Crank Brothers Kronolog Adjustable Seatpost

[Scottay5150]

gravity dropper. wins! You all are test dummies! And it's crank bros to boot! You all read the forums... .they suck...

[Rivet]

gravity dropper. wins!

Really?

[thorkild]

What a freakin lemon, I actually feel bad for Crankbros, this was their chance to shine. I can't believe they didn't do more testing. It's ridiculous that all of the production units are failing immediately. Somebody over there dropped the ball big time.

Hopefully they can manage to fix the issues, but they should of done this before releasing it.

Maybe the next batch will be improved and reliable like the 2012>2011 reverbs. Seems to be a nice unit if it didn't fail.

It seems they just failed to match the metal hardness between the clamps and the shaft, which causes the wear. Seems fixable, but who knows whether they'll get it figured out....

[deanmor]

Hello,

As an avid fan of dropper posts since my first acquaintance with them via the Joplin 3, I was eagerly anticipating the delivery of my new Kronolog. The Joplin was a fantastic idea, reasonably executed, but the reliability was non-existent. It lasted all of 3 weeks before leaking fluid all over my bottom bracket whilst sagging horrendously. I then replaced the seals and it lasted all of a further 2 weeks, where-after I simply binned it. As a customer I was frustrated but open to exploring other ideas.

I was about to place an order for a Gravity Dropper, and then I saw the promo-hype for your new Kronolog. Man was I taken with it! It looked fantastic, and if the design was as good as you claimed, then it would be absolutely primo! I read every review, watched every video (repeatedly), salivating at the thought of having my bike handle like a large BMX once again!

So I ordered one and eagerly awaited its arrival. My initial impressions were that the presentation was top notch and the finish superb. I installed the post, and one sleeplessly anticipatory night later was out on the trail. What an absolute blast! It operated as expected; was rock solid, and absolutely no saddle movement! WOW! I could only do a quick 10 miles XC ride (4 month old kids place significant time-constraints on one!), and I was well, well impressed.

Until today. Preparing my bike for my next ride tomorrow, I sat on the saddle and the post sagged ever so slightly. Checking the post, when right at the top, if reasonable weight is placed on the post, it drops about 10mm, then locks. I could live with this, but I can feel the metal grinding against metal during this movement, so I'm not sure how long this will now last. I'm very disappointed that the post is seemingly starting to fail, and I've ridden it for less than an hour. Which is about 1999 hours short of the 2000 hours you guys tested, right?

In the near future I shall be ordering a Gravity Dropper, and selling my Kronolog. I cannot abide a component on my bike that may fail, particularly when I am 20 miles from home. I will never, never, never (did i get the that right? no, one more never ever fit another CB product to my bike. At some point you're likely to go bankrupt and I suggest that your marketing personnel should work for Apple or BMW (or any well known brand that requires marketing/PR genius). I suggest that your engineers find gainful employment as anything other than engineers.

Regards, your ex-customer,

Dean

Hi all,

In the interests of intellectual honesty, I have to advise that CB have responded. Their approach has been one of getting this resolved and they have offered a repair/replacement at no cost to me. The have offrered to send me a UPS shipping label. Very good customer service!

Here's hoping the replacement product works as well as their customer service!

Dean

[Raine]

Just a thought: If half of the posts in this thread from people bashing Crank Brothers and their products who don't even HAVE a Kronolog were deleted, it would probably be much easier for us ACTUAL OWNERS to sort out the good/bad feedback and help resolve others problems... LOL but what am I thinking, this is the Internet.

BTW mine is still doing as expected.

[modifier]

Just a thought: If half of the posts in this thread from people bashing Crank Brothers and their products who don't even HAVE a Kronolog were deleted, it would probably be much easier for us ACTUAL OWNERS to sort out the good/bad feedback and help resolve others problems... LOL but what am I thinking, this is the Internet.

BTW mine is still doing as expected.

That is a good point. And "as expected" means failing?

[thuren]

I just ordered a Reverb, to replace my Kronolog, which replaced my Joplin 4.

