Product Review: The Rinsten Spring Shock Absorber for bicycles
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| The Rinsten Spring on a Bike Friday |
Pros:
- Simple device, fits on any bike
- Accommodates riders up to 150 kg (330 lbs)
- Appears to work, good on small wheeled bikes
- Minimalist aesthetic
- Relatively Inexpensive
Considerations:
- You can’t as easily carry your bike upstairs on your shoulder
- Gets in the way of your toolbag
- You may need to cut down your seatpost to make it the right height
- Some may not like the “oscillating” sensation
- Adds 392g (0.85 lb)
VIDEO: A glimpse from the road
I WAS recently contacted by a mysterious person on LinkedIn, asking if I’d test a new bicycle shock absorber. The contact had a rather long, rather foreign-looking name, and I confess my first reaction was to dismiss it as a scammer from Russia along with the zillions of emails I get from factories in China asking if I want to order some traffic cones (yes, I’m the inventor of the Traffic Cone Bag).
But since I was heading out of the New York tundra and into a perfect Australian summer, I said, sure, beam it over!
When I arrived in Sydney and the package landed on my mother’s doorstep I hesitated to open it, wondering if I should wave a bomb detector over it - is this what ‘merica has done to me?
When I arrived in Sydney and the package landed on my mother’s doorstep I hesitated to open it, wondering if I should wave a bomb detector over it - is this what ‘merica has done to me?
What is the Rinston Spring?
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| 5 easy pieces - and no, it doesn't go on the handlebars like this. |
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| The Rinsten Spring fitted to my Bike Friday Pocket Rocket Pro with Terry Ti Men's Fly saddle |
The Rinsten Spring a heavy duty, U-shaped metal loop with a 4-piece clamp
that functions as a kind of “leaf spring” - it claims to absorb shock on any kind
of bicycle. The “upper tier” of the loop clamps to your seat rails, and the “lower
tier” clamps to your seat post, supposedly isolating your butt from any vibration traveling
up the seat post. “The
bump stops here” could well be its slogan…
The company
The video on both the website and Kickstarter campaign explains the product very clearly, though unfortunately in the same kind of infomercial voiceover they use for a miracle salad spinner or Dyson knock-off vacuum cleaner ... thankfully this is relieved towards the end of the video the charming team speaking in their delightful Ukrainian accents.
Absorbed with shock absorbers
There are many doohickies you can buy that attempt to
absorb road shock: suspension seat posts like the Cane Creek Thudbuster, suspension
forks, sprung saddles, hammock saddles (like the Brooks), split saddles (like the
Selle Anatomica), and suspended frames like the Softride, Bike Friday’s Air
Friday and the Moulton.
They all add weight and/or complication and/or goofiness, so
an advantage of the Rinsten Spring is its relatively minimalist aesthetic.
However, some weight weenies may not like having a bit over half a pound of metal added to their frame.
I ride a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket Pro, a 20” wheel performance folding bike. I've ridden this kind of bike for years, across countries with boneshaking roads like Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica and across Route 66 - not least because I worked for the company as a card-carrying Customer Evangelist for 9 years.
Small wheeled bikes have many advantages, but one disadvantage is a potentially harsher ride; big wheels do absorb more shock. It's just physics. Adding shock absorption helps reduce bodily fatigue - so you can ride longer.
Small wheeled bikes have many advantages, but one disadvantage is a potentially harsher ride; big wheels do absorb more shock. It's just physics. Adding shock absorption helps reduce bodily fatigue - so you can ride longer.
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| Cane Creed Thudbuster |
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| Bike Friday Air Friday with suspended titanium beam - the company's spin on the Softride |
Fitting the spring
The spring consists of 5 parts: the U-shaped thingo, a
3-part anodized aluminum clamp for attaching to the saddle rails, and a large central
bolt that sandwiches it all together.
The 2 open prongs of the U shaped thingo point towards the back, much like two tiny rocket blasters. Once you manage to juggle the 3 clamps into place and bolt it through, you can slide
the saddle back and forth along the rails depending on how springy you want it.
It does take a bit of fiddling to get it all right, and if you have had a
professional bike fit you’d want to make sure you adjusted it to match. There are helpful calibrations that also give it the spring a seriously techhy look.
