Mountain bikers

[HomerSapien]

Im looking to replace my seatpost on my trek 4500. I want some options in tilt, etc that the stock just doesnt offer. What brand and material would you recommend. The class i am in at school is only doing road cycling, but i do mountaing biking every other weekend. I would like to spend around $50 or if you can persuade me to get a better one. I really dont want a suspension seat post, but one that can absorb some vibration would be nice.

If you guys could reccomend a specific seat post or a brand to look into or stay away from, it would help.

Thanks

 

[Entity]

You know about MTBR, right?

Rob

 

[C'DaleRider]

Try a carbon fiber or titanium seat post. I put a carbon fiber post in my bike and the difference, while not earth-shattering, was quite discernable and removed much of the "edge" from road shock. I bought a Campy post........but there are many other brands out there. Unfortunately, carbon isn't cheap. Light, yes. Cheap, no.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

What do you mean by options in tilt? I recommend you ride with your saddle more or less perfectly level (though there may be a few degrees of variance in what is comfy for different people). I can imagine your post providing too much setback, or not enough, but I have a hard time imagining that it lacks the ability to be tilted to an appropriate setting.

There are plenty of great seatposts out there, but your bike is nothing fancy and I would not upgrade it just to upgrade it. If you really are having an adjustment problem, I would look at getting a high quality, inexpensive post with a good range of adjustability (say, a Ritchey Force) - your bike does not really warrant anything too high-end. Honestly I think very expensive seatposts tend to be a waste of money for any purpose other than eye appeal. Weight on that part of the bike is not a big deal, and even the lightest seatposts are not THAT much lighter than a decent aluminum post. In spite of the claims that ti or carbon are more comfortable, I have never been able to discern any real difference in feel.

 

[HomerSapien]

Thx entity...that looks like a good site so far.

 

[C'DaleRider]

You haven't tried hard enough Don. On my C'dale, the Campy post was a definite improvement over the aluminum Thomson I had.........and these days, a lot of Ritchey product is getting very cheaply built. For a cheap decent post, Titec, Syncros, Dean alu, Moots..... but my favorite alu is still Thomson.

But you are right, Don.....on the Trek 4500, much more that $50 or so is a waste of bucks. Heavy, mostly straight gauge alu frame.

 

[Entity]

Oh yeah, I forgot my personal recommendations. I'd go with Titec most likely.

Rob