I have one that came with my bike, but it's my first road bike, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I _am_ going to try a different saddle soon, and will probably put that on an aluminum post just so I can switch the two around easily. If I notice a difference I will tell you.

I like the "cool" factor of carbon, though. And it's always fun to consider bike weight, even though it'd be cheaper to lose the weight ourselves.

That reminds me, I went on my first cycling club group ride a couple weeks ago. I have a Trek WSD 2100, aluminum with carbon seatpost, seatstays and fork. Some guy says "Your bike looks kind of heavy. Did you put those (skinny slick) tires on it, did it originally have wider tires?" I'm like- he's calling my bike FAT! And she's NOT!!! She's a not-inexpensive nice road bike!! Two weeks later, I'm still PO'd, can you tell?? Did he not notice her racing tires and carbon parts and Karbon Lite bottle cage??? :-) Man, just because I have a rack and trunk bag on her- he assumes she's not a fast thoroughbred!

What other things were you considering spending the money on besides the seatpost? Or what does anyone have to say about the shock-absorber seatposts? You see some people riding with those, but I don'tknow how well they work.

Road Bike Review and Mountain Bike Review are good paces to look at real people's reviews of bike components. MTBR gets more reviews on it.

Nanci