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.
Rating 14.5/20:
| Value for money: | 3/5 |
| Weight: | 5/5 |
| Functionality: | 2/5 |
| Looks/Finish: | 4.5/5 |
Comments:
For more information check out www.controltechbikes.com.