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Old 07-04-16, 01:31 PM
  #27  
CliffordK
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Ok,

It looks like I put the CF saddle onto my winter commuter in early April, and mileage has dropped on that bike now that the sun is out. So, I got about 3 months of periodic riding on it.

I suppose after a bit more riding, it wasn't that uncomfortable, although I still don't like the sharp skirts.

The top of the saddle seemed to wear just fine.

Unfortunately, the substructure is now broken.



The top of the seat seemed to remain intact and in reasonably good shape, except for a minor crack on the rear wings where it had tabs for straps that I bumped on the ceiling.

The fault lies in the attachment of the rails to the seat. The manufacturer just attached the rails with a glob of unreinforced epoxy.

Riding is a pretty dynamic process. So, even though the CF seat seemed sturdy, there would have been some right to left flex, as well as up and down flex. The epoxy that was used appears to be hard, brittle, and unreinforced whereas the plastic used in most other seats is soft and malleable.

My other (Canadian?) seat that I'm trying uses Titanium rails embedded in Carbon Fiber. They have a bad squeak, but otherwise seem to be solid.

I may attempt to glue and reinforce that joint sometime to get the seat back on the road as the rails and the top of the seat seem to be just fine.

As always, there may be several manufacturers churning out these unbranded saddles, and they may use different designs or quality control, so one experience may or may not generalize.
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