Office chair-like Seatposts
 

Hi,
I'm 6'5 and 185lb. I'm not that heavy, but I am tall and have to stick my saddle pretty far back in the post to have it fit(usually as far as the safety marks allow..used to slide it further). I also haven't had a saddle last more than a year. I've tried various brands, but they all bust within 2-12months. Also, I bust saddles whether it's road or mtb riding, it' sucks ;)
I've broken rails, but usually it's the contact between the saddle and rails that fails.

Having said that, I found a fun looking post at http://pricepoint.com/detail/16675-2...r-Seatpost.htm and I'm wondering if any of the other riders with lots of force on the saddle have tried these(or something similar)? I'm used to the saddles busting, but I've never busted a post(tho cf ones bend noticably under me). Do you think this post would be safe for me to ride?

Well, the suspension aspect of the seatpost would be a turnoff to me, right off the bat. Extra weight and loss of pedaling efficiency from the movement of the post, but then again, I probably do a completely different style of riding. Not that any one style or purpose of riding is wrong, to each their own :D

Interesting, but if it works like most chairs, the suspension will be shot pretty quick. Welcome to the forum toolong.

Get your butt off the saddle when you hit the bumps. There is some chance that this is an issue of technique not equipment.

That's what I'm thinking. 185# is nothing in these parts. Heck, you're a bean pole. :p
Consider this:
http://edinabike.com/images/library/...odl/ST7300.jpg

A set back post may solve the issue of pushing the saddle back so far and allow for proper weight distribution. A quality steel rail saddle should last years.

I don't think that's a suspension post.

It looks like it is designed to allow you to make adjustments on the fly with that lever, with the aid of a pneumatic spring. Help me see the appeal here.

My honest take is that this is a gimmicky piece of junk that you should not be riding, especially if you are crushing saddles.

There are suspension seat posts out there but that's not a very good solution to your problem either.

What kind of saddles are you breaking?

Setback
 

Hi, thanks for the comments,
Re: setback.
I ended up buying a post with the most setback I could find for my road bike. The saddle still busted after 2 months(but it was used 8 months on my prior post with less setback). Hopefully subsequent saddles will last longer. Still the post is further back than I would like.

I'm primarily looking to get this post for mtb fun. It will be nice to switch from descents to climbing with a comfortable post height.
On the mtb bike I run the biggest Leader frame avail with a 350mm post that's about 2-3 cm deeper than the safety mark. I'm wondering if the fact that this is a 2-piece post will make it more likely to snap.

I know 185 isn't much, but when it's hanging on the far end of the rails, it is also doing more damage than 185 in the middle of the rails. Also, on the road bike I don't hit any bumps. The saddles just flex when I pedal.

I've broken a 3-4 no-name saddles and the Terry Fly Gel was the latest victim. The terry is also the most comfortable saddle I've ever tried and last the best, so I'm on my 2nd terry '07 now.

Sorry for so many posts in a row. I've also considered switching to the i-beam post/saddle system since it eliminates the rails, but the reviews on that didn't look too good. Anybody have experience with those?

Thompson makes a 410 mm seatpost that's bulletproof!

Look fella, you're breaking stuff and adding complexity and moving parts to that stuff is NOT going to help the problem. OK?

I pretty damn certain you're not fitted to the bike properly and that may well be a substantial part of the problem. Talk to a good shop about this point. The few bucks it costs are cheaper than new bits every few months. Discuss your technique as well. I've got 30 pounds on you, am really hard on equipment, and am not breaking far more delicate parts. Sometimes even King Kong needs a little finesse.

Lastly, the Terry Fly Gel comes in two versions: Ti rails and cr-mo. You want the cr-mo (steel) model. Put one of those on the Thomson ($68 HERE, nice folks) and tell us it broke. I dare ya.

+1

If you are having to move the seat that much, I bet the frame size is even off for you. You are too light to be having that problem even with a cheap seat.

some road bike geometries just dont dit saddles right

I'd get myself fitted, but that isn't really the problem. I run the largest sizes of frames I can buy without screwing up the geometry. I don't want to buy custom.

