dksix

I'm looking at new seat post and was planning to buy a 2 bolt style but have found some with seat clamping bolts from the side. Is there any advantages and disadvantages to this or is it just a personal preference?

Bontrager Race x Lite Acc Carbon Seatpost Road Mountain | eBay

Kaze6

One advantage is that seat angle is much easier to adjust. This can be useful on such things as century rides, where one angle is perfect at the start, but becomes not so perfect after you get "worn in" . . .

dksix

But no issues with this style of clamp slipping or being hard to dial in?

DrIsotope

You will absolutely have to use friction paste where the cone shaped pieces fit into the recesses in the seatpost. Or it will slip, I guarantee it. And because it has to have friction paste in it, making small adjustments usually involves you punching the saddle alternately from the top and bottom to get the angle right. Source: I picked one up for $10 on eBay, fought with it for a month or two, and then bought my Thomson.

It is really, really light, though.

gecho

My Trek 520 came with a clamp like that. Fine angle adjustments were tricky, something I find important as I use Brooks saddles which can be finicky angle wise. All my seatposts now are the two bolt style that allow for very fine angle adjustments.

Under normal riding I didn't have it slip, but I had it slip several times during some offroad riding when I came down hard toward the front of the saddle.

Also with a Brooks saddle the side leather extends close to the adjustment hole, so you can gouge up the saddle using a multi-tool to adjust it. That is one of the reasons I ditched the multi-tool for individual hex wrenches.

robertosmith

Requires no maintenance
+ Cheap
+ Low weight
+ Can be adjusted to any height
- Rider must dismount to lower and raise seat

coupster

I had one of those. Friction paste req'd, finicky setup, slipped at the most inopportune times. IMO give it a pass and get a post with a 2 bolt clamp - 1 front 1 back. I'll send you a dose of frustration, just send me all your banking and id info.

dksix

Thanks everyone. I think I'll pass on it and go with a 2 bolt design just to be safe.

Again, thanks for the advice.

Berg417448

I have that exact seatpost on one of my bikes. No slipping and no friction paste.

fietsbob

I got a Race Face seat post.. it clamps the rails from the sides,
the saddle Fizik Vitesse CP3 has a shell designed to have extra Padding on top by doming the shell downward under neath.

so the clearance over the seat post top end lets the shell flex without bottoming out on the end of the seat post..
that is an advantage in this particular, combination, case.

It is 2 bolt, the 2nd bolt controls the angle, thru a linkage to a clamp around the seat post itself.

the shaft- tube is thinwall aluminum . not Carbon.






'/,

Steve B.

I would guess that if you are adjusting your seat position a lot, having side bolts would be useful.

I have never found a standard bottom bolt(s) design to be an issue as I tend to leave the position alone, having spent time getting saddle angle and front/rear location dialed in. I then leave it alone for years. I like the Ritchey aluminum 2 bolt design.

There is an advantage to having a 2 bolt post, in the event a bolt breaks. Riding back home with no seat is a huge PITA, no pun intended.

John_V 

I have plenty of riding buddies that own Trek bikes with that style seat post and have not heard any complaints from them about adjustment issues. The one issue that I do know of with that style saddle, especially if you tend to lean to one side when riding, is their use with ISM Adamo saddles. If you don't ever plan on using an ISM Adamo saddle, then you are good to go.

The problem with that style saddle clamp with an Adamo saddle is that one of the prongs will tend to drop lower than the other because each rail is clamped by just one bolt on the side. My friend at ISM told me it was due to two things 1) not torquing the clamp bolts down to their specified value and 2) not riding square in the saddle (leaning to one side or the other).

So if you might consider using an ISM with that style seat clamp and tend to lean to one side or the other while riding, consider using a Cobb saddle instead. They have a piece that goes below the front of the prongs to keep their saddle from ever having one prong lower than the other.