Aenomaly SwitchGrade Review | My Favorite MTB Accessory

The SwitchGrade is visually hidden when installed. But you'll know where to find it, and you'll be eager to use it quite often.

      Throughout the history of mountain biking, it seems like every aspect of the modern mountain bicycle has been heavily engineered for gradual increases in performance and optimization. The introduction of dropper posts around 2012 was a true game-changer for bikes that were built to climb and descend well, and the saddle itself has been revised for more comfort and performance over the years. However, the angle of the saddle has always been in a fixed position, and almost every rider positions their saddle in a completely flat position. The flat saddle position is totally adequate for flat terrain, but is there a better way to position the saddle for steep, sustained climbs? That is the question that Aenomaly Constructs asked and answered with their SwitchGrade Saddle Angle Adjuster.

      The Aenomaly SwitchGrade is extremely straightforward with just one simple job - give the rider the choice of 3 different positions to angle their saddle with the quick grasp of a lever. This nifty piece of engineering simply bolts between the saddle rails and your dropper post, and installation only takes about 10 minutes. There is a lever that is positioned under the nose of the saddle which is the only control. Pulling the lever upward unlocks the tilting mechanism, allowing you to grab the saddle and tilt it to your desired position. You can tilt the saddle with your butt if you’re on the bike or with your hand if you’re off the bike. While not officially titled as such, I consider the 3 saddle angles as “Climb, Trail & Descend”, similar to how some suspension manufacturers title their compression modes. The Climb position pitches the seat angle forward, the Trail position keeps the seat flat and the Descend position angles the seat back for slightly more butt clearance on descents.

      The first thing you’ll notice with the SwitchGrade is that it feels insanely precise, well-engineered and well manufactured. The feel and function are so precise that I think the FIA should hire Aenomaly to run safety inspections on every Boeing 747 MAX. The lever pull feels highly tactile, and locking the saddle into a new angle results in a loud “snap” that could likely find success on an ASMR YouTube channel. You get what you pay for, and while we will talk about pricing in just a second, you definitely feel as if your money is well spent on the highly precise feel and function alone.

The SwitchGrade is nice and stealthy, tidily tucked away under the saddle.

      While the exact timing of saddle angle adjustments are truly up to you, I have a pretty easy method of usage. Basically, I just snap it into the flat position when pedaling from my car to the climbing trail/road. When I start climbing uphill, I’ll lightly unweight the saddle while reaching down to pull the lever while simultaneously tilting the saddle forward. Then, I’ll just leave it there until I reach the top of the climb and dismount from the bike to take a quick break to catch my breath. Before dropping into the descent, I’ll lower the dropper post as low as it will go and then tilt the saddle backward for a little more butt clearance. Also, I’d be lying if I said that tilting the angle back for descents wasn’t partially just because it looks freaking cool, giving my enduro bike the look of a DH or free ride bike. And if you say you never bought anything because it looked sort of cool, I’d call you a liar.

      If I’m climbing on a route that has undulating terrain, it’s easy for me to frequently change the angle of the saddle when transitioning between flat sections of trail and steep, long climbing sections. I will sometimes see riders curious, but overall uninterested in the SwitchGrade as they just don’t see themselves using it or see it as just another way to complicate the simplicity of their bike. However, adjusting the angle of the SwitchGrade while climbing is easier than spelling Aenomaly without Google’ing it, so I think it’s safe to say that I think you will be using it very often. The entire mechanism is also very reasonably sized and designed super sleek, so you barely even notice that it’s tucked under the saddle when looking at the bike.

      When I first saw this product hit the market, I will be honest that I thought it was completely silly. However, I was surprisingly very wrong.

      The Aenomaly SwitchGrade absolutely makes a positive difference while tilted forward in the climbing position when the bike is pointed uphill for long periods of time. This is especially true if you frequently navigate very steep and sustained climbs. Living in Bellingham, WA, I do frequently route my rides up a very steep hill that doesn’t stop until you reach the top of the hill, so I see the SwitchGrade as a very valuable tool to my bike setup. The forward angle of the seat makes your saddle flat while climbing, rather than being leaned over the front of the bike and just sitting on the tip of the saddle. Climbing with the seat tilted forward will make you think “how the heck have I been riding with the seat flat at all times for my whole life?” This makes such a difference while climbing that it feels absolutely wrong to climb with the saddle in the middle, flat position. Climbing with the saddle in the forward position actually makes me feel as if I’m sitting on TOP of the saddle, and climbing in the flat position actually makes me feel as if I’m working hard to stay positioned forward on the saddle to avoid sliding backward. I feel a very slight reduction in fatigue when climbing as well, since I’m just straight up sittin’ on the saddle and don’t have to pull myself forward on the saddle. Tilting the saddle backward into the “descending” position isn’t necessarily quite a game-changer like the forward, climbing position, but I do still tilt it back on descents as the little bit of extra clearance doesn’t hurt.

