Pro Discover Seat Post: At The Finish – by Guitar Ted
The Pro Discover Seat Post has a name which belies what it is all about, which is comfort and vibration reduction for the gravel rider. In case you missed the opening post on this, ah…….post, well take a look HERE. After riding the Pro Discover over varied terrain and also having compared it with a few other posts I have in my possession at this time, I can give you all a final verdict on how this Dyneema infused seat post works to help you out with that annoying buzz that can cause fatigue and discomfort for some riders.
The PRO Discover post is a carbon post infused with a fabric called “Dyneema”, (see links in original post on this, linked above), which allows PRO to have this post manufactured with a nice, light weight, and still retain its toughness and vibration eating characteristics. So they say. Does it actually do this? And if so, how does this compare with other strictly carbon posts and the few suspension seat posts available for gravel riding? I sought to find this out in the last several weeks.
The Pro Discover seat post certainly has the lightweight bit down at the 218 gram mark, so as far as a lightweight component goes that claims extra strength, I was pleasantly surprised by that. Now as far as riding goes, well, it is different, but not terribly so. I would liken this post to the Whiskey No. 7 post which I have ridden extensively. It has a nice flex to it and it seems to erase the higher frequency buzzes that the Pro Discover post does as well. I A/B’ed the Pro Discover post with a Specialized C-GR post, which has a claim of vibration reduction, some small amount of “travel”, and flexes along its exposed length as well. I found no appreciable differences between the two. They are very similar in feel. Too close to call it for me.
I also own a couple titanium Salsa Cycles Regulator posts. The titanium flexes but it is a different sensation here. Instead of a “flex-rebound” and then back to normal, the titanium seems to oscillate just a tiny bit. In my opinion, most of the carbon posts tend to rebound quickly. This can lead to a situation where your rear end leaves the saddle, or you get bounced enough that you are not “fully planted” for a millisecond. The titanium post didn’t do that. It’s rebound was tamer, and different, in that it acted more spring-like. In terms of vibrations, I felt the titanium post wasn’t quite what the Pro Discover is, in terms of eating up the buzz, but it is close.
In terms of riding, the Pro Discover post was a typical ride experience. If I was getting that vibration reduction, it wasn’t anything so noticeable that I could at anytime feel it. I had to think about it. When I focused on what was happening, I could tell that my hands and feet were definitely getting buzzed more than my backside. The same goes for the other seat posts mentioned in this review as well. I just don’t feel like the seat posts do enough to make one go, “Oh wow! I’d never ride without that post!” They are nice, but you know……not amazing. Especially not almost $300.00 worth of amazing. Same for the C-GR. The bargain here is the Whiskey No. 7 post which can be had for under $100.00 online.
And what of these suspension posts? Where do those fit in? Well, they are vastly heavier than anything we are talking about here, but they blow away these posts if what you are looking for is absolute total isolation from vibrations. The Redshift ShockStop post, which we have on review now, is just such a component. That said, there are other reasons besides weight that may keep you off a full-on suspension seat post. We will get into that when we write up the final take on the Redshift post.
At The Finish: Getting back to these carbon posts, the Pro Discover post and the C-GR seem to be in a similar league both in price and in intentions. However; the C-GR has a ton of offset which really limits its appeal. Plus, it has funky looks which may, or may not, appeal to you. The PRO Discover post, on the other hand, is very traditional looking, works with seat bags, and has a dead simple saddle clamp. It does the lightweight thing, it does mute a lot of higher frequency vibrations, and it has a decent amount of give to it, if your bike fit allows for a fair amount of seat post extension. If you barely have any post showing, well – you lose that benefit.
The PRO Discover has the Dyneema factor as well. I cannot say if it works or not. I am glad it is there though, because the last thing I want to experience again is a shattered carbon post. Yes- I’ve been there. I escaped injury, but I certainly have been a bit gun-shy about running a carbon post since then. The PRO Discover with Dyneema gives me something to assuage my fears, and that’s a big plus from where I see things. That said, it is an expensive post. No getting around that. You’ll have to decide if the low weight and claims of strength make the value needle move into your favor.
Note: PRO sent over the PRO Discover Seat Post at no charge to Riding Gravel for test and review. We are not being paid nor bribed for this review and we always strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
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