be the reason they’re failing on you. Think about what the forces are doing compared when it’s close to vertical. That’s got to be beyond what its designed to cope with.

The angle of that seatpost has got to be the reason they’re failing on you.

Really?

Cos the Speedball failed cos it was a cobbled together from 2nd hand parts post that I bought for “spares or repair” and didn’t expect too long from (I got about 4 rides before it gave up), and the KS i900 failed whilst I was using it on another bike. Since then, I have rebuilt it, and it’s still not very nice to use (very stiff, not at all smooth compared to a Reverb) and the head comes loose (I have threadlocked it properly, but it still won’t stay put and the saddle spins).

So as you can see (and as other Maverick owners will testify, it has not caused them problems) the seat tube angle isn’t the issue (other than for potential saddle angle).

because normally the loads are almost vertically down the seat post. With that extreme angle you are putting a lot of bending moment on the bushing and upper tube which won’t be good for the life of the post. But the reason your others might be failing may be due to some other cause before this takes its toll.

mboy – Member

Since then, I have rebuilt it, and it’s still not very nice to use (very stiff,

Not meaning to be rude, but, rebuild it better! Nowt stiff about my i900R.

Though that doesn’t mean I’d choose it for a very slack-tubed bike, older KSs had a habit of wearing the stanchion at the back as it was under the most pressure… Haven’t seen it recently but it’d be on my mind.

I bought 2 reverbs with this problem lurking in the back of my mind. Hence why I buy 100mm drops, not 125’s. See how it goes as they won’t know it’s on a Mav if it fails?

Every response has missed what the question was!

However, I can’t answer it anyway…

well his question was “will it be okay” we just gave a different part of the post that might not be okay 😉

As for the angle if the OP measures his saddle angle I can try and adjust mine to the same angle on a reverb.

The spesh command post blacklite has a universal clamp system that would allow you to achieve the desired angle although i think other posters are correct in mentioning that the extreme angle involved will prematurely wear any dropped system and its an expensive way to find out!

I just fitted my Reverb and on the clamp it has +/- 12deg but if I wind the clamp all the way closed on the front then it goes just over 30 deg (about 32-35 but it’s hard to be exact) but you may want a longer rear bolt for that.

If you only ride steep downhills you will be okay 😉

I have noticed on my trance x 29 that has a slightly less extreme SA that the Reverb is stiff to lower in the seated position feels normal when you sit on the nose to lower it. Must be putting extra stress on the bushings.