Whoa! The THUD BUSTER works!

It arrived on Friday.

The Thud Buster is a parallelogram linkage shock absorbing seatpost
sprung with easily replacable elastomer cylinders.



The elastomers are colored white, gray, blue and so on, to denote
increasing firmness.

The kit as supplied is well-boxed, contains the TB fitted with default blue elastomers. Included are a pair of gray and a pair of black elastomers.

Because I'm 150lbs weight, I asked the inventor/vendor at Thud Buster.com to swap out the black bumpers (I'd never use those)
for a pair of softy-whities. The whites are super plush under my light butt, but they cannot last very long; I'm overtaxing their design load limit. But soft, ah, so good!


At present I have a mix of one white and one gray.

The product really is astounding! Better than my most optimistic dream.
I can ride fast across my neighbor's turf--a bumpy, rutted acre,
and remain fully on the saddle--no discomfort. It's like bobbing over waves of water instead of thumping my buttski into every gopher hole.

On asphalt, the same result. I can relax, lightly holding the handlebars,
sit well back on the saddle to save my groin..and bob along gently oscillating. By not having to grip the handlbars hard, as before, very little shock is inputted to my upper body; this saves my wrists from pain.


Thud Buster has transformed my ride.


Another wish was granted by the Thud Buster:
to set the seat farther back--as far as possible.

This gives my bike the geometry of a "crank forward" Rans bike.
It's much nicer work to pedal now. In fact, it's fun to pedal now.
Leaning back if I like, and pulling on the long handlebars, my legs can
dig into the pedals. My upper back, lats, get a good stretch and work into the load. It's toning for the upper body.

The Thud Buster does all that it claims.
I'm also impressed by the quality of the construction;
it's very substantial.

The bushings are sintered bronze and the four journals are steel.
These are large in diameter. Wear should be nil.
Yet, the bushings and pivots are easily replaced if they ever wear.

Elastomers will fail in time. Five minutes to replace them.
The device looks like a lifetime investment.

I got mine from Thudbuster.com--the "LT"/ long travel model.
Other vendors sell the Thud Buster for as little as $100;
but then you have to pay extra for the "Crudbuster" mud and dirt boot,
which is not really required if you have a rear fender and ride in the street.

Five inches is wanted, minimum, between the top of the bike's seat tube receptacle and the seat's mounting rails. If you have much less than that, the ST Thudbuster is indicated instead of the LT.

Good product; ten stars on a scale of five--assigned for the TB's excellent first impressions

Reid

I'll get some detail pictures up soon.
Will show how the setback looks, and how I can lay the seat even farther back
by shortening one or both elastomers a bit---OR by preloading the elastomer stack. : I prefer the former, cos it's set-back that I want for my ride.

Impressive seat, does it have enough stiffness to avoid absorbing the energy from the legs when the rider pedals the bike hard?

I think so-- you can set it up however you like, btw.
I do not sense -any- loss of pedalling efficiency.
I do see your concern, though. The seat does not bob under me.
But too, I'm sitting fully upright and digging into the pedals, sort of semi-recumbent (toward that effect, anyway)
Does that matter? Dunno!

When we pedal it tends to lift us off the seat anyway, right?
Well, the seat has a skewer bolt running through the elastomer stack.
This limits the seat's up-most postion.
The preload which you may elect to apply (or stiffer elastomers)
determines to a great degree how much the seat settles down under static body weight.

--
I make this point because in my case, I want a super-soft, compliant ride.
Equally, I want a -great deal of set-back-, to obtain a 'crank forward' pedalling effect.

In the pictures that follow you see my first major readjustment of the TB.
I sliced a 3/16 -wedged (diagonal slice) from the white and from the gray.

This seems to get the cushions to seat more vertically, given the major lay-back I've put to the parallelogram.

Of course-- it must reduce total available travel, right? Right.
Yet when I ride across a very bumpy lawn (the acre next door),
I can sit in perfect comfort on that $20 Selle mid-cruiser seat (bike nashbar). With a -light-grip on the bars= no shock to my wrists.
And the ride across the rutted lawn is like a a ride on waves in a small boat==but it's not tossing me.

I may have already found my nearly-ideal setup with the TB.
I'll get to know it better in time, and update this story.