I think if you are light weight, or don't ride often, it will be fine. Putting in 10 hours a week on this thing, I am 2 weeks in and annoyed. It's still working, but going downhill quick, and needs too much attention. If those lock plates don't float freely, fatal problems arise. On mine, the post was starting to dry out and be hard to compress. So I greased the internals, and then the lock plates would not engage, or engage intermittent.

[Raine]

That is a good point. And "as expected" means failing?

Of course not. If it's expected to fail then why even bother buying one? So that you (not you in particular - the "buyer") can jump into a forum and complain about it? LOL

[modifier]

Of course not. If it's expected to fail then why even bother buying one? So that you (not you in particular - the "buyer") can jump into a forum and complain about it? LOL

That was mostly a joke.

But that is lucky that you've had a positive experience so far, however if you read the thread it seems like you are in the minority, so without stating what you expected, expecting failure isn't out of touch.

Everyone has high hopes that what they buy will work out. I would much rather read that they all worked out great with no issues and so would most people I think plus I don't think people would hold back if they had good things to say. So I'll wait for the next generation. Or the one after. Or make my own.

[Raine]

That was mostly a joke.

But that is lucky that you've had a positive experience so far, however if you read the thread it seems like you are in the minority, so without stating what you expected, expecting failure isn't out of touch.

Everyone has high hopes that what they buy will work out. I would much rather read that they all worked out great with no issues and so would most people I think plus I don't think people would hold back if they had good things to say. So I'll wait for the next generation. Or the one after. Or make my own.

I know it was a joke, I had that "LOL" at the end too

I'm not the only one having a positive experience so far, and I've been following this thread since it was started; there are people having issues with it, but the whole ratio of bad/good posts wouldn't be as pronounced if a bunch of people who don't even have the product wouldn't waste our time with their negative comments. Now I wonder out of curiousity if there are more people in this thread who have posted that do not own a Kronolog at all - and are just referencing reviews from outside sources and/or just riding along the "Hater train" lol

As for what I've seen so far, anyone who's had an issue that had contacted Crank Brothers about it has gotten good customer support and an effort to correct the problem on the CB side... how many companies actually do this? At least CB is being good with supporting their products up front.

I used to work in a different industry (hobby industry) where we'd have manufacturers come up with products that they've tested for countless hours for durability or performance. Said product would then hit the public and numerous failures and complaints about reliability would pop up. We would then test said product for review, and either we would A. get the product to fail even more than the "regular customer" or B. not see the product fail during extended but regular usage.

The point is, we used to tell these companies that if you want to really test how durable or reliable your product is - DO NOT give it to someone that is in the industry or is into the hobby, because they will know what the product is intended for, and they will rarely push the product beyond that limit. Instead, give the product to a complete newb instead - and for sure you will find out if the product will be durable or not.

CB claims over "2,000 hours" of testing for reliability, which is much better than just putting a product out on theory - but I think they should have had non-bikers test the product as well. People "outside" the industry would not know how to use it until shown how (or reading the instructions). People outside the industry would not have any preconceived notions of what the product should and should not be able to do, nor have any previous experience with other competing products to refer to.

Now I'm not saying that all of the failures are caused by people who don't know what they are doing - what I mean to say is that maybe CB should have done more "real world" testing, because I kind of suspect that their "2,000 hours" of testing was done under supervision of CB in familiar conditions with riders familiar to what the limits of the product are. Otherwise there wouldn't (hopefully) be this many issues.

[JohnJameson]

20 rides on mine with none of the problems described above. Had a little scare in Downieville this weekend as it was the first muddy conditions I've been in since it was installed. Was returning REAL slow by the end of my second day riding there. Thought that is had lost air pressure, but when I checked it was exactly were I had set it the week before. Put a little oil inside and cycled it through its travel quite a few times and now it is working just fine. Just a thought for those riding in constantly muddy conditions...

[deanmor]

Hi all,

In the interests of intellectual honesty, I have to advise that CB have responded. Their approach has been one of getting this resolved and they have offered a repair/replacement at no cost to me. The have offrered to send me a UPS shipping label. Very good customer service!

