January 16, 2025 • 8 mins
The Poseidon X Gravel Bike - why I love this bike, what makes this unique, and how you can customize it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello, and welcome to the Ask the pedalst podcast. I'm
here with McConn and my name is Rob. How are
you doing today, McCann, Hi, Rob Glafflon, how are you
very well? Thank you great to see you again. We
are here to talk really about the Poseidon brand of bikes.
You are someone who has spent many years working with
(00:26):
the Poseidon brand, repairing Poseidon bikes, upgrading your own Poseidon bikes,
and I'm interested in learning more about your experience with
the Poseidon brand and particularly the Poseidon X. It's something
we looked at with the Pedal of my Way content
and I was intrigued with your experience with the Poseidon
X as a as a gravel cyclist and what led
you to buying the Poseidon X in the first place.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Sure, Rob, the Poseidon X was a gravel centric bike.
They do have others in their offering right now, but
it started off with the gravel only or bikes just
for the gravel slash trail cycling, So Poseidon. They have
a few in their stable called the Redwood Poseidon X
(01:09):
for satn X Ambition, which was released a few months ago,
and this came out with amazing reviews the geometry was
more for rough use off road use. It had gramets
on the frames for various bags for a bike packing.
You can go on a multi day, multi week, multi
(01:30):
month trip around the world with just this bike. This
is not so accommodate. Tire sizes from the regular road
bike tire sizes seven hundred or even six fifty b
from I think one point nine inches all the way
to three inches. I believe I might be wrong with that,
but it depends on the bike you get. The Redwood
can take tick tires, This one not as big but
(01:53):
still rugged enough and noob tires for off road use.
So all these things interested me. And also the price point,
so it was less than thousand dollars when I bought them.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Is that considered more affordable on the scale of gravel
bikes to other brands.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
The other competing bikes when this came out was the
traditional ones like Salsa Surly Those were gravel mountain bike models,
and also the track specialized Giant Cannondale those as well,
But for trail riding. Gravel riding has taken off in
the last few years, so all bike manufacturers have started
(02:30):
making trail bikes gravel bikes. So now the distinction is
more on price between these manufacturers and the support they
have like warranty and stuff, and all of them started
offering similar components and everything. There's nothing much to differentiate
these bikes on paper, and you have to write each
of them to see what it is. Going back to Poseidon,
the reason I like them was the history they had,
(02:51):
like in terms of gravel specific design, price points and
you know components that you look for. These came with
micro shift, amazing smooth shifting. It was a very good package.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Excellent. You said, we spoke briefly that you switched out
the brakes further beside an X after a certain period
of time. How much upgrades have you done on the X.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Oh? So the brakes the Poseidon X when I bought them,
this was like two years ago at that point. The brakes,
or rather the brake housing. From the research I did online,
it looked like a lot of them had issues with
the brakes, meaning the stopping power. Right when you hit
the brake levers within a realistic distance, it should come
to a stop, you know, from a safety point of view, Yeah,
(03:34):
it did not. It was much to be desired, So
a lot of them experimented changing out their brake cables
called compression less. The brake cable itself is in housing.
The compression less housing prevents the cable from bending around
the brake cable that loses braking power, So changing it
(03:54):
out to a compression less housing improved the breaking power
of the bike. So that's one of the first upgrades
I made on. The other ones I put on them
were frame tape, like the prone scratches off produced with
rocks and stones hitting the frame, and I changed it
out to clipless pedals from flat pedals. And also I
put in one of my older specialized seat and then
(04:15):
upgraded the bar tape. But the main thing I did
was the was the brakes and then the frame tape
make sure that the bike is maintain problem.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, it's it's as you said. It seems as if
a gravel cycling has taking on its own sort of
Niche has grown pretty significantly in the last few years.
I guess that might be to do with the fact
that the healthy lifestyle industry itself has grown in the
last few years. Everyone's got into cycling or running or
all these different sort of adventure sports for example. So
(04:45):
it's interesting to see that with the growth in gravel cycling,
maybe there's a lot more of a spotlight on brands
like the Side And even though they've been they've been
around for a while right Beside, And I'm pretty sure
they're a California based company.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
That's correct, right, right, they're based in californ And your
point about this growing popular in the past few years,
I think the pandemic helped a lot people working from home,
they had more free time to indulge in extra critical
activities cycling, running, even people taking up packing and those
types of things. So this has really helped grow the sport,
(05:18):
even from a recreational point. And also I also do
road road biking. I prefer gravel cycling to road cycling
just because of road use that we share with cars
and trucks. Right, I've had close calls myself. I just
didn't want to make a silly mistake that is not
mine and kind of have drastic consequences. At least this
is the off the main roads. I can still get
(05:39):
hurt in this. It's just that you're not facing a
forty mile put car and not seeing you for some reason.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, you prefer the freedom of the gravel cycling that
it's more of a you get the speed without all
of the stopping and starting, and you know, watching three
sixty around you the entire time, and just looking out
for obstacles the entire.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Well, the main thing in trailer is people don't leave
their dogs, so the dogs sometimes come chasing you, so
have different kinds of hazard.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Is Yeah, a cow might be a golden retriever. So
with your experience with the Posider next, it seems like
you've had lots of different adventures you and your son
have been out cycling that you've had some great times
with it. Is the Poseidon brand something that you're going
to look to in the future when you buy your
next pike.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Definitely. I had an amazing experience with it. It's a
gravel specific bike. It will not be my last bike.
