Seat clamp epiphany

I have finally realised that Hope seatpost quick releases are not very good. I like the idea that they are UK made. I like the look of them and the choice of colours. But they just don’t work very well. In order to hold my seatpost in place they have to be tightened up so much it hurts my little hand to use them.

So what else is there out there that looks good and actually works?

Salsa

Salsa +1, although a bit of grease on the Hope can make them more user friendly

Chromag, I got one instead of Hope for my oversized Trek and it has been faultlessly smooth despite any amount of crap thrown at it.

Chromag without a doubt.

Cheers for the suggestions guys. My main gripe with the Hope ones is the amount of force I need to exert to get the thing to hold my post in place. Is that what these ones do better? If so, any idea why they work better? What are Hope doing wrong?

+1

everybody salsa !

I’ve no idea why the Chromag is better than all the others I’ve had in the past, but it was effortlessly smooth every time?

Most are better than Hope IME. I had one of the almost generic ones (m-part, BBB, Brand-x, something like that) with a plastic bush rather than a brass one and it was smoother and more consistent, needing a lower force, than the Hope. In theory the plastic parts don’t last as long as Hope’s brass but when they’re a fifth of the price it’s not really a problem.

Chromag

I’m not sure I’m reading you all correctly but I *think* you’ might be collectively recommending Salsa or Chromag!

The older on-one with a brass(?) insert works brilliantly.

Don’t right off the Hope one just yet. If it’s the one with the brass bush then a good clean out and a smear of grease will make it feel much better again.

I have both salsa & chromag – I would prefer that they were both chromag. Not that the salsa ones are bad, they just don’t cope with muddiness so well.

spensive, though

Salsa +1

A beautiful bit of engineering. I wouldn’t use anything else.

+1 for Salsa. Absolutely brilliant. £20 if you look around online.

Salsa. It must take a great deal of engineering know-how to make a seat clamp so hard to close yet offer so little clamping power as the hopes.

people still use QR seat clamps?

Yes, jam bo. Salsa ones! (Or Chromag, apparently, but I wouldn’t know about that)

We’re a 4 Salsa QR household here.

I found the best answer was to use a bolt up clamp and dropper post.

Do it up once and never worry again. 😀

OP- I have a lovely Chromag qr seatclamp in the classifieds if interested. Black with the brass cam 35mm

I’m with Pinkster!

Just looked up the chromag, it does look good. I’d be getting one of them if I was in the market for one.

I’ve had Hope, Salsa and Chromag. The Chromag is in a different league to the others. It’s not the prettiest clamp unless you like the over engineered industrial look but it works perfectly.
If you needed a non quick release clamp then I’d recommend the Thomson one which requires very little torque on the clamping bolt but really holds the seat post tight.

There’s 2 different Chromags btw, the heavier one with the insert is better. That seems to be mostly what’s on sale now so maybe the other one is discontinued?

Thing about Salsa and Hope… Salsa is better on day 1. But it’s all alu on alu so they very quickly wear ime, and once worn they’re worse than Hope. In the long term, Hope is far better imo. Just needs a very occasional clean, and maybe a drop of lube when you’re doing other stuff.

the cheapo CRC brand X and Ragley ones work great – they are simple – a good cam with a nylon bush. But work really really well.

EDIT – I’m with Northwind ref. Salsa. Very good initially, but if you ride in muck and use the qr to drop the post, they quickly become rubbish.

hope one is fine as long as you keep the brass bit clean and lubed.

Sorry, but I had a Salsa. Worked fine when clean, but after a muddy ride when it was full of cak there is no way of fine tuning the bite point unless you got out the hex keys.

Hope all the way. Keep it lubed and never a problem.

Hth
Marko

ha! – I was going to recommend Salsa or Chromag (with the insert).

I’ve had a Salsa for years without issue, but always like the Chromags whenever I use one.

Salsa here, on three bikes :/

After being advised to try it, I can heartily recommend a drop of wet chain lube in the brass cam in a Hope QR. The effect on how much clamping force is exerted and how easy the lever moves is outstanding.

That said, I’m generally fitting non qr collars as I’ve gone dropper crazy…

I like everything about the Hope ones but the fact that my post keeps slipping.
As I’ve just got Reverb I replaced the QR with a bolt.
No slipping now.

matt_outandabout – Member
The older on-one with a brass(?) insert works brilliantly.

Hope QR’s are rubbish, then they break.

Years of slipping post issues (blamed on the frame) cured by switching to the On-One.

I found the Hope QR fine. Then when I got a dropper I swapped it to bolt up, torqued it to what KS said, and its been fine.

Ah, it’s not just me. I have a fine collection of shiny anodised Hope QR clamps, and yes, I do know about cleaning and greasing.

I find it simpler to use a bolt up now.

Dropper posts aren’t droppy enough for a lot of people so we still use qrs, and I’ll just echo what many have said that salsa are way better than hope. Can’t believe the poor design be of the hope clamp is still beimg churned out. Least they stopped doing the fingertip killer ball version!

Salsa clamps won’t wear out in the lifetime of most frames.

There are lots of “life after Hope” epiphanies awaiting those who decide to stop listening to the fashion chat on forums

Pff, everyone knows I’m a hope h8er, I slag them at every opportunity but I’m still using 3 Hope QR seatclamps (*). Annoyingly, I sold all my Hopes when I got my Salsas then ended up buying more Hopes to replace those. It’s not about Salsa wearing out, it’s about them wearing to the point they’re sticky and grindy, which on one of mine happened in months.

(* because Chromag are fractionally heavier and I’m a dick about that)

Salsa clamps won’t wear out in the lifetime of most frames.

I only got a couple of years out of mine before grit took off the anodising, at which point it becomes distinctly less good.

What are you doing to your frames?

use a bolt up clamp and dropper post.

most droppers only go 5″ and I need/want 6 and a bit. 5 is fine for most of the time but for silly steep and technical I’ll take all the clearance I can get.

Been meaning to drill and chop up some old plastic shock bushes to rejuvenate the cheapo QRs I have (which work nicely but plastic bit fails too soon) but I always end up just cleaning the trusty hope and carrying on with that.

but yeah it is pretty bad design for something bound to get covered in muck.

I always thought the ball ended Hope design was awful and wouldn’t touch it but since they’ve changed it to a nice flat shape I’ve bought 2 and had no problem with either. They’re nice and easy to operate and clamp adequately enough.

The Salsa one I used to have looked lovely but had no spacer to give a bearing surface and it used to pick up at the interface, got quite stiff and needed cleaning and filing/sanding flat to avoid it.