      The SwitchGrade is most helpful on my enduro bike, a 2019 Devinci Spartan. While I still absolutely love this bike, the geometry is starting to get pretty outdated which is most noticeable on climbs. On paper, the seat tube angle of 74.9 degrees isn’t too far off of my Stumpjumper EVO trail bike at 76.7 degrees, but the effective seat tube angle at climbing height and the rest of the bike does make it seem like I’m hanging off the back of the Spartan on steep climbs. However, the SwitchGrade helped modernize the feel of my Spartan while climbing by just pitching me forward on climbs.

Installation is EASY. This high-class saddle clicker just bolts between your saddle and seat post hardware.

      The only annoying part of owning a SwitchGrade is that I tend to fiddle with the angle every once in awhile. This is because when I do happen to climb with the saddle in the neutral position, I always think it’s actually in the far back descending angle because the flat angle on climbs feels just so weird compared to the forward tilt on climbs. Yes, it’s that much of a difference in feel and that much of a positive benefit. However, you’ll get very used to how each angle feels rather quickly, and this “annoyance” virtually disappears.

      Another potential negative is that there isn't a model of SwitchGrade that is compatible with every dropper post on the market. However, they do make 4 different versions which fit most modern dropper posts on the trails. You'll just have to check each product page for their fitment to determine if your dropper post is compatible with one of the 4 versions of SwitchGrades. Or, check out the compatibility section below.

    Lastly, I guess you want me to mention the weight. I've never weighed this because I obviously knew that it would add a little weight. I truly didn't care how many grams it added because the features I love about it are impossible to access without adding this mighty little mechanism. According to Aenomaly, the SwitchGrade ends up adding about 100 grams of weight upon installation after replacing the stock seat post hardware. Is 100 grams much? No, not really. Are the highly-technical folks going to argue that adding 100 grams to the upper part of the bike's center of gravity going to equate to the worst ride of your life? Probably, but I would ask that these folks simmer down in their harsh over-analyzation of mountain bicycles and get out for a ride with the SwitchGrade to cleanse their palate.
 

      As mentioned earlier, the price often tends to turn away those interested in the benefits of the SwitchGrade, which sells for $250. The first thing that you probably thought was that $250 is about the average price of a dropper post itself, and you wouldn’t be wrong. However, the SwitchGrade is its own separate component, and I would urge you to separate the price of this saddle angle adjuster from the price of an actual dropper post. Think of this like your cockpit, where you might spend $100 on a nice set of aluminum bars and supplement those with a nice $100 stem. The SwitchGrade is a supplemental component to assist your dropper post in optimizing your seated riding position.

After a long climb, a snack and some knucks are guaranteed at the top of a long climb. You can see that I've set my SwitchGrade to the rear angle for the upcoming descent.

      Another thing worth mentioning are all of the other (potentially) silly things that mountain bikers spend money on. As an industry person, I frequently chat with customers who want to upgrade their fork damper for better performance, but don’t even know how much air pressure is in their fork. If you are considering upgrading your fork’s internal parts for a negligible upgrade without ever even attempting to properly set up your fork adjustments, I would strongly advise you to spend a little time actually setting up your suspension settings and investing in this impressibly machined $250 piece of gear instead which will absolutely make an immediate difference. And even if you don’t fall in love with this quite as much as I do, at least it will still make a real difference compared to the $500 damper upgrade that might have only made a 10% performance improvement (assuming its even set up right). I don’t mean to rant, but you have to agree with me that mountain bikers love to throw money at very particular areas of the bike, but will immediately feel negative about something like the SwitchGrade without ever trying it, just because of it’s cost.

      In the early days of dropper posts, many riders scoffed at the idea of installing a seat post that changes height. And now, those same riders couldn’t ever imagine riding without one. The Aenomaly SwitchGrade might not be quite the game-changer as the invention of the dropper post itself, but I definitely see this as an evolution in modern mountain bike design that I’m very akin to. I would highly recommend that you give it a try if you are often mashing the pedals up long, sustained climbs and want to experience a truly unique and comfortable seating position. Climbing with the saddle tilted forward is more comfortable, feels more efficient and just feels right. Plus, the descending mode adds a small amount of butt clearance and looks pretty dang cool to boot.

• Version 1 = Bontrager 2018 Drop Line, Brand X 2019 Ascend, Canyon 2021 Iridium, Chromag Dolomite, Fox pre-2021 Transfer, OneUp V2, PNW Loam, PNW Coast, Race Face 2019 Aeffect R, Race Face pre-2021 Turbine R, Scada 2020 Relevo, Syncros 2020 Duncan 2.0, Thomson Elite, TranzX 2021 YS105, 2021 YSI08A, 2021 YSP18, 2021 YSP23J, 2021 YSP30
• Version 2 = eThirteen 2020 Vario, KS 2020 LEV/LEV Integra, Rockshox 2019 Reverb Stealth, Rocky Mountain 2021 Toonie, Satori 2021 Sorata Pro, SDG 2021 Tellis, X Fusion 2021 Manic, YT 2021 Postman
• Version 3 = Fox 2021+ Transfer, Race Face 2021+ Turbine R
• Version 4 = Bike Yoke Revive & Divine, Manitou Jack

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