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| View from a tailgator. You could hang a cell phone charm off that lower loop... |
Being 5' nothing, I had to slide the spring to its limit on my seatpost and it was JUST low
enough; any further and I would have had to get my beautiful Thomson Elite seatpost cut
down. The website suggests that some may need to do this.
Bummer alert: your toolbag faces eviction from its cozy home
under your seat – I managed to sandwich mine in the Spring's open maw by lashing it to the rails with velcro.
Another bummer: because the rails extend under the nose of the saddle, I was not be able to hoist my bike on my shoulder to carry it upstairs etc. This is probably not as much of a problem for people with "real" bikes - they can use the top tube.
Another bummer: because the rails extend under the nose of the saddle, I was not be able to hoist my bike on my shoulder to carry it upstairs etc. This is probably not as much of a problem for people with "real" bikes - they can use the top tube.
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| I managed to stuff my toolbag in Rinsten's mouth... |
On the road
I joined BikEast’s ride out to Watson’s Bay which is by and
large paved but with some rough stretches. I got a real sense that the spring was
doing its job as advertised – bumps were simply not as noticeable. I tend to ease up off on the seat
when roads are bumpy, and I notice I did not need to do that “stand on the
pedals” thing at all.
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| The spring in action |
Over the course of several days riding, however, the seat started to feel like it was oscillating more and more. Coming loose, even. I kept reaching behind to check it, asking my companions
of all was well back there; the seat seemed secure. Then, suddenly – and fortunately
at low speed - my seat slid backwards off the rails and onto the road. Holy helmet! I guess I hadn’t used enough elbow grease to tighten that critical bolt...
So, that's an absolutely, positively must do… tighten it good, and check it now and
then. Perhaps a pair of rubber stoppers on
the tip of each prong might be a good peace-of-mind modification. They could be
screaming pink to match my bike!
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| Notice how the seat worked its way to the end - minutes later the saddle was on the road. So tighten that bolt hard! |
I checked with the developer who said they originally included threaded ball ends to prevent this very thing from happening. But after testing
it in the Ukraine with cyclists riding hundreds of kilometers, no one's seat
came loose – so they dispensed with it.
Well, as a once-was system software tester who can break anything, I think I've persuaded them to put those balls back, with appropriately drafted legal disclaimer language. Basically, you can’t trust people do the right thing, and in a litigious society...
Well, as a once-was system software tester who can break anything, I think I've persuaded them to put those balls back, with appropriately drafted legal disclaimer language. Basically, you can’t trust people do the right thing, and in a litigious society...
The verdict and alternatives
For my Bike Friday it felt like an improvement, and I will probably experiment with putting it on my 16" wheel Bike Friday tikit where road shock is even more pronounced.
So why not just get a Brooks, I hear thousands of Brooks butts chorus? Well, not everyone wants a Brooks. I have an ultralight Terry Titanium Men’s Fly on all my bikes. The extra length of the men’s version gives it the hammock-like quality of the Brooks, while being slim and sporty as opposed to tractorseaty and curmudgeonly. But that’s purely aesthetic taste – and weight - we’re talking here.
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| The newer model has more sex appeal, available in 3 colors: gold, silver and black. |
So why not just get a Brooks, I hear thousands of Brooks butts chorus? Well, not everyone wants a Brooks. I have an ultralight Terry Titanium Men’s Fly on all my bikes. The extra length of the men’s version gives it the hammock-like quality of the Brooks, while being slim and sporty as opposed to tractorseaty and curmudgeonly. But that’s purely aesthetic taste – and weight - we’re talking here.
Lighter weight people might like to try the hammock-like Selle
Anatomica.
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| Brooks B17 |
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| Terry Men's Ti Fly |
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| Selle Anatomica |
I wondered if the Rinsten Spring could be made of different materials for different rider weights and so forth - carbon fiber and titanium “sprang” to mind. Iurii said it would break, but that “the research continues.”
You can get a Rinsten Spring on their March 21, 2017 Kickstarter campaign - at the time of writing it's already halfway to meeting its goal after barely a day in action. The website says, "There will be be 3 colors: gold, silver and black. And every backer only on Kickstarter will get with “Kickstarter Edition” engraving. Pick yours!"
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