why the flagpoles?

[darkersomeday]

why do ALL old school the bikes on here and other sites seem to have stupidly high seatposts?

did all kids have incredibly long legs back in the eighties?

or is it because you dont want to mark the stickers on the seatpost?

it only irritates me as they'd look sooooooo much better with a 6" minimum post! it just spoils them having this silly long tube stuck out in the air!

why do it?

[Trev]

back then you need the seat high.  lots of tricks needed it that way.

sitting down wheelies.
surfers.
trackstand type tricks where you could hold the bars and seat with one hand.
backyards, where you need your knee behind the seat to go no handed...

the list goes on........

[kdw712]

racers were the same running high seats

[Bob_Acid]

i'm not a lover of high seat posts either but then i'm a bit taller than Spen. It's horses for courses innit?

[Geth]

Fashion

[Stodgy]

Yep, fashion.

[LXIX]

your bike handles differently with a different hight post (well alittle bit)

[jimwise68]

Always about the fashion.

[LXIX]

wanna see a flag pole go to the tuff neck thread in random 

[darkersomeday]

fair do's! thanks for the explanations,

i actualy remember trying to run my post that high bitd, it just bent so i kept cutting it down,

then i bought a shimano dx post and it was solid!  i've still got it and it still works to this day!

fashion eh!

[Rombloke]

ok that seems fair but now answer my q...

why the seat at 45 degrees and 1/2 inch of seat post.....??

and dont say its cos the seat gets in the way cos i will ask you why you dont just remove it completely......

Dave

[Trev]

while we're on the topic of seatposts / flagpoles.....

i have some primo rod seatposts for sale - 22.2mm (7/8") fits 7mm and 9mm rails - £15 posted...  

[Jamie C]

I think it's got less to do with fashion and more to do with function.  Back in the day most of us were "freestylers" and that meant most of us did a fair bit of flatland.  Tricks like the sideglide, elbow glide, backwards infinity roll, backyard (like Trev said)....even hang-5's are easier with a long seat-post.

Nowadays the riding is so different........most peope don't do any flatland besides hang-5's (if at all) and a massive great big seat post just gets in the way.  Most of us want to be able to suck up a landing without a seat splitting your cheeks.  Tailwhips with long seat posts are going to be sketchy at best. 

I'd say that top-tube lengths also play a part.  Longer top tubes mean you don't need a massive seat post to sit down.  Hence the departure of the laidback seatpost and it's ginger step brother, the snake post.

You'll notice that most flatlanders still rock the long seat-post.

[Stodgy]

Nicely put Jamie - you are right, but the different types of tricks are still part of fashion...

[zed4130]

on my nu school bikes i hack the post smaller to save weight and i dont ride very far on them anymore  os high thats the way it was defo a fashion thing 

[Jamie C]

Nicely put Jamie - you are right, but the different types of tricks are still part of fashion...

I'd say progression rather than fashion but you can look at it either way.  The reason no-one does backwards infinity rolls anymore is because you spent half and hour getting in to and out of it.........and looked stupid whilst doing it.

.......and the reason you still need a seat is to stop your nuts landing on steel when you miss the pedals.

[Stodgy]

Nicely put Jamie - you are right, but the different types of tricks are still part of fashion...

I'd say progression rather than fashion but you can look at it either way.  The reason no-one does backwards infinity rolls anymore is because you spent half and hour getting in to and out of it.........and looked stupid whilst doing it.

.......and the reason you still need a seat is to stop your nuts landing on steel when you miss the pedals.

Some people like that on this site...

[Jamie C]

Nicely put Jamie - you are right, but the different types of tricks are still part of fashion...

I'd say progression rather than fashion but you can look at it either way.  The reason no-one does backwards infinity rolls anymore is because you spent half and hour getting in to and out of it.........and looked stupid whilst doing it.

.......and the reason you still need a seat is to stop your nuts landing on steel when you miss the pedals.

Some people like that on this site...

 

[Rombloke]

wear a jock strap.....

Dave

[Moose]

wear a jock strap.....

Dave

...a padded one   

[electobooty]

I could never get my seatpost high enough bitd

To get to any decent places to session we often had to cycle at least a couple of miles.

I stopped growing at 13 and was 6'2  and it killed my knees, I still have a lot of probs with em.

Mostly I would take along an allen key to lower my seat once we had got to wherever

[Geth]

ok that seems fair but now answer my q...

why the seat at 45 degrees and 1/2 inch of seat post.....??

and dont say its cos the seat gets in the way cos i will ask you why you dont just remove it completely......

Dave

Again, for the most part its now a fashion.
But, I did run my seat sticking up at an angle because I could run my seat lower (short legs!) and still grab the seat with my kness when doing certain tricks - Barspins and suicide no handers mainly.

[zed4130]

I think we all rode further on our bike's bitd so we had to have them high for comfort aswell  on the cin ride i rode the post high on the old db 

[Bob_Acid]

Yeah i still take an allen key so i can put the seat up if i need to ride any distance. it's easy for you young and fit mukka's but gets a bit hard for us old fat blokes

[aerostylie]

Both my o/s and m/s rides have high seatposts, Renthal laybacks, purely out of function...being 6ft 3.

Suppose also it's from BITD I always liked the look of high ish laybacks which I've carried thru to today, along with wide bars.