The Seat Shifter
Here’s the Seat Shifter. Which really was a 1990 phenomenon. There weren’t many around in 1991. Did the company close? And sponsorships end. Or did athletes not think it gave them a sufficient speed advantage for the time lost due to the weight of the device? More research needed.
I know they used to break though. When I worked at Perfect Performance we had a big box of returned units in the corner of the office.
The Seat Shifter was essentially a spring-loaded sliding system that allowed you to pull a lever on your handlebars and change your saddle’s for-aft position while riding. Further back for climbing. Forward for riding hard on the flat. At least that was the theory. Of course, this would also create small changes in saddle height.
Images: Competitor Magazine (USA) September 1990
The most visible user was Mike Pigg. The video below is the 1990 Nice Triathlon. You get a few glimpses of Pigg and the Shifter.
And although Dave Scott featured in the article and the advertisement above. He didn’t use a Seat Shifter at Nice.
Triathlete (FR) did a product review of the Seat Shifter in July 1990. it’s below. I’ll do a quick translation tomorrow morning.
There were also plenty of non-moving alternatives to get your saddle further forward in 1990. I’ll present some of those soon.
And let’s not forget the Seat Leash! That definitely needs a post.
Images: Triathlete (FR) Juillet 1990
