most Loved or most hated!
Crank Bros joplin 4!

Last month a crew of Kingdomites travelled north to Sweden to take part in the Maxi Avalanche Cup in Åre. If you don't already know The Maxi it's the Champions league of enduro racing and the natural home for a drop seatpost test.

I'd been looking at an adjustable seatpost for my MTB enduro bike for a while but whilst doing the usual pre-purchase web research, I noticed that there was a lot of eHate floating around the forums for the Joplin Seatpost.

'Wobbly, breaks, never worked properly, my 4th replacement, Crank Brothers are abunch of......' You get the drift.

Just the ramblings of a few desktop riders who need to get out riding more. Right?

I noticed the MTB press was having a little nibble at the Joplin as well.

What, the MTB press those who draw their salaries by saying nice things about advertisers products had even rounded on the Joplin seatpost. That sealed the deal I needed to look no further, I had to get one

Before that though, let's reverse 20 years....

The concept of an adjustable seatpost is not new to me, I used to race a Yeti FRO with one of these bad boys attached to the seatpost back in the day.

A MTB gimmick that I'm sure had good intentions, but sadly didn't change my life or improve my racing performance.

So when adjustable seatposts came onto the scene I was naturally suspicious having already been embarrased by the above Hite Rite® years before.

Would this be yet another MTB embarassment purchase I would look back on and wish I'd spent the money on something else!

So here's a mini review and results of my seatpost spend up. This isn't a new product so if you know all this then fast forward a few para's...

The details...The seatpost delivers 4" of drop and weighs approx 500 grams, it's finished in black and bling gold and costs £200.

The fitting was easy as pie. It worked straight out of the box with minimal 'hammer time' to get it going, a few bounces and I was ready to play. It felt a bit wobbly but I was assured by The Forum Rats that that was how they felt!

The ride. I loaded my bike onto the Howies love bus and took it straight up to Sweden and it's first action was a practice run on the Maxi course the next day.

The course was a twenty minute downhill with various flat pedally bits and some ups, perfect terrain for a first test ride.

The extra power you can put into climbing with a saddle tucked into your arse is obvious to all who ride bikes but when you're on a downhill or AM rig with your saddle pinned down, you forget this and learn to live with the out the saddle grind.

So you're riding, then suddenly halfway through the grind you remember to flick the magic lever and the adjustable seatpost comes into life and smacks you in the arse like an unwanted uncle. And you're pedalling again, then with a flick of the thumb it's gone freeing you up to launch the bike down, is quite a simple product and concept.

Suddenly I could understand why all the top enduro pro's like Absalon and Co use them religiously to gain a competitive advantage over people like me.

Now to the FACTS. Love it or hate it.

Over the last 8 weeks I've rode and raced on the seatpost and it's worked perfectly delivering timelessly smooth drops and ups. It hasn't broken and has worked in all weather conditions tirelessly. Tick!

Will I go back to a conventional seatpost on AM duties? Never.

Was £200 an appropriate amount of money to spend on a tech product for a bike?

Yes. For the first time in my life a product made me faster! I finished 3rd in the 'over something' category.

But all the hate for this product has to be grounded in some facts right?

Well I guess it does but I've got zero complaints to add to this article, I've met 'real life' people who have had problems with The Joplin 4, but they got replacements quickly and their problems went away.

I also know that if you live in the UK the guys who distribute Crank Brothers (2Pure) have some of the best customer service going and deal with replacements and warranty issues efficiently and quickly.

Lastly, I'll add that on The Kingdom site we never review products that we get for free. So if it's bad we say so and if it's good we'll glow about it without contradiction or fear of losing a banner ad contract!

You can check out more about The Crank Bros Joplin 4 seatpost here....