Syncros seatpost, retro vs modern
- Thread starter RockiMtn
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The Wikipedia entry all looks good to me, unless anybody with better knowledge can correct it? One thing they could have added is that I think it was originally part of Rocky Mountain, didn't they share the same premises initially?
Syncros is a brand of bicycle components, with an emphasis on off-road bicycle parts. Founded by Peter Hamilton and Pippin Osborne in 1987 and originally based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Syncros had its heyday in the early 1990s as one of the most respected names in high end off-road bicycle parts, when its trademark black stems and seatposts were de rigueur on high end mountain bikes. In the late 1990s, the company had financial difficulties and was sold to the large U.S. based bicycle company GT. Shortly thereafter, GT itself was purchased by Schwinn, which in turn was purchased by Pacific Bicycle Group, a large Taiwanese conglomerate known mainly for low end, mass market bicycles and parts. Pacific was quick to try to capitalize on the Syncros brand name, and used the Syncros label on many cheaply produced OEM parts, severely damaging the brand's reputation. Due to a lapse in trademark registration in the early 2000s, the Syncros brand name was briefly grabbed in the UK by super cycles of Nottingham. However, a settlement was reached between Super Cycles and Pacific, resulting in Pacific regaining control of the brand name.
Among Syncros' most successful and well known products from their early Canadian period were the Cattleprod and Cattlehead stems, noted for their innovative used of shaped and machined aluminium and titanium at a time when most welded stems were made of steel, and the ProSeries seatpost , featuring an often-copied two-bolt micro-adjust system for saddle positioning. The seat post design, as copied by such companies as Thomson, remains popular today on high end bicycles.
Syncros was purchased in 2003 from Pacific by Tom Ritchey, who re-established the brand with Marshall Cant, former Product Manager at Rocky Mountain Bicycles, in the position of Brand Manager. Under the guidance of Tom Ritchey, Syncros has returned to its roots as a leading designer and manufacturer of high end mountain bike components. The original micro adjust two-bolt seatpost is still manufactured but is the only original product still in the line up.
Syncros is a brand of bicycle components, with an emphasis on off-road bicycle parts. Founded by Peter Hamilton and Pippin Osborne in 1987 and originally based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Syncros had its heyday in the early 1990s as one of the most respected names in high end off-road bicycle parts, when its trademark black stems and seatposts were de rigueur on high end mountain bikes. In the late 1990s, the company had financial difficulties and was sold to the large U.S. based bicycle company GT. Shortly thereafter, GT itself was purchased by Schwinn, which in turn was purchased by Pacific Bicycle Group, a large Taiwanese conglomerate known mainly for low end, mass market bicycles and parts. Pacific was quick to try to capitalize on the Syncros brand name, and used the Syncros label on many cheaply produced OEM parts, severely damaging the brand's reputation. Due to a lapse in trademark registration in the early 2000s, the Syncros brand name was briefly grabbed in the UK by super cycles of Nottingham. However, a settlement was reached between Super Cycles and Pacific, resulting in Pacific regaining control of the brand name.
Among Syncros' most successful and well known products from their early Canadian period were the Cattleprod and Cattlehead stems, noted for their innovative used of shaped and machined aluminium and titanium at a time when most welded stems were made of steel, and the ProSeries seatpost , featuring an often-copied two-bolt micro-adjust system for saddle positioning. The seat post design, as copied by such companies as Thomson, remains popular today on high end bicycles.
Syncros was purchased in 2003 from Pacific by Tom Ritchey, who re-established the brand with Marshall Cant, former Product Manager at Rocky Mountain Bicycles, in the position of Brand Manager. Under the guidance of Tom Ritchey, Syncros has returned to its roots as a leading designer and manufacturer of high end mountain bike components. The original micro adjust two-bolt seatpost is still manufactured but is the only original product still in the line up.
canuckinboston
Retro Guru
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The "new" syncros has a different logo with 2 interlocking circles and the lettering is different. The old style lettering was vertical; the new one has a different font and is horizontal
I randomly googled some images:
New post:
Alu and carbon fibre
Old post (Ti flavour; the classic was the black aluminum):
Back in the day, Syncros was THE company for high end after market stuff. I know that their quality went down for awhile, but are considered pretty good again. I think the only difference between old and new seatpost is purely cosmetic and also if you want to be a vintage purist (I am)
However, I'm sure that new Syncros outsources their production; I'm pretty sure that old Syncros made all of their stuff in their factory in East Vancouver
I randomly googled some images:
New post:
Alu and carbon fibre
Old post (Ti flavour; the classic was the black aluminum):
Back in the day, Syncros was THE company for high end after market stuff. I know that their quality went down for awhile, but are considered pretty good again. I think the only difference between old and new seatpost is purely cosmetic and also if you want to be a vintage purist (I am)
However, I'm sure that new Syncros outsources their production; I'm pretty sure that old Syncros made all of their stuff in their factory in East Vancouverso would ppl say that a seatpost of today, the same caliber as yester-years?
i'm guessing the last post with the circle design in the logo is the modern version, and the first two are retro posts? did all posts have the two round holes cuts at the bottom of the tube? and if it doesn't, the length of the post has been cut down?
and are all cattleprod/cattlehead (hinged and non-hinged) produced during the period before the company buy-out?
i'm guessing the last post with the circle design in the logo is the modern version, and the first two are retro posts? did all posts have the two round holes cuts at the bottom of the tube? and if it doesn't, the length of the post has been cut down?
and are all cattleprod/cattlehead (hinged and non-hinged) produced during the period before the company buy-out?
