How do carbon bars and seatposts affect your ride?

frayz

How much different do they feel?

Are the worth upgrading to on my Scott scale 50?

What other weight saving mods are good bang vs buck?

ashleymp777

They soak up a little bit of shock that gets tranmitted through them a little better than if you had steel bars/post. They also a little bit lighter.

I bought carbon bars the other month and I love them!

Captain Turok

"bang vs buck" weight saving mods - count the grams saved versus cost to upgrade. Grams per £, think theres a blog about it on the site somewhere

(Foam) grips, tyres and tubes, saddles and seat posts, are a good (economical) start. Its a slippery slope!..


I've had a few KCNC products that appear to be great value for money on a £-grams basis. Ti Pro light seat posts and the qr's, v light and seem good 'value'.

Go on you know the Scott deserves it

Chaka Ping

I think they offer noticeably more comfort as well as less weight.

If you shop around and settle on a cheap-ish brand like FSA or Truvativ you can pick them up at a reasonable price too.

Just make sure you check the width of the bars and make sure you get all the grease out your seat tube before you stick the new post in!

HixX

No one mentioned the "bling factor"

Blundell

I totally agree with all the others, CF makes a big difference to a general ride. It makes the front 'deadened' in a damped way. Basically all those little trail buzzes get filtered out. COme the end of a ride you do norice that it has been easier on your hands arms than normal alloy bars. Same applies for seat posts. And the carbon railed saddle on my scott is top notch.. dead comfy!

Amos

I got some of the FSA bars on my bike, an utter bargain at £40 from my LBS. At first I was sceptical about changing to carbon, but I wouldnt go back now.

Blundell

Amos... nice bike mate!
Bet that rides pretty damn sweet!

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

I'm thinking about getting themchea[ off ebay.

is there any other tips re: carbon as a material? I know it can be brittle, and also that for some reason it shouldn't meet grease... any other things i shoudl know`

stu8975

Im running FSA K-Force risers and they are just as good as easton..and i got them for £45 from Merlin Cycles, last time i checked they were still available (only come in oversize though - 31.8mm)

Drfabulous0

Carbon tubes are susceptible to damage form compression, but most carbon bars will have an alloy insert or similar at the clamping area to prevent this. If you want to fit bar ends make sure you get bars which are reinforced at the ends to accept them. Carbon fibre is a very strong material but when it fails it has a repution for doing so catastrophically. However if you install them correctly and replace them if they become damaged (or at least get them checked out by a professional) then there is no problem with it as a material for bike parts.

shisaa

No doubt carbon is lighter and can increase comfort. but the flex can be a bit disconcerting. I actually switched back to alloy from carbon, as i prefer the stiffness, expecially when 'pulling' myself uphill. It's a personal thing,
As for saving weight, i think you might want to look at the wheelset, tyres and tubes, as they make the most difference

Iain C

Been watching this thread, I'm thinking about upgrading to a carbon seatpost myself and have a few questions...

Current post is a Bontrager ally one, is a swap to a Ritchey carbon an upgrade? Ignoring weight, I'm thinking strength in a crash, and the seat clamp area, will it be better?

I do a lot of sailing and I have lots of experience of working with and building in CF. CF and ally together is a big no no in terms of promoting corrosion, surely sticking a carbon seatpost down an ally frame is bad news, epsecially once the lacquer gets scratched on the setpost?

I keep hearing about CF giving a more compliant ride, is there any point at all on a full susser XC which I ride?

Finally, I admit it, I'd really love one for the bling factor, as my black anodised one is starting to look a little tired where nature's grinding paste has been at it, especially where the saddle bag fits and also around the seat tube entry as I move it up and down on rides. Will a CF one keep looking good or will it get munched quickly? I do a fair bit of muddyish riding and I tend not to use a crud catcher on the back.

Just be interested to hear from anyone who has done the upgrade...thanks!

Blundell

Iain... I started reading your thread and thought initially, yeah cf would be alright, maybee if a bit more robustness is required you could have a bontrager x lite acc aluminium cf composite, I've had one on my klein for 2 or three years now with no problems what so ever, and no corrosion as can be seen.
Then I rad the fact that you already have a FS, I would have thought that it would make onloy minimal difference on a FS bike as the rear shock should de a good job of suppressing trail buzz. Finally with respect to your anodised coating munching saddle bag, I would say that you'll probably need some sort of sacrificail layer between the bag and your post in order to stop the post wearing away, it sounds very similar scenario to plastic hydraulic hosing eating away at the bike frame.

I'd say have a go with one of the bontrager x-lite acc posts if you are going to imerse yourself into the joys of cf.
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/bontr ... tpost.html

Iain C

Thanks for the comments...I was really looking at the CF post primarily for the pimp factor if I'm honest with myself, and I'm the kind of person who just has to pimp and modify everything!

The one I was going to go for was the Ritchey one, I need to check the weight etc versus the stock Bontrager I'm currently running, I guess my concern would be that there's no point in going for pimp CF if it's going to get scratched really easily.

This is the fella, what do you reckon?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... eat%20Post