Review: Control Tech Scandium seatpost
review
Last update:
3 March, 2007
Control Tech are US brand with a big name in road and mountain bikes.
They have a couple of BMX specific stems but haven't really cracked the
market yet.
 I
was given the new Control Tech Scandium seatpost a few months ago for
review. BMXUltra.com team rider Jonathan "Jon Jon" Hoare was
also running the seat post. My first impressions were that it was light,
very light, and looked slick with the matt black finish.
When installing the post I found it difficult to get the clamp over the
rails but that's typical with most seatposts these days, and my big clumsy
fingers don't help either. It was the clunk that the post made when I
first tightened it right up that worried me. I thought I had over tightened
the bolt, snapping it, but it was just the clamp settling into place on
the seat rails. The clamp mechanism came loose a couple of times. I worked
out that it was because I tried to tilt the seat angle back too far. The
angle you can have the seat on is quite limited due to the design of the
adjuster. If you have the seat angled too far back it rocks backwards
and forwards as you sit down and stand up which eventually loosens the
bolt. By tipping the nose down that was no longer a problem.
 During
the testing period Jon Jon managed to snap the bolt on his seatpost. It
could be that he had over tightened it, but I think the bolt is more suited
to road or mountian biking. A stronger bolt should be used to cope with
the constant abuse that a BMXer would dish out. It wasn't a big deal,
if this does happen the bolts can be replaced and they are not very expensive.
Features and specs.
- 3D forged + CNC aluminium.
- Micro-adjuster seat clamp.
- Available in 26.8, 27.0, 27.2, and 31.6mm diameters.
- 250, 300, and 350 mm lengths.
- 4/5" offset.
- Weighs 185 grams
Rating 14.5/20:
Value for money: |
3/5 |
Weight: |
5/5 |
Functionality: |
2/5 |
Looks/Finish: |
4.5/5 |
Comments:
- The Scandium seatpost won't last as long as a seatpost built specifically
for BMX. We had to replace the bolt for it during the testing period.
- Designed for road and mountain biking, the Scandium is light.
- I wasn't impressed with the limited range of movement in the angle
of the seat. I also had a lot of trouble with the mechanism coming loose
at first.
- The matt black finish with the etched logo looks awesome.
For more information check out www.controltechbikes.com.
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