Carbon seat post

Vizzage

Is it a waste of ten quid to replace my alloy pole with a carbon fibre one? Seems like an inexpensive upgrade but I don’t really know.

cougie

How much seat post do you have showing ?

Ten quid does seem incredibly cheap for any seatpost though.

diamonddog

£10 for a carbon seat post does not add up to me, plus IME you would not notice any difference.

daniel_b

£10 :shock:

Second hand is it?

shirley_basso

If you have an Alu frame and narrow tyres Id say it would make a difference, assuming it's any good.

Vizzage

Actually it was £14. they’re all over ebay, from China et al.

imposter2.0

Not worth it - and you wouldn't notice any difference anyway...

keef66

There's loads of stuff from China I'd take a punt on, but carbon bars and seatposts, probably not. Especially not if they are only £14 delivered...

cooldad

Especially as it will probably explode, and your backside will be in very close proximity.

cougie

I'd probably not go cheap carbon. That said I've had CF posts in my bikes for years with no problems. But bought from shops or standard with the bike so they're reputable.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I replaced the alloy one on my Cube with a Selcof carbon job from PX, cost me ~£55 last summer, think it's helped... Especially on longer duration outdoor rides of ~3+ hours.

bianchimoon

don't do it, if the carbon doesn't fail, the part where it's bonded to the seat clamp almost certainly will, I once unwittingly bought one off a friend of a friend an FSA version thinking it was genuine. Plus it won't make any difference to the downward force you put on it from a comfort point of view, saddle, tyres and frame will do all of that, weight wise probably nothing in it. Save your tenner.

trek_dan

Imposter wrote:

Not worth it - and you wouldn't notice any difference anyway...

Agree. Carbon posts make zero difference and cheap ones are often heavier than alloy anyway.

OnTheRopes

I call troll post, says £10 sound like an expensive upgrade but I don't really know? Yeah right!

Vizzage

Hi, I said INEXPENSIVE, not EXPENSIVE. I don’t know what ‘troll post’ means, please enlighten.

Thanks everyone else for your input.

lakesluddite

If it were me I wouldn't risk it. It's probably fine, but I suspect NHS waiting rooms are full of 'It'll probably be fine'.

If you really want a CF seatpost, I have found one or two from UK sellers that were around £30-£40, eg:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tif ... 79186?mx=a

shirley_basso

I bought the Fizik Cyrano 00 for a bargain recently.

I think they make a difference if you have either a 31.6mm seat post or an Alu frame.

OnTheRopes

Vizzage wrote:

Hi, I said INEXPENSIVE, not EXPENSIVE. I don’t know what ‘troll post’ means, please enlighten.

Thanks everyone else for your input.

lol okay, my bad, I misread. Im getting old so it does happen occasionally.
In which case, no its not worth it, if you want a carbon seat post, check how much weight you are saving only then may it be worth it, of course a nice deda superleggero or similar will look cool, so buy a reputable brand. Having said that a broken seat post probably won't kill you, it'll just be an uncomfortable ride home.

MiddleRinger

Only if it's got the sexy carbon weave showing so you have added bling factor, because you probably won't notice any comfort difference.

voicycle

I ran this for 1750 miles before selling the bike: https://www.wiggle.co.uk/tifosi-carbon-seat-post/

Fair bit of it exposed too. I didn't buy it as an upgrade, but because I needed to go about 3-5mm past the minimum insertion mark on my stock post. Since I was buying a new post anyway I figured for the money it couldn't hurt to go carbon. I didn't notice much difference but given the brand and price I wasn't upset about the purchase. I expect if I spent twice as much I'd have found it enlightening.

Not sure I'd be willing to spend less than that on an unverified or unknown make though.

Vizzage

So I know the advice was not to waste my money, and I was too embarassed to mention it, but in fact I’d already ordered the unbranded Chinese one by the time I got all the replies

Anyway, it arrived last week and my first impressions are that it makes a difference to the weight of the bike which unfortunately I immediately countered by eating a pack of crisps.

But the big thing I noticed is that it’s a LOT more comfortable over roads and little bumps. It seems to cushion the bumps really nicely. So as long as it doesn’t splinter and cause me to split my bum on the frame and shower my legs with carbon shards, I’m actually quite happy with it. So far.

imposter2.0

Vizzage wrote:

So I know the advice was not to waste my money, and I was too embarassed to mention it, but in fact I’d already ordered the unbranded Chinese one by the time I got all the replies

Anyway, it arrived last week and my first impressions are that it makes a difference to the weight of the bike which unfortunately I immediately countered by eating a pack of crisps.

But the big thing I noticed is that it’s a LOT more comfortable over roads and little bumps. It seems to cushion the bumps really nicely. So as long as it doesn’t splinter and cause me to split my bum on the frame and shower my legs with carbon shards, I’m actually quite happy with it. So far.

You'd have to explain how an upright carbon tube is capable of absorbing vertical impacts (ie 'cushioning bumps') without actually compressing. If it is actually compressing, then it's rather a worry...

Vizzage

I think what’s happening is it’s flexing ever so slightly where the aluminium post wasn’t at all. My saddle is quite far forward because my bike is a touch on the large side, and so the moment’s causing a very slight flexing. Or maybe it’s just a placebo caused by cognitive bias and buyer’s remorse avoidance!

imposter2.0

I think your last sentence nailed it, tbh...

Vizzage

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/pla ... 1607079926

Ben6899

To be fair, seat posts are loaded eccentrically. It'll be bending/flexing a little rather than compressing (ever tried compressing a cylinder?)

Oh and there's definitely some placebo effect going on.

imposter2.0

Ben6899 wrote:

To be fair, seat posts are loaded eccentrically. It'll be bending/flexing a little rather than compressing (ever tried compressing a cylinder?)

As will a tube of any other composition, tbf..

Ben6899

Imposter wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

To be fair, seat posts are loaded eccentrically. It'll be bending/flexing a little rather than compressing (ever tried compressing a cylinder?)

As will a tube of any other composition, tbf..

Oh of course.

chris_bass

Vizzage wrote:

I think what’s happening is it’s flexing ever so slightly where the aluminium post wasn’t at all. My saddle is quite far forward because my bike is a touch on the large side, and so the moment’s causing a very slight flexing. Or maybe it’s just a placebo caused by cognitive bias and buyer’s remorse avoidance!

Your saddle position should no be affected by the size of your bike, it should be set to get the right position for the cranks/pedals.

Try a shorter stem.