I really wonder about the claims that a seatpost can really alter the ride quality. Especially given that the tires account for probably 90% of the dampening quality of a bike (I can’t verify this fact, but it seems logical), could you really feel much of a difference in that last 10%? I can see carbon bars smoothing out a ride. Since they are cantilevered out to either side, they take advantage of both compression and extension to dampen vibration. The seatpost, however, can only compress in the direction of it’s length. By design, it is not supposed to flex in any other direction. It doesn’t seem like compression in this area could really do that much.
Once again, I’m just pulling all of this out of my ass.
It really depends on the seattube angle and the length of the seatpost extension. They will flex. This is hardly detectable on most bikes. On my mountain bike (slack ST angle), I’ve got a really cheap seatpost with lots of setback and about 300mm of extension above the seattube. I can feel it flex quite a bit, especially if when I’m spinning out and bouncing all over the place.
I’ve no actual experience with carbon seatposts. Theoretically, they don’t make sense to me and I have a crush on Thomson parts.
One time my seatpost and saddle got stolen and I had to ride to work without.
That kinda sucked.
It was long before I had a ton of bike junk laying around. I wouldn’t have that problem today although today I’d never leave my bike locked up outside my apartment over night.
brah son just get a chain see, and like install that shit inside your saddle rails and thru your frame. you’ll be mad saddle/post theft bulletproof. just like teh ppl w/ br00kz saddlz
I trust a carbon steer tube over an alloy one.[/quote]
Yeah? I don’t have personal experience with either, but it seems that a carbon seatpost would be much easier to check for cracking and that normally failures are a result of user error. I’d love to hear your side of this, though.
What makes a carbon steerer tube preferable over aluminum?
More specifically, why is carbon okay for a steerer tube but not for a seat post?
I have an aversion to using carbon in any clamp interface situations.