Two years ago, I decided I wanted to get a bike next to my 2017 Trek Fuel EX 5. It felt silly to ride a full suspension Mountain bike on the local bike trail. Like many others, I was scrolling Instagram when I found the Poseidon bikes. Insert the world of gravel bikes!
Nervous to buy a bike unseen
Poseidon bikes come directly from manufacturer, meaning, there is no middleman to jack up the prices and they get shipped directly to your house. The biggest issue was trying to figure out what kind of frame size I needed. I was in between and took a size L. I start to wonder these days if I could have gotten away with getting an M instead. The issues of buying a bike online!
I had set myself on the L frame and made the order in September of 2023. Email received about shipping and not much later the bike showed up at my door. Honestly, I wish I documented the process better of putting it together because the bike comes partially preassembled.
Something seems off
My friend who lives in Colorado gave me a set of carbon 700C wheels for the bike. As excited I was after flying home with them, I got them wrapped with new tires and tried to install the wheel. There was just one little goofy thing. My rear wheel wasn’t centered! At first I thought it was my wheel that was off centered and had that checked out. But after some more investigating I found that the rear bracket wasn’t installed the right way for the real wheel. At the time, I was still living in the Chicago area and reached out to Velosmith in Wilmette to have my bike checked out. Long story short, My rear hanger was off my 4.5mm which was causing the shift in the rear wheel. After this was documented, I reached out to Poseidon to see if this could be a warranty.
Now the biggest thing what you might be wondering – why didn’t you notice this when you were putting the bike together. Simple, I had 48mm tires installed on the wheelset that came with the bike. It wasn’t obvious that the wheel wasn’t sitting centered. It wasn’t until I installed 43mm tires on my 700c wheelset that it became very noticeable.
Warranty and communication
I submitted my warranty for the bike slightly before busy holiday season. I gotta give it to them. They responded, they submitted the warranty and early February I received the new bike. The first thing I did – install the rear wheel to ensure the hanger was centered by using my 700c wheelset. I was beyond excited when I noticed that all was aligning the right way. Poseidon for the win!
Thoughts on the bike
The bike gets shipped with 650B alloy wheelset and tubed Kenda tires. They are heavy and you really notice the difference when going tubeless. But I also have to say, that they are a blast to ride with the 650B wheels and some gravel king tubeless ready tires. Getting a little more rowdy on the wider 650B seemed like a blast. The 700C I use when I want to go longer distances and little less rowdy trails.
The MicroShift Advent X 1×10 provides smooth shifting. When putting the bike together and you don’t feel confident that you have the skills to have the shifter run smooth, bring your bike in to your local bike shop. The 11-48T cassette seems to provide plenty gears, even when climbing! I’d love to put a front rack and possibly a rear rack on the bike and turn the bike into a bike packing setup and take it for a spin from the Province of Zeeland to the Amsterdam over a few days.
One of the biggest complaints is the braking setup. I did end up removing the cable housing and replace it all for Jagwire. It did make the braking a little less “Squishy” and I felt better in control during descending where the stock felt I couldn’t brake and didn’t have enough stopping power. After I replaced the cables and housing, the bike felt a lot more how I want it to be.
Another thing I replaced was the stock seat. The seating area was too narrow for my booty, and I decided to get a Ergon SMC Sport gel saddle. That saddle and a good pair of chamois really made a difference! I am not a pro rider by any means, but I challenged myself in 2024 for a 200 miles ride in June. While I was so locked in, I ended up riding 34 miles in one day, a new personal record.
After these little things and mods I find myself really enjoying the Redwood. As of writing of this post, I noticed that the Redwood is not available on the Poseidon website anymore.