The Currie Mongoose/Izip cruiser is visibly altered from stock.
The new handlebar is longer and more nearly a crescent curve than the stock bar. The stock stem is reversed. This brings the grips way, way back--in concert with the set-back seating.

I can ride this bike at any speed or on any surface, with good control, using just one hand on the bar.

It's like tiller steering. Very secure, no-brainer steering
--a lot less "quick" than standard bike steering---but this suits me for a high speed bike (alas, it's back to 24V at this moment)





good looking new cruiser bar from Niagara Cycle. Cost about 10 bucks.


I'll look for a picture of a bone-stock Mongoose/Izip for comparison



See the large bushings and hollow journal pins?
The assembly is clamshell style. It's easily rebuilt if that's ever needed.
Elastomers are super-easy to replace. The seat stays on for that job.
Just remove the skewer bolt.




reversed stock stem, laid-back TB and seat= "crank forward" effect



cables have not been dressed to the new handlebar just installed yesterday. I need longer brake cables now.


cheers,
Reid

Well, I'd like to know if you still love it once the honeymoon is over.
Say, in 2-ish weeks from now.

I'm quite sure I will be.

The white elastomer is rated only for riders under 140lbs.
I'm 150lbs. I'll fatigue and crumble the white elastomer before very long;
that's expected.

Of all the mods I've tried for this bike (various seats and tires),
the TB is easily, no bull, an order of magnitude greater in absorbing shocks.


About 500 user reviews for the TB models of the past eight years
exist at MBR. Nearly all are laudatory. The TB is one of the most successful of all bike accessories; and it's easily the most highly rated shock absorbing seatpost.

I wont be getting unhappy with this thing.
I'm sure sure sure of that,

"ooooo let's ride again."

(scene from my TB honeymoon, lol!)

Again, with this set the way it's set at present on my bike, for my weight,
it feels like riding a small boat instead of a bike.

The bike also seems to handle better. Knoxie observed this of his own TB equiped bike. He's had his TB for about six months and 1,500 miles.
"It's brilliant", he says.

You want one! you gotta have one! Ha ha, I'm such a devil

I just wanted to add, nice pictures :wink:

Looks like a very sweet ride.

Good if the pictures help.
I should've put the bike in front of the garage door instead of that planted area, though.

Will write to Ryan McFarland and ask if I may take apart the TB without problem, to show the constituent parts for clarity.

I recon the journals are a press fit.
I hope the bushings are a "Locktite fit" in their places. IF so, replacement of these parts could be done at home without special tools other than a bushing driver (I have a set of those).

But really, if it's oiled occasionally and kept covered with the Crud Buster (tm) supplied, then what's to wear? Not much, not ever. I'll never wear this thing out.

Writing Ryan now, with a link to this thread.
He'd asked me to send him a picture of my blue bike after installation.
He knows I wanted to exploit the (generally-not wanted) set-back potential of the TB.

Note that my semi-collapsed, soft sprung set up, with the saddle shoved way back, is nothing like the usual installation. It also makes the thing very much more active, more 'sprung' than would be the case if I had the unit set with one gray, one blue= the recomended standard springing for my weight.

pardon ramble. More pictures in posts=less words, ha ha.



It's a little Casio EX S770.
Does wide screen movies, which is why I got it.
A little overpriced at the moment cos it's a new model.
All are getting cheaper, quickly.
I convert the large files to posting-size using Gadwin Printscreen.
Such a great freeware program, that.

I got the orangey one; easily found when misplaced.


size of a pack of cigarettes, half as thick

If anyone gets one of these PM me for a tip or two of vital info.
Note the wide screen. There aren't any other tiny cameras at present
(not that I really looked) with wide screen avi capability and such a big
viewfinder on such a small package. Onscreen menus are large and clear.
Many "bestshot" pre-settings make this automatic camera fairly flexible for oddshot work.
Quick resetting of focus and flash parameters.
Lousy warranty service, so beware. If it breaks outside of warranty,
forget it, throw it away. Otherwise--while it lives, it's a good little thing.
Comes with docking station handy for recharging and playing back pictures, exporting etc.
I usually just pull the SD card to offload pictures.

Coconut Grove, Florida this morning
=cheap bike, $$$$$$$ view=

Biscayne Bay, at the foot of Matheson.