I'm not sure how the Thomson post is going to help. It looks like a solid post, but it doesn't have any setback, so the rails are still going to be getting too much strain on them.
Here is an illustration:
http://photos-458.ll.facebook.com/ph...80547_7931.jpg
That's with a 150mm stem & 350mm post, so I maximize my effective bike length and not have the air dynamics of a wall. However even with 25in top tube(21" frame), it still doesn't feel long enough so the saddle has to go far back.
Thanks for the tip on cr-mo rails, I suspected that ti ones aren't any stronger.
Saddle in the pic is the forte $25 mtb. It's two months old, but I think it's already showing some unhealthy flex.

Anyways, I haven't had any posts break ever. I was just wondering if anyone heard of these silly pneumatic ones busting. But since you guys might know about strong saddles, what is a racing-type saddle with the strongest rails out there?

Wow, that's some mean nose tilt on the saddle. I would think being so tall, you'd have it tilted back.

+1 on the Thomson. I'm longer and much heavier than you. I have 8" of seatpost out of the frame. Yes, I have busted a cheap seatpost in the past, but that was after nearly a year and 4,000 miles of use. Something else must be a factor...Are you taking it off jumps? :D

ditto i'm 6' 6" and 255# and have never broke a saddle rail. There is something we're missing. You must have a very long torso. my road bike is a trek 1500 63 cm it has a ~ 24" top tube and I run a 130 stem and i feel pretty stretched out on it. My inseam (pants) is a bit over 34" (35.5 cycling) so I have a fairly long torso. you're on a bike with a 25" TT and you running a 150 mm stem -- thats nearly 2" longer than my bike setup and you're 1" shorter.

Your saddle is breaking because of how you are setting it. You say you have it moved all the way back which means the back half or even 3/4's of the saddle is taking most of the forces AND has no support under it.

With that set up you will continue to ruin your saddles. I am 285 at the moment and I ride XC, DH, freeride and a part time roadie and the only time I break saddles is when I crash.

My recommendation would be to get the Thompson setback post, keep the saddles centered or a bit rearward on it and then get a longer stem to help even things out and give you more room in the cockpit.

If you can not get the fit correct that way then you may want to look into a custom ride or look into a race oriented ride. They tend to have a longer toptube then other styles of road or mountain bikes. Then just swap out the bars and stem to give you a more upright position if that is what you want.

The Thompson has two versions, there is a straoght post and a set back. If you look at the previous post with the pic in it you will see the set back and where it bend on the post. It moves the position of the seat back an inch.

DBD:beer:

Titec El Norte
 

Get this one and stop worrying:
Titec El Norte

good for Clydes and lots of setback. I am using it for similar problems.

http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking/p/ST2361

Sounds like you should be shopping for saddles not posts. Also, that saddle tilt is crazy and you must have an incredibly long set of legs or an incredibly short torso/arms. The bike looks too small to me the way it is set up in that picture, with all of that seatpost exposed.

Yeah, that frame looks too small for you. My first recommendation would be to find a frame with a longer top tube.

If that is not an option, I'd invest in the thomson. I've ridden one for almost nine years now. Worth every penny.

Lastly, it is cheaper to buy a well-constructed $75 saddle once than to buy a new $25 saddle every other month. Get out the credit card and buy yourself a decent saddle. When I bought my Specialized toupe, my LBS promised to warranty any failures.

http://photos-458.ll.facebook.com/ph...23438_5635.jpg
Here is a pic with me on the bike. I think I'll invest into the titec post as it has 35mm setback. Which is the most setback I've seen in common post. Oval concepts has one with up 50mm, but that is only available in expensive cf format.
http://www.pricepoint.com/images/sty...5%20TITEB7.jpg

The fact that the saddle is tilted to such an extreme tell me there's more to this problem.

I'd look at a fitting. You also might want to be counter-intuitive and pull the saddle forward and raise it a bit more.

Go and get a fitting. It might cost you 50 bucks, but it will be worth it if it keeps you from spending 50 bucks every few months to buy a new saddle. In the picture of you on the bike that frame looks small, so unfortunately you might find out that you will need a new frame, but that will likely make you a better rider as well.