Is there a magic trick to fitting a saddle to a post?

I’m fairly comfortable with most sorts of bike maintenance but I’ve never really managed to find an easy way to fit a saddle to a seatpost, it always seems a complete faff.  If you unscrew both bolts almost to the end then it takes a lot of fiddling to get the saddle out, if you undo one bolt then usually there is then fiddling to holt the plates in place while you get the saddle on and back into position.

It never seems to just go easily so I have to think that I’m missing a trick somewhere.  Does anyone know the secret to seatposts or is it really just fiddle and hope?

Have an extra pair of hands.

Bolts almost fully undone is my usual method. But it’s not something that needs doing regularly so unless you are regular saddle masher (sounds painful!) then its only occasional faff.

bit of grease on the nuts to hold them in place on the top plate of the seat post, finger on the nut and gently start the threads on the bolts and take it from there

bit of grease on the nuts to hold them in place on the top plate of the seat post

Nice idea, I’ll have that.

Yep, it’s only very occasionally so not a real issue in the big scheme of things but it always felt like I was doing things wrongly.  Sounds like it requires a bit of fiddling really

I’ve never really found it any hassle tbh, even using horrible clamps like on USE posts.

There are plenty of variations of saddle clamp – but if its the ones with an upper and lower clamp you can hold the clamp around the rails then tighten

Kramer has it.  I always find them a right fiddle

I find an octopus as an assistant is quite handy. They are pretty intelligent too, so can pass tools with the other 4 spare arms.

Worst bit of bike tinkerong. It should be so easy, but I always end up an angry sweaty stressed out mess. **** hate them!

Worst bit of bike tinkerong.

Worse than fitting new mudguards??

I find an octopus as an assistant is quite handy

🙂 is amused.   Glad it’s not just me, thought I was missing something obvious

Slacken the bolts about at much as you can without them dropping out, then hopefully got enough movement to push the top plate sideways to let one rail out, then the top plate has enough movement to get the other rail out.

 fitting new mudguards??

Pure misery

the oneup dropper service manual recommends removing only the rear, leaving the front one untouched, and its then possible to slide the top plate out.

Means that the saddle will return to the correct angle when reinstalled – which is otherwise the even more annoying part than fiddling with bolts and nuts.

the oneup dropper service manual recommends removing only the rear, leaving the front one untouched, and its then possible to slide the top plate out.

That is gold. Thank you.

I always find it depends on the clamp design. Sometimes you can rotate the saddle in the wider section of rail near the rear with everything slack to release or fit it.

Sometimes you can get a rail in one side with enough play in the clamp to hoik the rail over and back into the other channel.

Sometimes everything explodes into a million bits all over the floor and you dream of I-Beam posts.

Different types of post clamps – mean there are different ways of doing it.  Even after 30+ years of doing it, it isn’t something I relish.

Glad it’s not just me, thought I was missing something obvious

Definitely not just you!

Sometimes everything explodes into a million bits all over the floor and you dream of I-Beam posts.

Sometimes?

I had a Pro brand seatpost on a bike once that had a barrel shape clamp in about 4 parts that passed through a circular hole in the top of the post. This was all clamped together by one sex bolt, (yeah, it’s a genuine thing, look it up!) but held apart by a spring.

Difficult to describe, but let me tell you it was an absolute **** to assemble, hold together, insert the rails and tighten the bloody thing up. Still not as bad as installing new mudguards mind.

Worse than fitting new mudguards??

Alright I’ll give you that. I’m using clip on ones nowadays!

I grip the top of the post with thumb and little finger palm upwards and middle finger goes up between the rails and holds the top and the nuts in place. Then pray you get the bolt in before your hand goes to sleep, which is about 50/50.

my most hated bike job. I have an absolutely dogeared, torn to shreds saddle on my Mega despite having a brand new Sam Hill saddle ready to fit, simply because I can’t face the horror of swapping it.

best setup I ever had was an iBeam post and saddle on my old Canyon DH bike. An absolute doddle to change or adjust saddles with the iBeam setup.

The partial undoing of the bolts and rotate the saddle out is super easy to remove, but seem to be a right pig to install.  You’d think it’d simply be the reverse, but seems to need about 4 hands and many swear words.

Pro seatpost I installed the other day was super simple. Rotate the head till the clamp is horizontal, place saddle in clamp, squeeze to hold it in place while you rummage around one-handed trying to find the right hex-key that you forgot to get ready before hand. Then nip it up.

I guess it depends on the length and thickness of your fingers but i try and stretch a finger across the top plate and nuts while blindly fiddling the bolts into place. Agreed, its a pain in the arse of a job.

USE post I had to put the saddle upside down in my lap and then it was pretty straight forward, maybe try that.

Depends on the saddle and the post, some are easier than others, some are a total PITA!

I tend to remove one bolt entirely and loosen the other, then wriggle the saddle on. Then drop the bolt and spend the next 30 minutes searching the garage for it, only to find it under my back tyre.

Top tip: saddles with cut-outs make it (slightly) easier. One of the reasons why I’ve got Specialized Power saddles on all my bikes…

Get Muc-off to bring back the X-Lite click-on clamp design, it wasn’t perfect but with a bit of a design tweak it could be, it literally took seconds to put a saddle on.

I can basically get any piece of bike maintenance wrong. Never really successfully indexed gears, don’t get me started on mudguards….never had much of a problem with saddles.

I don’t mind saddle fitting…getting the angle right has also been made easier since I got a spirit level app on my phone. It isn’t something I need to do often though, however I do end up fixing saddles on the kids bikes at coaching.
Reverb axs has been a total doddle in recent years compared to all the others I’ve had to do – incredibly quick, easy and painless.

Saddle upside down on lap. two fingers and thumb hold the gubbings together and you hunch forward so the post is resting on your shoulder.

Hand 2 fixes any bolts, til at least the whole thing is going to stay together as you turn it over.

Fit, adjust saddle angle, and tighten it all up.

I can do it pretty quick as I have to do it on a regular basis as me and my partner ride our HT requiring male and female seat changes. There’s a knack. You sort of push the wedge thing with one hand and wiggle and tilt the saddle/seat upward to release one side. Can’t beat a bit of repetition!

I carry a tiny 1/4 socket set (Bahco) which has an extension bar and wobble bit holder that makes life easier. With my multitool it’s torture!

I have changed saddles 100’s of times and the only seat post I never looked forward to dealing with was the first version of USE Alien, that design should never have got past the prototype stage.

the oneup dropper service manual recommends removing only the rear, leaving the front one untouched, and its then possible to slide the top plate out.

Means that the saddle will return to the correct angle when reinstalled – which is otherwise the even more annoying part than fiddling with bolts and nuts.

I always remember this… but only after i’ve removed both bolts.

A little twist of the hips with a squinty eye & a sweary gob