Leveling Saddles

[aicabsolut]

But, I wonder with the single screw design, and one washer, in the oval slot... does that make it more prone to shift?

could be... maybe that's why that kind has the notches. i've also seen that with a few 2 bolt designs, like some FSA posts.

[Miranda]

could be... maybe that's why that kind has the notches. i've also seen that with a few 2 bolt designs, like some FSA posts.

Thx... That would make sense then. I think without the grooves, it's just slick metal to metal at an angle to hold into place at the washer. I rode most of the mini-test in the drops. I'm sure that put more weight on the washer. I'm glad you mentioned the FSA brand. When I did some limiting searching for a carbon post with a different design, I saw one you were talking about. But didn't know the brand. And couldn't see if it had the grooves in the clamp by the pic. I did do some reading on the triangles as well. That's an alternative I didn't know existed. None of our lbs seemed to have anything like that on the floor. Or ever even mentioned it as an option. Sometimes I think it's just dependent on the help at the time.

[aicabsolut]

Thx... That would make sense then. I think without the grooves, it's just slick metal to metal at an angle to hold into place at the washer. I rode most of the mini-test in the drops. I'm sure that put more weight on the washer. I'm glad you mentioned the FSA brand. When I did some limiting searching for a carbon post with a different design, I saw one you were talking about. But didn't know the brand. And couldn't see if it had the grooves in the clamp by the pic. I did do some reading on the triangles as well. That's an alternative I didn't know existed. None of our lbs seemed to have anything like that on the floor. Or ever even mentioned it as an option. Sometimes I think it's just dependent on the help at the time.

I don't have a lot of experience with different posts, but my BF's FSA has the grooves and was a 2 bolt design (maybe it had the triangular "data" head?). He has since changed it out to a Ritchey that I think is smooth. He'd love a Thompson post. They are probably the best aluminum posts out there.

I've used Specialized carbon posts only, and while my older one was a p.i.t.a. if you didn't have a cutout in your saddle b/c of where one of the bolts was, that was really the only problem. The newer clamp mechanism they have with the bolts on the sides (not underneath or on top) is much easier to use, and much easier to make fine adjustments.

Oh yeah, that brings me to another reason why some 2 bolt designs are a pain. With my older seatpost, there were 2 bolts, one that you accessed through the cutout of the saddle and one from underneath. You could in theory get the first one with a wrench underneath if you had to. Anyway, tightening one bolt had the tendency to tilt the nose up and the other had a tendency to tilt it down. You had to find the right balance of pressure between the two to get the saddle at the level you wanted. I also found that tightening one of them seemed to make more difference (like the nose was almost always pointed down no matter what), so I wound up having to undertorque that one a little bit to keep it more level. The newer style ones are so much easier.

Here's the look of my newer one. Note that I wouldn't necessarily spend $150 on a carbon seatpost. It came with my frameset. However, I would look for that kind of design if I need to buy a post in the future.