Thompson vs. Am Classic seatpost setback

If it's for a mountain bike go Thomson.

"David B." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quick question for the r.b.t gurus...

Does the standard American Classic "2 piece" seatpost have equal, more,
or less setback than a Thompson Elite setback post? Maxed out on a
straight Elite post and need to get the saddle back another 2cm or so.

Parenthetically, I'm also kinda surprised by the price differential
between these two...Thompson seems to go for at least double the Am
Classic. Any real world difference between the two? I've got Elites
on all my bikes and like 'em but I'd prefer to save a few bucks at the
moment.

David B. said:

Does the standard American Classic "2 piece" seatpost have equal, more,
or less setback than a Thompson Elite setback post? Maxed out on a
straight Elite post and need to get the saddle back another 2cm or so.

The Thomson Elite setback version has 16mm of setback. Since it gets its
setback by a bend in the upper portion, at least 10cm of post must be
exposed (usually not a problem). Don't know about the AC.

The longer (41mm) clamp on the Thomson puts less bending stress on the
saddle rails, which may be important with Ti or hollow rails. The shorter
clamp on the AC allows more fore/aft adjustment.

Quoted message said:

Parenthetically, I'm also kinda surprised by the price differential
between these two...Thompson seems to go for at least double the Am
Classic. Any real world difference between the two? I've got Elites
on all my bikes and like 'em but I'd prefer to save a few bucks at the
moment.

The retail price of the Thomson Elite is about $80, and that's about what it
goes for in most of the MO catalogs. But they're usually available for a lot
less on eBay. I bought a brand new, never installed Elite with all the
original packaging and documentation for $33.

Art Harris

Info on Thomson at www.lhthomson.com .

"David B." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quick question for the r.b.t gurus...

Does the standard American Classic "2 piece" seatpost have equal, more,
or less setback than a Thompson Elite setback post? Maxed out on a
straight Elite post and need to get the saddle back another 2cm or so.

Parenthetically, I'm also kinda surprised by the price differential
between these two...Thompson seems to go for at least double the Am
Classic. Any real world difference between the two? I've got Elites
on all my bikes and like 'em but I'd prefer to save a few bucks at the
moment.

Per Arthur Harris:

Quoted message said:

The Thomson Elite setback version has 16mm of setback. Since it gets its
setback by a bend in the upper portion, at least 10cm of post must be
exposed (usually not a problem). Don't know about the AC.

One thing to check on the Thompson is that they don't adjust the shape of the
seat mounts to take the stem bend into account. Bottom line, you can have
alignment problems with a seat like Brooks B-17. If this looks like a problem
with the seat you are going to use, check out Titec's offering, which isn't
limited in that respect.
--
PeteCresswell

Pete Cresswell said:

One thing to check on the Thompson is that they don't adjust the

shape of the

Quoted message said:

seat mounts to take the stem bend into account. Bottom line, you can

have

Quoted message said:

alignment problems with a seat like Brooks B-17. If this looks

like a problem

Quoted message said:

with the seat you are going to use, check out Titec's offering, which

isn't

Quoted message said:

limited in that respect.

I think that was a problem with their original "0-degree" seat clamps
where some saddles would be tilted upwards too much. Newer Thomsons use
a 12-degree seat clamp which should not have that problem. If you have
an older 0-degree clamp, it can be replaced with a 12-degree clamp. See
their instruction sheet at:

http://www.lhthomson.com/docs/seatpost.pdf

But you're right that they don't compensate for the 10-degree bend on
the setback models, which means the tilt range is different than for
the non-setback models.

Art Harris