Specialized Saddle Clamp

badhorsy
badhorsy Posts: 107
edited November 2010 in Workshop
Hi all,

got myself a new Specialized Secteur Elite and am having a little trouble with the saddle clamp (I was trying to adjust the angle, but am also looking to replace the current saddle with my Brooks B17N).

It's got one bolt at the back which is a standard allen key job, and also a second bolt at the front of the clamp, with the head facing upwards i.e. if you want to turn it you have to get at it through the perineal hole in the saddle.

How does this work? I'm confused because if I put my Brooks on, I don't see how I can adjust the allen bolt at the front...

Comments

  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    I'm not familar with the Secteur seatpost, but I've got a Spesh Pavé post which works like this.

    Easiest way seems to be to put the saddle into the cradle and do up the front one alone, whilst tilting the saddle to allow you to get the allenkey in, then to do the rear one.

    This means that if the saddle is then not at the right angle, so you need to tighten the front one more and loosen the rear one or v.v. to get it level, you then have to undo the rear one again, adjust the front one, retighten the rear and repeat until you get it right.

    Bit of a faff compared to some of the single-bolt designs, but once you've done it you leave it alone, and it does allow micro-adjustment and doesn't slip.
  • arlowood
    arlowood Posts: 2,561
    Hi badhorsy

    I recently bought a Spesh Secteur Elite and like you I wanted to switch from the Rival 143 saddle provided - in my case to a Rolls San Marco.

    Was a bit puzzled about how I would be able to access the front adjuster bolt as the San Marco has no periannal slot (like the Brooks).

    I more or less followed the trial and error procedure suggested by Andy-wrx. The front bolt does have a gnurled head on it so you can reach it and turn it with the saddle in place. Obviously you can't tighten it per se but it is really only there to allow the pitch of the saddle to be controlled. Once you have set up the correct pitch by turning the gnurled head of the front bolt you then tighten the rear bolt in the usual way with your allen key.

    It is a bit of a fiddle and took me a couple of attempts to get it just right. However I have now got the San Marco set up perfectly and am quite happy. Really enjoying riding the Secteur also after 14 years on my steel Mercian. It was a great bike but I am happier with the Spesh geometry in my state of advancing years.
  • badhorsy
    badhorsy Posts: 107
    Fantastic, thanks for the advice! At least I know I'm not being *completely* stupid now...

    I had previously adjusted the angle on the Rival by first loosening the rear allen bolt (which you can get to easily) and then getting at the front one by sticking an allen key through the perineal slot. I don't think that my loosening the rear bolt allowed the front bolt to become finger tight though, so I reckon I'll have to try tilting the saddle to get the allen key in (when I get one without the perineal slot).

    My girlfriend has lovingly bought me a shiny new Brooks B17-Narrow for my christmas, so I'm just getting prepared so that I can make the swap on xmas morning and go play in the snow!