S&M: Seats, Guts, Forks 'n Frames

S&M have got some new product shots out to coincide with all those rumours flying around, but I'll stick to the bits:



A very un-S&M looking plastic seat, the P-Rail. Well, it's unlike current S&M stuff anyway. They've hinted at it's 80's roots so I suppose they're ticking some style boxes there. If you can't handle the techni-colour there'll be a padded version too and I'm sure black will make the cut.



Then there is this little adapter they're calling the P-Guts, that'll let you run a railed seat on a pivotal post. It's not a bad idea and really simple, kind of makes you wonder why, or if, someone hasn't done it before. It'll probably cost almost as much as a new seat post, but at least you'll be able to run your seat right back and out of the way with a pivotal post - if you're that way inclined.



Pitchfork XLT Prototypes: Tapered legs and integrated race. Better late than never. In production at the end of July.



Last but not least, the re-issue of the Holmes frame and forks. The head tube and bb shell look pretty slick in their raw machined metal glory and apparently the dropouts pictured are going to be "doubled up". BUT, original geometry?

Want to design bikes for Fit?

This message was posted on the Ride UK site. It seems that Fit are looking for a new product designer. Pretty strange place to post a Position Vacant notice for a product designer if you ask me. Apart from posting the ad on The Come Up, this would have to be the best way of generating a flood of emails from unqualified kids all over the world, which would then take days to sift through, just in case there happened to be one from an actual designer or engineer in there.

And why post it in the UK?

I have my own theory on this:
I reckon that they are trying to pinch Chris Harrison from Federal bikes. He had an interview up on bmx union a while back and seems pretty switched on. Even more suspicious is that in the ad it says "Just in case you are currently working for another company". Hmmm... corporate espionage is afoot.

There is a massive thread on SRPFLS where just about everybody puts in their two cents about the job, the industry and just about everything else. So I thought there was no harm in adding mine.

All that aside, it doesn't really seem that there would be loads of design work to do at Fit. They're damn popular, but isn't that cause they've got a shit hot team of street shredders that blaze up on camera, rather than for pushing bmx design in bold new directions?

They're more of a marketing success you'd have to say, making great videos and having a nose for a trend. Case in point: taking a stock standard seat post and cutting to 78mm long. That doesn't take an engineer or designer. But maybe that'll change.

More plastic stuff to sit on

When do you sit on your seat. Almost never. So you don't need padding. OK agreed.

Everyone runs their seat at the same angle and the same height. Yes? Yes.

So a seat and post in one, what's the problem? They were around in the old days and now they're back and smelling suspiciously of trendiness.

Fly have been working on theirs for at least a couple of years, but still isn't available. Nothing wrong with that, you'd hope that they'd be testing it, redesigning and testing again. That's pretty much how Fly, IMHO, have so many good and innovative bits.

They say they've been testing polymers for the seat, getting the mix right so it's rigid without being brittle. They also added the aluminium sleeve to the inside of the post to stop the post crushing when you tighten the clamp. I don't have a weight for the seat, but I guess it's light, cause otherwise you'd just have an aluminium post wouldn't you?

KHE banged this one out a year or so ago - plastic seat on a ali post. The whole baseball thing? I don't know. Just... why? And I've had a couple of bad experiences with KHE parts that just seemed like they weren't thought through 100%. But I'm sure this seat is perfect - go on buy it.

When eclat came along with their hundred or so products all at once last year, one of them was their "complex" seat/post combo. Looks ALOT like the KHE seat, especially the underside, and it's also plastic with an aluminium post. Taiwan is a small island you know. Which came first? Who cares.

KHE Loyal Seat / Post Combo: Weight 190g / 6.7oz

Eclat Complex Seat / Post Combo: Weight: 179g / 6.3oz

Or you could just go one of these. Beautiful isn't it? There's even some a fake carbon fibre stickers for that extra bit of race cred. Fuck these things are fast.
Uni Race Seat / Post Combo: 147g / 5.2 oz

A post about seats - and posts

Might as well start here.

Here's a pic of eclats new pivotal post and seat - still just a prototype, but looking pretty nice. Apart from the fact that it's clear, it kind of looks like all the other pivotals, but apparently it's made of nylon and has a bit of extra ribbing in the nose to make it a bit stiffer. They were probably trying to avoid that droopy look that the original macneil pivotals (and all the other rebrandings of that design) get after a while - when the nose gets bent down. You still see it alot and it looks pretty bad if you ask me, but...


I reckon plastic seats are the way to go. Why bother with padding, it just gets ripped and shitty. It's also a couple of less steps in production so it should be cheaper (?)

Odyssey have finally put out some pivotals as well. They're calling it the Senior 2 and there's a padded and a non padded version. Don't know if it's the same size and shape as the Senior or what, but it seems longer. Maybe it's just the photos but you got to say the odyssey looks bad:
Yep rails are out and it's all plastic and pivotal.

Thought I'd better chuck in some fit for the popularity stakes:

Here's all the specs for the seats above:

Eclat Pivotal (Proto): Weight: 180g / 6.3 oz. (without cover), 250g / 8.8 oz. (with cover)

Odyssey Senior 2 Pivotal: Weight: 177g / 6.2 oz (without cover), 272g / 9.6oz (with cover)

Fit Low Bolt Pivotal: Weight: 253g / 8.9 oz