Carbon seatpost - worth it?

[trickywoo]

Would I seen any benefit in replacing an ally post with a carbon one on a road bike?

The frame already has a carbon fork and rear triangle.

Thinking about spending £50 ish.

[pdV6]

Carbon posts have a bit of 'give' to them which can improve comfort. On a road bike though, I'd guess there wasn't enough post exposed to be able to flex at all, so the only advantage would be a very minor weight saving.

[mk1fan]

I swapped out the handlebars and seatpost on my commuter bike - a rigid On One Inbred - and it made a notable difference. Although what's been said above should be considered.

[Nick_F]

I fitted a Specialized Pave post to my Giant OCR2 - all ally frame - and it made a noticable difference on longer rides; it seems to tune-out the arse-numbing buzz you get on our wonderfully surfaced roads in this country.

As a bonus it allowed much finer adjustment of the saddle angle.

[HDM]

A couple of thoughts: Carbon Fibre components are great if you're building a super light bike, but carbon is also much more "high maintenance" than metal, ideally you'll have to torque the seat bolt to the specified torque to avoid over tightening, and then be careful when leaning the bike against anything to prevent chipping the clearcoat on the post, as if this happens the carbon can be exposed to potentially problematic ingress of dirt etc. Also, you may note a lot of pros don't use carbon, the problem is it is tricky to detect damage after a crash, so a component may be on its way to failure, without any warning. These are just my thoughts, I believe carbon has it's place on a modern bike, just not sure in applications like seat posts, bars & stems. There are a lot of great, and very light metal seat posts available.

[chrisga]

Carbon rocks. I am currently using a repaired carbon frame.
Thats the other side to carbon that people seem to forget/overlook when talking about how easily it breaks. Carbon can also be repaired if you know what you are doing (or in my case know someone else that does). Sure, it wont ever look as pretty again but it can be re-used. Mine is yet to break again (sure enough I'll let people know when it does!)....

Of course it would be more difficult/impossible to repair a carbon seatpost if it snapped but it was the point I was trying to make....

Edited by chrisga on Tuesday 24th March 16:10

[Kylie]

Yes to orginal question, I even upgraded to the new Campagnolo Record with CF adjustment head. Its great and can recommend it, however a bit pricey for some !

[rhinochopig]

I'd argue no TBH if you want to reduce weight. Having tried both, I found the ally I beam post and saddle combination a much better proposition as the combo is extremely light and unbeatable on a £ per gram ratio.

[mchammer89]

I'd have to say no, if you're doing it to make the ride more comfortable i'd go for a better fitting saddle. I can see how carbon bars, forks and stays will make a difference as there's more oppurtunity for them to flex a little, however you don't get that much flex with a vertical hollow tube.