getting a hard tail and thought that a carbon post might be more forgiving than the usual thomson ali post. Any good/bad experiences folks 😉

I think diameter makes a bigger difference, but yeah, mostly they're a bit comfier. Not much though.

reading the terrain, getting off the saddle, using your legs and arms to absorb jolts is easiest. 🙂

http://aluminium.matter.org.uk/content/html/eng/default.asp?catid=89&pageid=2144417038

Carbon Fibre (the high modulus stuff at least ) is the stiffest

I've got a Pave post on my HT – it makes the road a lot more comfortable, less vibration, but I'm too scared to try it off road

On the road carbon is a bit more comfortable, had one on an aluminium road bike. Also used one on an aluminium HT, can't say I really noticed a difference, as HTTP404 says, you spend more time out of the saddle.

Why be scared ooOOoo?

why be scared? a case of anal splinter explosion invasion fear?

I've fitted on on my new 456 (because it was there and the right size) as far as I can tell it is a seatpost on my bike with a saddle mounted on it.

Going to go against the grain here by suggesting that carbon Vs alloy means nothing- some aluminium posts are really compliant, some carbon ones are really stiff (the most uncomfortable post I've used was a Campag record carbon post- almost had me thinking I had prostate cancer!)
What I've noticed makes a bigger difference to comfort than material, is how much of the saddles rails is clamped by the head of the post.
Posts with small clamps allow the saddle shell to flex more- a good thing.
Unfortunately many carbon posts have fairly long clamps which stiffens the saddle too much for my liking.

MrNutt – Member

why be scared? a case of anal splinter explosion invasion fear?

Fair enough, but how many carbon posts breaks? I've seen posts break at the clamps, but never the shaft. I'm sure it happens, but it wouldn't put me off having another.

I'd say yes…I have a carbon post on my hardtail and it is comfier but this is certainly helped by the fact there's a lot of the seatpost showing, it has a large layback and it is a fairly narrow post (27.2mm).

why be scared? a case of anal splinter explosion invasion fear?

Incisively accurate 🙂 Having broken nearly every saddle & seatpost combo so far, this one just doesn't have enough CF around tthat insert for me.
Then again the HT hasn't really been off road since I got a FS

Cheers all,

I think I will join the carbon gang and hopefully not the anal splinter gang 😯

If you're confident it won't break when you land a 3ft jump just as your feet slip off the pedals, then go for it!

my perception was that the main benefit of carbon seatpost was to absorb vibration, the kind of which you would only get through road tyres, on a road bike, on the road
saying that, I'm going to be trying a Spec Pave carbon post off my road bike on my hardtail so we will see

I put a pave on my Uncle John – made a lot of difference to me – I still have the psot for my next road bike

I snapped a carbon post once, from a known defective batch from the manufacturer. It'd been bent for about 18 months and I didn't change it, so it's largely my own fault 🙂 I thought you other carbon users might like to know that it snapped off cleanly at the end of the seat tube with no splinters at all – it was like it'd been sawn off.

But yes, I think the advantage of carbon posts is absorbing road buzz rather than the pounding of off-road riding. I am probably going back to alu or ti on my 5 because I want to be able to raise and lower the post for techie bits, and carbon can be worn away when you do this and everything's all gritty and wet.

My hardtail is triple butted alloy and that seems to make it amazingly comfortable to the point where I barely notice the difference from my full suss.

I like my RF carbon post, it gives a smoother ride than the RF aluminum post that it replaced – both 27.2
Thomson posts are noticably harsh in comparison to anything else I've tried. 😕

I don't notice any difference between my Raceface Next SL seatpost and my Gravity Dropper tbh. Well, apart from the Gravity Dropper wobbles a little, is about 4 times as heavy and looks like it belongs on a ford cortina, but the ride's pretty much identical so far as I can tell.