The vacant lot here has this seawall dock
that used to back up to a helipad
that used to spiff up to an airy
glass house that used to exist
until a hurricane
did not not.

Nice pics yes,

Normally they'll ajust the valve stems on both tires so they're down though, and set the pedals in a "fast" looking pose.

And if you think that bike looks cheap, wait 'till you see my 25$ flea market winter beater...

,,and set the pedals in a "fast" looking pose.

Click to expand...

:lol: I carefully (remembered) to pose dem pedals in the "crank fwd" position.
Oww, my art isn't appreciated. :wink:
I want that crank forward, f-assback design.
It also aids braking eff. by a ton: the rear tire doesn't tend to slide any more.



As for "cheap", it's relative to reality's demands:
yours is a worker and it is in salted slush.
Mine's a Wally Cleaver fun bike.

I agree: do that hubmotor as cheap as possible.
Later there'll be other bikes and easy swaps of parts.

I started with a $350US Currie ready-to-roll ebike.
Have changed tires, seat (twice) and then the seatpost.
Other things like the handlebar and the beartrap pedals were cheap stuff.
But adding up the mods that worked, it's become a 7 bill bike to "make".
And its only a single speeder. And adding in the failed experiments and
accessories bought but not used, it has cost about a grand.

You, with a $25 beater, are so freakin' far ahead of me in the common sense expense department.
Your new hubmotor kit, with it's included goodies
like the realsteel rear rack-I can't get a rack that beefy for under a bill.



compare--picture of the bike out of the box last July.
was no fun to pedal. Upright seating, yeah, but the crank action was almost a straight-down shot. Note relatively distant reach--normal but not comfy.

today, reversed stem, longer handlebar, nice curve, TB, Selle gel saddle, fatter tires, etc. See the motor's inverted now too. Also forced air cooled (blower is dismounted at this time)

Looks great Reid, the pictures really add to understanding what someone has put together.

while this is still at the top,

thanks for inputting and for not minding my motorized mouth, ha ha.

--The bike is funky cool fit to myself; my extroverted personality.

--The great thing about DIY or heavy modding--you make it into your image,
yep.

We all like to have a little bit of creative control over our steeds.
-Little bit? Nah. We all want total control.
So, every DIY bike will be very different,
and perfectly good.


Pictures make a posting so good that even excess writing (my sin)
can't really hurt it's utility as information exchange.

best,
Reid

PS: imageshack.us for free hosting,
Gadwin Printscreen freeware for photo resizing and photo capture.
Both are totally Very Good Things.

Reise und muller Delite (from their catalog) They put both valve stems up though, not down. And the pedal facing the viewer is in a position with lots of potential power:

Wow, that's nice! Shocks all around and wheel fenders, nice beefy back rack. Do you know if the front fork is steel, composite, or aluminum? Do you have a link to this bike or was it in a previous message here already and I missed it?

It's a reise und muller

My favorite bike of theirs is the intercontinental, 3650$ cheap.
It's got a rohloff, so add a crank driving motor & li-ion under the rack...

http://www.r-m.de/index.pl/isah_d

Ah, the Germans! The bike pictured above looks like it has that rack fully articulated? Is that the case?

Whereas their "Sahara" model appears to be a softail (too),
but with the rack as an extension of the frame itself. Both way are novel/odd looking.
Both ways typify the German mind's freedom to invoke technical innovation in preference to aping current stylings.

Hope I'm interpreting the pictures correctly.

Reid

Mathurin said:

Reise und muller Delite (from their catalog) They put both valve stems up though, not down. And the pedal facing the viewer is in a position with lots of potential power:

Click to expand...

Now compare against a genuine crank-forward bike:


I've never seen or ridden a purpose-made crank fwd bike.
But the idea appeals, and so I wanted to get some or all of that effect.
I like it a lot.

The german bike illustrated above (you note its pedal position),,,
well, see the seat and grips' postion? The rider cannot do more than push each pedal with his body weight.

In a crank forward design, the bars are there to be pulled upon, effectively adding force to the pedals -without having to leave the seat-.

There comes this way also, a nice stretch and mild workout for the upper body, particularly the lats. I like the feel and the power gained so far.