I love the sport of cycling, as you know, Rob,
so any and all aspects of cycling. I'd love to
keep going. Now that I got my son involved and
he is getting to be as tall as I am,
maybe in a couple of years, so this will be
his dedicated gravel bike, and maybe I might get something else.
(06:44):
I might end up getting a Posidon what I was
available at that time. It will be part of my
list for me to test write before I buy a bike,
so this will be one of the bikes I consider
seriously for an expurchase.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, it seems like that that brand is growing, and
in the research we did for our content online, it
seems I read a lot of the reviews and what
I always find fascinating about biking culture is people are
very dedicated to their brands, and Poseidon has a very
rich sort of connection to that online audience. They all
sort of have these reviews and they're like, I love
this part of it. As you said that, like all
(07:18):
the different components have their own subsections, sub sub audiences
and fans of those. So it's interesting to see.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I have one of the metallic red paint that was
one of the most sought after at least a couple
of years ago. They didn't have it anymore. To be
extra careful is why I added the tape, to make
it the last as long as possible.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Maybe we should reach out to beside them directly and
tell them to bring it back. I don't know who
your supplier is so the red paint, but it seems
like it's pretty popular.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Actually they give red paint samples. I had some nicks
and things on the bike, so I was able to
do some touchups. I have to check back to see
where the percent brought back the red paint scheme. But
that's something that is amazing to look at in.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Personal Yeah, it's amazing when brands have that unique color
skin t right, they have that something that catches the
eye that immediately you know what what that brand is
when you see that. If they can brand that color,
that's a that's an amazing connection to their to their
global usership.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, Well, thank you, mcond I feel like I've learned
more about the Poseidon brand in the last five minutes
than I have in the last forty one years of
my life. So I appreciate your time and explaining that
to me who does not know about these things. And
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
It was it was nice talking to you, Rob, you know,
thank you for the questions and they will talk to
you on the next one.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Sounds great, look forward to learning more. Man
Hello, and welcome to the Ask the pedalst podcast. I'm
here with McConn and my name is Rob. How are
you doing today, McCann, Hi, Rob Glafflon, how are you
very well? Thank you great to see you again. We
are here to talk really about the Poseidon brand of bikes.
You are someone who has spent many years working with
(00:26):
the Poseidon brand, repairing Poseidon bikes, upgrading your own Poseidon bikes,
and I'm interested in learning more about your experience with
the Poseidon brand and particularly the Poseidon X. It's something
we looked at with the Pedal of my Way content
and I was intrigued with your experience with the Poseidon
X as a as a gravel cyclist and what led
you to buying the Poseidon X in the first place.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Sure, Rob, the Poseidon X was a gravel centric bike.
They do have others in their offering right now, but
it started off with the gravel only or bikes just
for the gravel slash trail cycling, So Poseidon. They have
a few in their stable called the Redwood Poseidon X
(01:09):
for satn X Ambition, which was released a few months ago,
and this came out with amazing reviews the geometry was
more for rough use off road use. It had gramets
on the frames for various bags for a bike packing.
You can go on a multi day, multi week, multi
(01:30):
month trip around the world with just this bike. This
is not so accommodate. Tire sizes from the regular road
bike tire sizes seven hundred or even six fifty b
from I think one point nine inches all the way
to three inches. I believe I might be wrong with that,
but it depends on the bike you get. The Redwood
can take tick tires, This one not as big but
(01:53):
still rugged enough and noob tires for off road use.
So all these things interested me. And also the price point,
so it was less than thousand dollars when I bought them.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Is that considered more affordable on the scale of gravel
bikes to other brands.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
The other competing bikes when this came out was the
traditional ones like Salsa Surly Those were gravel mountain bike models,
and also the track specialized Giant Cannondale those as well,
But for trail riding. Gravel riding has taken off in
the last few years, so all bike manufacturers have started
(02:30):
making trail bikes gravel bikes. So now the distinction is
more on price between these manufacturers and the support they
have like warranty and stuff, and all of them started
offering similar components and everything. There's nothing much to differentiate
these bikes on paper, and you have to write each
of them to see what it is. Going back to Poseidon,
the reason I like them was the history they had,
(02:51):
like in terms of gravel specific design, price points and
you know components that you look for. These came with
micro shift, amazing smooth shifting. It was a very good package.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Excellent. You said, we spoke briefly that you switched out
the brakes further beside an X after a certain period
of time. How much upgrades have you done on the X.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Oh? So the brakes the Poseidon X when I bought them,
this was like two years ago at that point. The brakes,
or rather the brake housing. From the research I did online,
it looked like a lot of them had issues with
the brakes, meaning the stopping power. Right when you hit
the brake levers within a realistic distance, it should come
to a stop, you know, from a safety point of view, Yeah,
(03:34):
it did not. It was much to be desired, So
a lot of them experimented changing out their brake cables
called compression less. The brake cable itself is in housing.
