Originally Posted by patentcad

The bolt(s) (the newer post has one, the older two) are easy to strip. Maybe that's because to keep your seat from moving you have to apply 90 lb feet of torque to what is a 1-2mm allen bolt. This leads to stripping sooner or later. Then the bolts loosen when you ride and the seat moves - you find yourself with the nose of the saddle sticking up your ass after the seat slips back. Then when you want to move the seat you have to slam the back of this idiot thing with a friggin hammer to loosen it up. Even after it has slipped while you're riding. No kidding. A nightmare. I've never seen anything remotely this bad in 20 years of high end road bike ownership. Like I said, my LBS hates them more than I do.

Your disbelief comes from a lack of familiarity with this unspeakable piece of **** component. I'd sell you mine, but you would eventually find me and kill me. A seat post should be transparent and something you ignore. If it doesn't work, it makes your bike unrideable. I'm not riding my Cdale right now. Waiting for the Control Tech seat post to arrive. The bolt on the Alien post is stripped. Again. For the third time in two years. Why is it stripped? Because it's constant propensity to loosen requires persistent re-tightening. And eventually, it strips.