Cheers,
Reido--who used to do one-handed pull ups (well -one- at a time).
I like to use these extra muscles which a crank-back bike ignores.
Lookit here at Rans' site for the philosophy?

http://www.ransbikes.com/ITR32.htm

Well, I noticed they didn't bother to align the valve stems!

But yeah, cliped/strapped pedals exist so you can pull up on the pedals, and I've seen leather straps so you can strap in work boots.

Got to speak with an old-ish dude riding a crank forwark bike a few months back. It had fenders, panniers, the works. He said he took trips to his cabin I forget where, over 100 kms away. It was full fo lights, reflectors and that black stuff that appears on rims of bikes that actually get used, so it was prolly for real. Also it had a dual battery BionX

But I dunno about crank forward. My Oryx had the pedals pretty far forward compared to the seat, it's a downhill bike so designed to be used with the seat pretty low. So at a normal height it's pretty far back compared to the pedals. And yes I have to pull more with my arms then on a normal bike, but I didn't think of it as beeing a plus.

Did you have the bars at the best height and reach?
If so, you pull your bod into the pedals.

For an old guy like me, I can't do the bend-forward-crane head up anymore.
Road bikes are in my past for that reason.

I lean back, pull on the bars and dig into the pedals now.
I don't need to stand up nearly so often to propell (it's a high-geared single speed of course)

OH those untidy valve stems! Whatcha gonna do?
(Francois, you are a neat freak! haha)

I'm a devil, you know? Consider now that when you ride those valve stems are always getting out of positional relationship to each other. Terrible! ha ha! You, an inventor, could figure out a fix!
Please do. Or just cut 'em off and... wait.. bad idea. I have many bad ideas.
:wink:

Update.

The Thud Buster continues to give full satisfaction.
I shortened the two elastomeric cylinders a bit more for even more set-back of the saddle.

They supply a boot to protect the thing from splash and grit

Maybe it's because I've got the unit tilted back,
that the Crud Buster wasn't such a hot fit--slipping down and exposing one bushing.
Mostly, though, I disliked the loud graphics.
They made the Thud Buster look like something worth stealing:
"Cane Creek Protected by LizardSkins". (!)

So--why not Ace-type elastic self-stick bandaging?

I happened to have a partial roll of blue (of all colors!) laying about.

I think black'd be better looking, sure.

Here's the bike as it stands today

That's a water bottle NiMH battery for the 20W headlight. 14.4V nominal--from Batteryspace.com.
It puts out about 15 volts after a half hour's burn time;
good white light for night rides.
Enough battery for about two hours burn time (est.).

I just have to comment, very sharp looking e-bike.

Glad the thud buster is working out, especially after so much use. Really speaks good for their product.

You know how to say the nicest things,

like it were my baby :lol: :lol: :lol:

It is! But it's still in its toddler days.

I've been holding off on the battery decision,
but what I'd really like is two of those NiMH Batteryspace brand module packs (2x24V).

They'd pretty surely fit within the vertical space
in place of the stock battery box.

Probably I could mod my spare case;
cut off the top, graft the two cases to gain the needed height.
That'd look neat, and be easy to do!
If so, I owe you for the basic idea,
having seen your own re-fit of the same SLA box on your own Currie.

Yep, I know I can do 48V. And with a series/parallel switch for econo cruising.

-----
Just finished installing the other latex innner tube--into the rear wheel.
Cleaned everything good while it was apart.
Will take a test ride shortly. Having fun! How about you?


Dept. of Grins: Always making up new 'brand' names for the bike.
People don't know what it is, so how's this strike for a custom brand for the bike?







W T H

(or "wtf", whatever, ha haa)


Thanks, with best wishes for your new year,

Reid

Hello Reid

Nice to see a few of the VV members over on here, Richard AKA Fechter pointed me to this forum, it looks neat over here I must say!!

I also love my thud buster its so comfy and I haven't had to a do a single thing to it since if fitted it, I wish the rest of my bike was like that!!

Anyway got some more batteries coming in for a good test 48V 20AH Lipo packs and some 48V 20AH Nimh as well so will be busy as heck soon, also will be running a Puma motor at 72V in a 26 inch wheel so will be a lot of fun.

Just need the weather to clear up a little.

Hello to all on here, this looks like a really fun place to post.

Cheers

Knoxie