The compression less housing prevents the cable from bending around
the brake cable that loses braking power, So changing it
(03:54):
out to a compression less housing improved the breaking power
of the bike. So that's one of the first upgrades
I made on. The other ones I put on them
were frame tape, like the prone scratches off produced with
rocks and stones hitting the frame, and I changed it
out to clipless pedals from flat pedals. And also I
put in one of my older specialized seat and then
(04:15):
upgraded the bar tape. But the main thing I did
was the was the brakes and then the frame tape
make sure that the bike is maintain problem.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, it's it's as you said. It seems as if
a gravel cycling has taking on its own sort of
Niche has grown pretty significantly in the last few years.
I guess that might be to do with the fact
that the healthy lifestyle industry itself has grown in the
last few years. Everyone's got into cycling or running or
all these different sort of adventure sports for example. So
(04:45):
it's interesting to see that with the growth in gravel cycling,
maybe there's a lot more of a spotlight on brands
like the Side And even though they've been they've been
around for a while right Beside, And I'm pretty sure
they're a California based company.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
That's correct, right, right, they're based in californ And your
point about this growing popular in the past few years,
I think the pandemic helped a lot people working from home,
they had more free time to indulge in extra critical
activities cycling, running, even people taking up packing and those
types of things. So this has really helped grow the sport,
(05:18):
even from a recreational point. And also I also do
road road biking. I prefer gravel cycling to road cycling
just because of road use that we share with cars
and trucks. Right, I've had close calls myself. I just
didn't want to make a silly mistake that is not
mine and kind of have drastic consequences. At least this
is the off the main roads. I can still get
(05:39):
hurt in this. It's just that you're not facing a
forty mile put car and not seeing you for some reason.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, you prefer the freedom of the gravel cycling that
it's more of a you get the speed without all
of the stopping and starting, and you know, watching three
sixty around you the entire time, and just looking out
for obstacles the entire.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Well, the main thing in trailer is people don't leave
their dogs, so the dogs sometimes come chasing you, so
have different kinds of hazard.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Is Yeah, a cow might be a golden retriever. So
with your experience with the Posider next, it seems like
you've had lots of different adventures you and your son
have been out cycling that you've had some great times
with it. Is the Poseidon brand something that you're going
to look to in the future when you buy your
next pike.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Definitely. I had an amazing experience with it. It's a
gravel specific bike. It will not be my last bike.
I love the sport of cycling, as you know, Rob,
so any and all aspects of cycling. I'd love to
keep going. Now that I got my son involved and
he is getting to be as tall as I am,
maybe in a couple of years, so this will be
his dedicated gravel bike, and maybe I might get something else.
(06:44):
I might end up getting a Posidon what I was
available at that time. It will be part of my
list for me to test write before I buy a bike,
so this will be one of the bikes I consider
seriously for an expurchase.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, it seems like that that brand is growing, and
in the research we did for our content online, it
seems I read a lot of the reviews and what
I always find fascinating about biking culture is people are
very dedicated to their brands, and Poseidon has a very
rich sort of connection to that online audience. They all
sort of have these reviews and they're like, I love
this part of it. As you said that, like all
(07:18):
the different components have their own subsections, sub sub audiences
and fans of those. So it's interesting to see.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I have one of the metallic red paint that was
one of the most sought after at least a couple
of years ago. They didn't have it anymore. To be
extra careful is why I added the tape, to make
it the last as long as possible.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Maybe we should reach out to beside them directly and
tell them to bring it back. I don't know who
your supplier is so the red paint, but it seems
like it's pretty popular.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Actually they give red paint samples. I had some nicks
and things on the bike, so I was able to
do some touchups. I have to check back to see
where the percent brought back the red paint scheme. But
that's something that is amazing to look at in.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Personal Yeah, it's amazing when brands have that unique color
skin t right, they have that something that catches the
eye that immediately you know what what that brand is
when you see that. If they can brand that color,
that's a that's an amazing connection to their to their
global usership.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, Well, thank you, mcond I feel like I've learned
more about the Poseidon brand in the last five minutes
than I have in the last forty one years of
my life. So I appreciate your time and explaining that
to me who does not know about these things. And
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
It was it was nice talking to you, Rob, you know,
thank you for the questions and they will talk to
you on the next one.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Sounds great, look forward to learning more. Man
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