Seat post bike rack with a carbon post.



grdylan

New Member
Oct 23, 2003
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I recently purchased a new bicycle. To my dismay (of sorts) it came with a carbon seat post. Normally this would be great (and I do like it) but my issue is as follows. I commute to work 3-5 days a week and need a rack and bag for my stuff. This is mostly raingear, tools, keys, phone, wallet, etc - nothing too heavy.

http://www.altrec.com/shop/detail/10134/15/photo

I have been told by my local bike mechanic that carbon is not strong enough to hold the rack. His concern is that to get the rack tight enough on the post I risk a broken seat post and private parts.

Yet if the seat post is not strong enough for a rack with less than 20lbs of stuff how is it strong enough for me. I understand that most of my weight is vertical and the racks pressure is horizontal, it just seems like the post should be able to handle the pressure.

I have a hard plastic shim that wraps around the seat post so there is no metal to carbon contact. I have the rack tight but not crushingly so. I can slightly twist the rack.

My question: am I asking for trouble or is the chances that this will be a problem as minimal as to not be a concern?

If it the consensus is to replace the post what does everyone think of graphite? I ask because I have a graphite seat post from my old bike I could put on this new bike.

Thanks much for your help.

River