Carbon Seat Posts

[GlasgowGaryH]

Are carbon seat posts really worth buying? Do they really make for a better ride? Not sure weather to buy or not

 

[Keith Oates]

They are lighter seems to be the biggest attraction of getting them. As for being more comfortable they will probably soak up some road vibration but I'm not sure it's noticeable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Bargain, not that I'm buying one ...

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/SPFSSLK/fsa-sl-k-carbon-seatpost

 

[walker]

just make sure its the right size before you get one.

 

[Globalti]

Yes, they are light, they soak up masses of vibration and they don't seize in steel or ally frames. Oh, and they don't bend - I had a Control Tech ali post once that slowly bent over a few months despite having an internal reinforcing wall.

 

[ianrauk]

Minimal...

Are carbon seat posts really worth buying? Do they really make for a better ride? Not sure weather to buy or not

 

[rich p]

Yes, they are light, they soak up masses of vibration and they don't seize in steel or ally frames. Oh, and they don't bend - I had a Control Tech ali post once that slowly bent over a few months despite having an internal reinforcing wall.

They do seize in ally frames as I know to my cost!

 

[Globalti]

They do seize in ally frames as I know to my cost!

Probably the ally frame seized around the post, if you get my drift! The aluminium oxide would take up much more space than the bare metal so would have jammed the post in the frame solidly.

Carbon fibre seems to compliment titanium quite nicely as well.

 

[magnatom]

Made absolutely no difference to me. Put the money towards some nice new wheels.

 

[AlanW]

They do seize in ally frames as I know to my cost!

And in steel frames.

And the more you try and twist the seat post back and forth trying to get the bugger out, the more heat is generated and the more the carbon fibre expands, making it a nightmare to remove.

 

[Globalti]

And in steel frames.

And the more you try and twist the seat post back and forth trying to get the bugger out, the more heat is generated and the more the carbon fibre expands, making it a nightmare to remove.

With due deference to your experience AlanW I don't think it's heat. I've a carbon post in my Ti MTB frame and I do know that it gets pretty tight if you don't remove and clean it occasionally. The stupid thing about it is that for reasons known only to Easton, the maker, the post has flats running up the front and rear, which form the perfect route for muddy water thrown up by the back wheel to dribble inside the frame. When you twist the post, grit gets forced into the tiny space between post and frame tube and makes the damned thing really tight. The more you twist the tighter it becomes as more and more dirt makes its way into the interface between frame and post. The lacquer has long worn off the inserted section and the bare post has a very "sticky" surface.

Clean the post, stuff a stick with a rag wrapped around it down the frame tube a couple of times then reinsert the post and it slips in nicely.

 

[Globalti]

To get back to the original question; I have looked down between my legs when riding the hardtail MTB on rough tracks and been amazed at the amount the frame seemed to be moving when the saddle wasn't. I reckon a carbon post flexes massively, it's just that we can't see it. I have just fitted rigid carbon forks to the same bike and just riding up my road I can look down the length of the fork and see a huge amount of flexing happening.

 

[AlanW]

With due deference to your experience AlanW I don't think it's heat. I've a carbon post in my Ti MTB frame and I do know that it gets pretty tight if you don't remove and clean it occasionally. The stupid thing about it is that for reasons known only to Easton, the maker, the post has flats running up the front and rear, which form the perfect route for muddy water thrown up by the back wheel to dribble inside the frame. When you twist the post, grit gets forced into the tiny space between post and frame tube and makes the damned thing really tight. The more you twist the tighter it becomes as more and more dirt makes its way into the interface between frame and post. The lacquer has long worn off the inserted section and the bare post has a very "sticky" surface.

Clean the post, stuff a stick with a rag wrapped around it down the frame tube a couple of times then reinsert the post and it slips in nicely.

Well you may be correct, I can only quote as my experience. Taking into account that the seatpost in question had only been fitted less than twelve months on a bike fitted with mudguards. My mistake was not applies a thin coat of anti seize when I built the bike up.

And as ironic as it may seem, was the only reason that I was trying to remove it.......doh!

With my wife holding the bike and the rear wheel wedged against the bench in the garage I finally managed to get it to move from side to side., and every other rotation spraying WD40 around the diameter.

The more I wrestled it from side to side, the more you could definitely feel the heat building up. It was at the point when I had got it to rotate about 180 degrees in either direction that we stopped for a cuppa.

When we returned some 20 minutes later, and resumed our three way wrestling match, it then revolved a full 360 degrees? Now of course it could be that the WD40 had finally worked its magic, or the carbon had contracted?

A further hour followed before the swine finally came out, but after every 5 minutes hard rotating and trying to ease it upwards, we would wait for it to cool. Then, we would go back to working on the bike........

Yes I know....I'll get my coat.

 

[Over The Hill]

Well you may be correct, I can only quote as my experience. Taking into account that the seatpost in question had only been fitted less than twelve months on a bike fitted with mudguards. My mistake was not applies a thin coat of anti seize when I built the bike up.

And as ironic as it may seem, was the only reason that I was trying to remove it.......doh!

With my wife holding the bike and the rear wheel wedged against the bench in the garage I finally managed to get it to move from side to side., and every other rotation spraying WD40 around the diameter.

The more I wrestled it from side to side, the more you could definitely feel the heat building up. It was at the point when I had got it to rotate about 180 degrees in either direction that we stopped for a cuppa.

When we returned some 20 minutes later, and resumed our three way wrestling match, it then revolved a full 360 degrees? Now of course it could be that the WD40 had finally worked its magic, or the carbon had contracted?

A further hour followed before the swine finally came out, but after every 5 minutes hard rotating and trying to ease it upwards, we would wait for it to cool. Then, we would go back to working on the bike........

Yes I know....I'll get my coat.

I would thing that two similar metals would expand and contract with heat at the same rate so maintian the same grip at any temperature.
With Carbon inside alloy it will be a different proposition. I have no idea how carbon expands or contracts when compared to alloy but I would be fairly sure that it does not perform at the same rate so somewhere along the line it will get tighter. If you put the post in while it was cold and then tried to get it out on a hot day it could be enough to lock it up.

I am guessing hot water poured over the frame may loosen the post.

 

[HJ]

They are lighter seems to be the biggest attraction of getting them. As for being more comfortable they will probably soak up some road vibration but I'm not sure it's noticeable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh they are definitely more comfortable...