Carbon Seat Posts
- Thread starter chris_gr
- Start date
Ahh, this was the topic of one of the 'classic' cyclingforums threads ... enjoy reading (click) 
IMO, if you want to upgrade something to benefit ride comfort, look at your tyre pressures, the tyres themselves, and your saddle. They are actually designed to deflect and absorb road shock. Carbon does look cool though
As for an aerodynamic advantage, I don't know; but I do recall reading an old TdF tech wrap-up where one of the Trek engineers wondered why Giant-ONCE persisted with aero seatposts when they did the sums themselves and realised they'd be faster without them. I can't find a link to where I read it though; it was probably on cyclingnews.com or some such place.
Also, don't forget that with the Giant aero seatposts, they don't have the range of adjustability as per standard posts.
IMO, if you want to upgrade something to benefit ride comfort, look at your tyre pressures, the tyres themselves, and your saddle. They are actually designed to deflect and absorb road shock. Carbon does look cool though
As for an aerodynamic advantage, I don't know; but I do recall reading an old TdF tech wrap-up where one of the Trek engineers wondered why Giant-ONCE persisted with aero seatposts when they did the sums themselves and realised they'd be faster without them. I can't find a link to where I read it though; it was probably on cyclingnews.com or some such place.
Also, don't forget that with the Giant aero seatposts, they don't have the range of adjustability as per standard posts.
No harm in asking.
Unfortunately, though, I don't think the data you're looking for exists -- you might be able to dig up a report on aero tubing versus round tubing, and there's lots of subjective data out there describing comparative dampening qualities of materials like carbon and aluminum, but as for how the Giant posts compare to what ever you've got now is anyone's guess.
Here's what I know.
They're nice looking, for one. I never replaced the one on my Giant TCR; it works fine (seatposts don't do much). Additionally, aero posts like the Giant and similar ones from BP Stealth and USE are of pretty substantial construction -- all of that shaping (at the expense of a few extra grams) makes them bulky but a flex-proof choice if you're a lanky rider on a compact frame, requiring a longer-than usual span of exposed seatpost. It's confidence inspiring at least.
As far as dampening is concerned... well, this is a heavily controversial subject. There's a tentative agreement out there that all else being equal, carbon tends to be a less buzzy substance than aluminum, but all else is never equal and the degree to which that characteristic exists is hard to quantify. A great carbon frame might blow the socks off of a average aluminum frame, but a less well-designed carbon frame might be hard to distinguish.
Same goes for componentry. Frankly, if you're interested in adding luxurious touches to your ride on the off-chance that if may offer a slight improvement somehow... but you don't necessarily need to be blown away by the changes... go for it, budget permitting. I'm assembling a new Klein Q-Pro with all kinds of bells and whistles because it's fun to build a fine-tuned rocket with high-tech parts; never mind that a Ritchey Logic frame with basic Salsa components might ride just as well.
There's nothing wrong with seeking out little edges, so long as they excite you. Just watch the budget.
Look makes a aero carbon seatpost as well. It provides 25mm of adjustability fore and aft which is a nice feature. It's expensive however.
http://www.excelsports.com/new.asp?...+Carbon+Ergo&vendorCode=LOOK&major=1&minor=19
Scott
The Alien is a weird clamp, no doubt. It's unorthodox and it takes getting used to -- but with a bit of practice, it works and works well. Tricky but highly adjustable.
Not sure how much the clamp design contributes to USE's low weight, but the standard (non-aero) posts are among the very lightest in their categories (carbon, aluminum, and ti, respectively). Maybe it's a tradeoff.
Though I suspect they designed the nutty clamp just to be cute...
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