Carbon seat post - More comfortable?

Bar Shaker

Headhuunter wrote:

Bar Shaker wrote:

A carbon seat post is too small a component and too thick a wall section to dull the harmonics of road buzz.

Don't waste your money.

I'm sorry but that's rubbish. I speak from experience...

You are wearing the 'emperors clothes'.

A seat tube will be quite a thick wall section to cope with the rider loads and will not, magically, absorb med-high frequency vibration simply because it is made of carbon fibre... even if it is a poorly made, very bendy, carbon seat post. To think otherwise is to not understand the properties of the material. Flick a finger nail against a carbon frame tube and the sound is a dull 'thack' sort of sound. Now do the same to your 3mm walled carbon seat post. The material is much more solid and will carry high frequencies much better, giving almost a 'ting' sound when flicked. [apologies for the phonetics].

As for muscles aching less, even a seat post made from Plastercine would not prevent HF vibration from the groupset and wheels from reaching the pedals.

Carbon seat posts do look nice though.

Bobbinogs

So, to summarise then, it's all a bit subjective and given that the cost is £60 it might well be worth a shot. One could always stick the post on ebay if one found it to be a waste of money and thereby recoup some of the loss.

bianchimoon

Bobbinogs wrote:

So, to summarise then, it's all a bit subjective and given that the cost is £60 it might well be worth a shot. One could always stick the post on ebay if one found it to be a waste of money and thereby recoup some of the loss.

don't underestimate the carbon placebo effect, if you want it buy it, if it makes you feel good all the better

Bar Shaker

I quite agree. They are things of beauty and worth the £60 just to add some bling.

Its worth noting that because the properties of carbon do not lend themselves to this sort of loading a carbon seat post will not give any noticeable weight saving over an aluminium one. Because of the wall thickness needed to get the strength for the lateral loads, it may even be heavier.

stevec205gti

Bobbinogs wrote:

So, to summarise then, it's all a bit subjective and given that the cost is £60 it might well be worth a shot. One could always stick the post on ebay if one found it to be a waste of money and thereby recoup some of the loss.

To summerise - don't bother asking for peoples opinions/experience as someone else will tell them they're making it up, and just imagining any change in performance. Buy one, try it, sell on if unhappy. :roll:

Ron Stuart

Sounds like if you take onboard all these recommendations it's gona cost about £1000.
If you get a carbon seat post be careful how hard you tighten the post clamp. I've seen a few go before now and it could be dangerous.

5knm is the usual recommended max and Ritchey do a neat torque key...
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... Torque_Key

Check the size of your clamp bolt first but this baby does the stem, fork steerer and seat post on my bikes a treat.

You mention that it is your first alloy bike, then it will seem thrashy compared to a CrMo steel bike anyway, especially if the steel bike has relaxed frame angles and the new alloy job has more race like geometry.

100psi should be a minimum as this falls into the design range for tyre to perform properly. Modern deep section rims and very high pressures in the tyres will give a harsher ride but it such a subjective subject as many racers love this set-up. Keep to your tyre pressures.
Set-up could be a problem, is your weight ‘on the saddle’ too much?
Eg. Handlebars too high and/or is your saddle to low?
Or is it just that this bike is a different concept to your previous one. Is it stiffer more responsive and therefore giving you much more feed back from the road. There is always a certain amount of trade-off between the ideals for speed and the requirement for comfort.
Touring bikes aren’t fast, if they were Fabian Cancellara would be riding one.

langster

I have a specialized Roubaix pave post and it makes a big difference, you can actually see the seatpost bend if you lean your full wieght on the seat, but just because a seatpost is made from carbon fiber doesn't mean it will act the same way tho. Read this review on the Bike radar website (http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... t-11-42831)

nightoff

My Bianchi Nirone came with a carbon seat post. I was told by the dealer that it was alloy with a carbon wrap.

I mention this because I bought an 18ltr sadddle bag which clamps to the seatpost. Due to the seatpost slipping I removed it and realised the post had no alloy skeleton. I wasn't happy about clamping to carbon so I swapped the seatpost for an alloy one and found the ride harsher.
In the end I traded the saddle bag and put the carbon seat post back in. Much better.

For the record I have over 200mm of seat post showing.