Just from reading threads on this forum, i’ve come to think of stiff frames, seats, posts, and tight clamps making a unicycle more responsive to leg and handle movements.
a) am i correct in thinking this?
b) if so, does a suspension seat post cancel out some of this?
c) does a suspension seatpost lower hop height?
a) Yes.
b) A little bit, but mostly not. For me at least, I ride with my suspension fairly stiff. It takes the edge off the bumps, but doesn’t do much more than that. Any amount of movement will damp your unicycle’s response, and of course the additional weight of the suspension mechanism has to be considered. I thought mine was great, but if I were doing high performance stuff, it wouldn’t have been there.
c) It should only lower hop height in relation to any additional weight it puts on the cycle. When being pulled up on, a good suspension post will be rigid like anything else. The inexpensive Pyramid post might have a tad of play in it, but should not have much effect.
If you’re trying to do serious Trials with a suspension post, there is something wrong with you. That’s like using a Cadillac Escalade to actually drive off road. A suspension post is to smooth out the ride, but is not a “performance enhancement.” It’s great to have one on slickrock though. I used mine in Moab last year and this year.
But my Pyramid post is too long. The mechanism inside the post extends all the way to the bottom, which is threaded for the preload mechanism. So you can’t cut it down to size. I cut off half of the preload threads, but it was still too long. So I’m going to replace mine with a stiff post.
The Thudbuster seat post on Unicycle.com is very solid, and does not have the length problem associated with internally-sprung posts.