daibutsusan73

I just got my Thomson Elite seat post and the next day after installing it I started hearing a creaking/poping noise. It is driving me nuts. I like a silent ride.

I have had a Selle Italia SLR saddle installed on a stock Bianchi Pista seat post for a while now, and have never had any problems. As soon as I installed my cool new name brand Tompson seat post I get this damn creaking. Someone at the LBS where I work suggested lubricating the bolts on the Tomson seat post. I did that this morning before going into work. It worked great or the ride into work today, I thought everything was fixed, but the ride home tonight was an orchestra of pops and creaks all over again. Should I lubricate the rails? That seems like a bad idea, but I noticed that the rails on the SLR saddle don't perfectly match up with the seat post clamps until I completely tighten the bolts.

Help!

spud

the other night Deuce told me i was an ******* for not buying some 150 dollar seatpost...maybe thats your problem.

benk0

Ha ha. SAME exact issue! I thought I'd cracked my frame and had already looked into getting a new one... then I realized the creaking sound only happened if I was touching the saddle. Strange, yeah?

benk0

Ha ha. SAME exact issue! I thought I'd cracked my frame and had already looked into getting a new one... then I realized the creaking sound only happened if I was touching the saddle. Strange, yeah?

daibutsusan73

Ok, I took the whole works apart. Three beers and lots of Phil Wood grease later...... I think I might have had my seat tube clamp bolt over-tightened.

Seems ok for now but I'm headin' out for a ride to test it though.

spud

oh i need your number again, cellphone got ran over after we left the other night.

piratelove

Semi-related... how dangerous is it if one of your seat rails has a small dent in it from over tightening the clamp on the seatpost?

jayrooney

it was the beer that fixed it.
nah, it was the grease. seat rails creak sometimes, some lube will fix it.

ka12na

I had this same exact problem for the longest time because I couldn't figure out what was making it. At first I thought it was my spokes creaking, but then I noticed it only happened when I had shifted my weight on the saddle. I had regreased seatpost, tightened/loosened my seat clamp, lubed seat clamp nut, trying different seat clamp positions and the noise was still there. I just lightly sprayed my rails with some Triflow on each part that it contacts the seat post, let it seep in, and it hasn't come back since. You could probably use any other grease or something though.

Enjoy your new silky ride.

babetski

Way back when I was new to bikes I ran into a problem like this and discovered that because I ran my saddle so far back when I put my weight on the saddle it depressed the few millimeters necessary press the edge of the saddle up against the seatpost clamp, generating said noise. I slid the saddle forward a half centimeter and the noise disappeared.

Sin-A-Matic

I had the same problem with my Thomson and it turned out that dirt got in between the clamps and rails and was causing the noise.

youth

this is exactly the case

this happens to my fuji stock saddle/seatpost rather often and it's really annoying. if i ride really hard/long for a day or so, it will start creaking. i disassembled the whole thing one day trying to figure out what it was, and came to discover it's the rails creaking in the clamps. a good cleaning of all the parts should do the trick. i want to get a new saddle and hope that this **** cuts out.