Here's hoping the replacement product works as well as their customer service!

Dean

Update:

CB have asked for the following:
Serial Number
Purchase Invoice
Photograph of failure/problem.

I have since sent them the details, and I got a prompt reply from them stating that a replacement post has beens sent via USPS.

Absolute top marks for customer service!

Once received, I'll update this post to advise you of the status with the replacement unit.

Regards

Dean

[darnelli]

they sent you a replacement post before receiving back your initial one?

[deanmor]

they sent you a replacement post before receiving back your initial one?

Hi darnelli,

Yep, that is what it seems. I quote from the mail sent by CB to me:

Dean, thanks for the updated information. We will be shipping the replacement USPS Express on 4-5-2012 and you should receive notification in your E-mail. Cheers, Tim

I suspect that a return waybill may be enclosed for the return of the post currently in my possession. In all truthfulness, I'm happy to send it back to them, as all I want is a working post. Once I have further info I'll update this thread.

Dean

[deanmor]

Hi darnelli,

Yep, that is what it seems. I quote from the mail sent by CB to me:

Dean, thanks for the updated information. We will be shipping the replacement USPS Express on 4-5-2012 and you should receive notification in your E-mail. Cheers, Tim

I suspect that a return waybill may be enclosed for the return of the post currently in my possession. In all truthfulness, I'm happy to send it back to them, as all I want is a working post. Once I have further info I'll update this thread.

Dean

Hi all,

Update: CB have shipped the replacement post to me. Once it has arrived I'll update this thread. The have admitted to an assembly issue. In their defence this can happen; what has been superb is the customer service, and the way they are handling my complaint in particular.

Dean

[GreenBonty]

The have admitted to an assembly issue. In their defence this can happen

Dean

Let's hope that is the case since the Lev's are more expensive

[ronski]

So far my replacement post continues to work fine after a dozen rides or so. Crossing my fingers...

[cabra cadabra]

Did they make it clear to you what they changed design/material wise?
I decided on a Gravity Dropper after seeing all the bad news all over the place.

[Anita Handle]

So far my replacement post continues to work fine after a dozen rides or so. Crossing my fingers...

you mean besides the 2-3mm of sag that you previously reported? Mine is still sagging about the same amount, hasn't gotten worse, continues to perform as expected in every other way.

[chelenegra]

Same here, no issues after they fixed it. I have 1-2mm of play, but I can live with it.

[Vermont29er]

Do you think the replacement posts will have long-term wear from metal-on-metal grinding of the clamps?

[sanjuro]

I almost bit again on the Crank Brothers Bait-n-Switch.

Onto a Reverb for me!

[mastakilla]

Bout 6 rides on my black 31.6 Krono. Today is the first time, it developed about 3mm sag from top position. A bit annoyed. Had to bring the post up a couple mm to compensate. I suppose from here it will get worse and slip more as time goes on.

Any word from CB whether these post have been redesigned yet?

[JPBakerIII]

mine lasted about three rides and by the time it slipped an inch, I took it off the bike, cleaned it, and plan on taking it back for a refund. CB should actually test their product. That means giving them to riders, and letting them thrash the things for a while, and then fixing the problems that crop up before putting them into production.

A great looking seat post. too bad it doesn't work reliably.

[Raine]

...still going, no "sag", holds position, air pressure is still the same. The only "maintenance" I've done is to keep the stanchion clean in between rides (especially if there was mud or water involved in the previous ride) and I keep the mechanics under the plastic cap greased.

I honestly feel bad for those of you who bought one only to have problems with it - I've been reading all of the replies in this thread from the start. It does seem though that Kronolog seatpost owners are divided into 3 groups:

1. Those of who are having no problems whatsoever. Installed right, adjusted right, works right. Apparently we are the lucky ones (?)

2. Those who contacted CB about their problem, have gotten excellent customer service and a replacement post. Seems like everyone who's in category #2 ends up in category one simply by contacting CB about their problem and coming to a solution.

3. Those who have a problem, immediately denounce it altogether and just decide to return it for a different brand.