Attachments
Actually, there is a middle ground product aswell, which is when their quality/reputation was pretty poor. The very old stuff and the very recent stuff is quite good though.
**goes looking for an image**
Here you go... back in 2003/4, CRC were banging these out for £30, couldn't sell them for love nor money.
**goes looking for an image**
Here you go... back in 2003/4, CRC were banging these out for £30, couldn't sell them for love nor money.
canuckinboston
Retro Guru
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Cattlehead and cattleprods are all old Syncros. The hole in the bottom was for you to take your seat off and put a U-lock through it so that someone wouldn't flip the QR and filch it. Happened to me twice BTW
:x
:x
RockiMtn":14grt5ag said:
Older Syncros posts had/have a reputation for cracking where the head is fitted to the shaft on both Ti and Al posts.
Revolution cranks for a time also seemed intent on ditching their granny rings too...
With that in mind I wouldn't have said that the quality of the Canadian product was that great...
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There are two (maybe more) older designs than the old one you mention.
That new head design came out around around '94
Before that the top clamp was a thin curve of Alu, with a flatish alu top. this was easy to bend, (certainly from '91, could have been earlier)
before that it had a bar through in a USE style iirc but that's a bit before my time.
The newer clamping design I think is called the Hardcore seatpost and the older top cap design in the ProPost.
I'm sure mombat/firstflight made a page recently and there was also some cats announced that went in to the Archive here.
----
Something I saved of the net a while ago
Its pretty easy to date the syncros cattleprod stem you own...
1990 : super-wide bar clamp (over 3"), and overbuilt (the 120 above is
290g).
1991 : Reduced bar-clamp width (just under 3") and some slimming of
material elsewhere reduced the weight of the stems to about
280g (the original weight for my 150).
1992 : A hole was added to the center of the bar-clamp for more
weight savings (now down to about 265g).
1993 : Switched to a Zicral stem bolt (with a finer thread pitch) in
place of the original steel expander bolts. Also deleted the
cable hangar under the stem. Drops ave. weight to 225g
1994 : Switched to a different color Z-Bolt (originals silver, new
ones satin-Ti colored) and added an extruded wedge with three
channels in it to reduce weight (down to about 220g now). First
appearance of the power-zit (a spot on the side where the weld
is built up - claims to strength the weld zone).
1995 : Same as '94 model year, isn't much left they can do to save more
weight except POSSIBLY thin down the aluminum some more (which
could be done if they switched from 6061-T6 to CU-92 to maintain
strength) and switched to Titanium bar-clamp binder bolts.
1996 : Cut away some of the material at the edges of the bar-clamp to
chop off maybe 5g more.
That new head design came out around around '94
Before that the top clamp was a thin curve of Alu, with a flatish alu top. this was easy to bend, (certainly from '91, could have been earlier)
before that it had a bar through in a USE style iirc but that's a bit before my time.
The newer clamping design I think is called the Hardcore seatpost and the older top cap design in the ProPost.
I'm sure mombat/firstflight made a page recently and there was also some cats announced that went in to the Archive here.
----
Something I saved of the net a while ago
Its pretty easy to date the syncros cattleprod stem you own...
1990 : super-wide bar clamp (over 3"), and overbuilt (the 120 above is
290g).
1991 : Reduced bar-clamp width (just under 3") and some slimming of
material elsewhere reduced the weight of the stems to about
280g (the original weight for my 150).
1992 : A hole was added to the center of the bar-clamp for more
weight savings (now down to about 265g).
1993 : Switched to a Zicral stem bolt (with a finer thread pitch) in
place of the original steel expander bolts. Also deleted the
cable hangar under the stem. Drops ave. weight to 225g
1994 : Switched to a different color Z-Bolt (originals silver, new
ones satin-Ti colored) and added an extruded wedge with three
channels in it to reduce weight (down to about 220g now). First
appearance of the power-zit (a spot on the side where the weld
is built up - claims to strength the weld zone).
1995 : Same as '94 model year, isn't much left they can do to save more
weight except POSSIBLY thin down the aluminum some more (which
could be done if they switched from 6061-T6 to CU-92 to maintain
strength) and switched to Titanium bar-clamp binder bolts.
1996 : Cut away some of the material at the edges of the bar-clamp to
chop off maybe 5g more.
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