Review: Jo Burt Signature handlebar tape by Kinesis Bikes

 

I saw two shooting stars last night, I wished on them, but they were only satellites. It’s wrong to wish on space hardware, but in this case my wish was answered. If you’ve read my account of the Atlas Mountain Race you might remember that I suffered a horrendous and very messy nose-bleed. So it was very fortunate that a recent *thud* on the doorstep of ADVNTR Towers was delivery of fresh bar-tape courtesy of Kinesis Bikes! And not just any old tape, but the Jo Burt signature edition! Not only could I consign the old tape to the bin, the Kinesis tape looked a perfect match for my Salsa Cutthroat.

Rely on flower power to fly along the trail!

The man behind the design

Jo Burt has been a constant on the cycling scene for 30-odd years, as an author, illustrator and Transcontinental racer. Having been bitten by the mountain biking bug in the early 90s, it’s Jo’s creation Mint Sauce that I associate with the endless summers and crazy antics of my youth.

The whimsical phrases woven throughout the strip are a large part of their appeal. Mint isn’t featured on the bar tape, but a series of similarly evocative quotes are, all in Jo’s trademark script. I could repeat them here but it would spoil the surprise.

In the box are the two rolls of tape, two finishing strips and a pair of bar-plugs. One with the Kinesis logo, the other with the instantly recognisable flower icon. Kinesis describe the tape as velvet touch  but don’t confuse this with a textured tape that will trap grime, it has a smooth, yet grippy finish.

Crest that climb with motivation inscribed on your bars.

Fit & finish

As well as a grippy surface, the tape features a Vex gel backing that provides cushioning and grip. So peeling off the backing tape doesn’t reveal an all-or-nothing glue. Whether a perfectionist, or disaster prone, you’ll be pleased how this tape can be repositioned. It has just the right amount of stretch to mould to the drop bars curves without thinning or deforming the graphics.

The pattern helps with spacing your wrap precisely while still being different on every turn. The rolls are generously long and I had no issues wrapping the 44cm wide Salsa Cowchippers with their flared drops. The finishing strips are also exceptionally good. All too often the provided strips start to unfurl before you’ve finished wrapping the other side and you make do with electrical tape. Instead Kinesis have provided strips that stick well and feature a knurled grip pattern.

The moment that stem cap has been waiting for has arrived! (not included with the Kinesis bar tape, by the way!)

You like it now but you’ll learn to love it later.

On the bike the tape performs exactly as you’d want it to, grippy, cushioned, easy to clean and hardwearing. Naturally the colours suit the shocking pink Cutthroat we fitted it to, but it’s subtle enough to suit more conservative paint jobs. The asking price of £25 is a fair reflection of the tape’s quality and ease of fitment. But of course, for some of us the appeal of this tape isn’t just how it works physically.

While nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, a quick glance at the bars is all it takes to unearth a wry smile and a burst of 90s energy.

Review: Cirrus Cycles Kinekt 2.1 suspension seatpost

 

It’s rare that a rider, of any genre of cycling, hasn’t at some point suffered the proverbial pain in the arse. If switching saddles, bib shorts or tyre pressures haven’t helped, perhaps a suspension seat post could do the trick? Suspension seat posts have been doing the rounds for years and with varied success. By the mid-noughties, ever evolving and maturing rear suspension frames and fatter low pressure tyres seemed the final nail in their coffin. So for gravel riding, while rear suspension is still a rarity long days in the saddle are not. Could this lead to a resurgence in bouncy seatposts?

Cirrus Cycles Kinekt: Design & Construction

It’s worth noting that Cirrus Cycles do not refer to the Kinekt as a suspension seatpost. Instead they call it an an isolation system as it is undamped. I think most riders however would consider it a suspension post so I’m sticking with that term! Suspension seatposts generally fall into two basic designs, those that resemble a suspension fork leg or dropper post, and those that use a pivoting parallelogram.

The Kinekt is of the latter style and uses a pair of coil springs and elastomer washers to suspend the rider. There are four different sets of springs to allow for different rider weights between 46 and 145kg . Depending on how deep your pockets are, the Kinekt can be had with either alloy or carbon posts. Ours is the alloy version in 27.2 diameter and 350mm in length and weighs in at just over 500 gms. Depending on the standard post you’re replacing, it’s likely you’re adding 250g in weight to your bike. By its very nature the Kinekt is a layback post and the design sets the saddle back 12mm.

Preload on the Cirrus Cycles Kinekt is adjusted via the allen bolt and checked against printed guide and marker

Cirrus Cycles Kinekt: Installation & set-up

The Kinekt is available in the most common seat post diameters, and in lengths ranging from 330 to 420mm depending on diameter and post material.  On top of the suspension, sorry, isolation system is a two-bolt seat clamp. This cleverly uses a sprung mechanism to secure the two halves of the clamp. Fitting the saddle is a doddle with no risk of fasteners going astray.

Compared to setting up suspension forks, the Kinekt is an uncomplicated process.  You simply adjust the preload with an allen bolt and a guide on the bottom linkage measures sag. The instructions from Cirrus advise you to set the post 1 cm higher than normal to account for sag. From there on you simply adjust the preload until you are happy with the feel while riding.

Performance in use

I’m at the lower end of the weight range for the springs that came fitted in the Kinekt. I found the range of adjustment to be quite small and struggled to find a sweet spot between bottomed out and locked solid. In the end I backed the bolt off a fraction of a turn until it allowed travel.

While riding, if you deliberately head for a rough patch you can definitely feel the post moving and the edge taken off the jolt. The problem I found was that the saddle constantly bobs while pedalling, and it’s particularly noticeable on smooth surfaces. Referring back to the Kinekt’s instructions doesn’t provide a solution, it basically says “you’ll get used to it eventually”. Oh.

Intrigued by the idea of a full-suspension gravel bike I also fitted a Redshift shock-stop stem in tandem with the Kinekt and headed out for the lumpiest sun-baked ruts. While both units seemed to offer similar levels of comfort the shock-stop does so in a less obvious way, you don’t feel like you’re moving vertically.

There’s no getting away from the ‘unconventional’ looks of the Kinekt post!

Cirrus Cycles Kinekt: Summary

For me the Cirrus Cycles Kinekt was a dud, there are just too many negatives outweighing the occasional boost in comfort. My inability to tame the constant pedal-bob brought back unwelcome memories of mountain bikes from twenty years ago. So while the 35mm travel Kinekt does isolate you from some shocks, anything serious and you’ll rise from the saddle rendering it useless.

The Kinekt is expensive for a product with underwhelming performance and a fairly hefty weight gain. The test period has been blessed with good weather, but in poor conditions I’m not optimistic about the fate of mechanism sitting right in the path of rear wheel spray. Furthermore popping your seatpack on effectively could prove tricky.

If you do suffer discomfort while riding I strongly suggest that you experiment with saddle designs, tubeless tyres and quality bib-shorts instead. Lastly, there’s no getting away from the looks. At the risk of appearing shallow the Kinekt does not look appealing, something could be forgiven if the performance was stellar.