My seatpost has taken on a decided lean to the back. I pulled it out and went to the bike store, but they won't have a new one for me until Friday. So now I'm debating... do I put it back in, or ride my fixie to work instead? The only problem is, the brakes are decidedly mediocre on my fixie and I may die going down Ridge Ave.

Hmmm...

Wow, you really take that hill on ridge with the traffic & busses in particular?! Make a left on Henry from Walnut lane, take Henry to School House Lane and make a right, make your first left, follow to the first stop sign. Make a right and follow to the light at Midvale. Make a right on Midvale and go straight down the hill to the path on Kelly drive. No more Ridge! Take the fixie. It will be tough riding up the hills home but it your seat post gets worse and you can't sit down, the ride would be rough.

Put it in facing the other way?

You mean gradually with use it has a slight curve? Or do you mean you hit a pot hole and the seat post nearly folded in half?

Both my Thomsons are bent. Then again, that's how Thomson accomplishes the setback.

If the brakes are sketchy on the fixie, why not just use its saddle and seatpost on the commuter rig?

"gradually with use" it has a very noticable bend right where it goes into the seat tube. I can't put it in the other way because it would shove the seat way the heck forward.

Fender, going DOWN ridge is a piece of cake. I'm usually passing the cars/buses/etc (buses are tight, usually have to wait until there's room to pass). I've gotten up to 34 mph on there . Of course normally there's too much traffic to get going that fast. And let me get this straight, you think ridge is nuts but you'll ride Henry? Traffic on there must easily average double the speed it does on Ridge!

Seatposts are different diameter... by like 2mm.

Simple. Put the brakes from the bike with the bent seat post on the fixie. Problem solved!

Yeah, the only problem with that is the commuter has discs and the fixie has rim brakes. I'd need to swap the fork, and the rear triangle, and the commuter's aluminum whereas the fixie is steel, so welding the rear triangle would be out... hmm I guess I took the right lazy choice and just stuck the bent seatpost back in for now .

My seatpost is also bent!! Well crushed is more like it. There is a noticeable dip at the point where the clamp attatches. (Long story on that one), so it slips down as I ride. I have to stop after five miles and move it back up. PITA!! My LBS ordered me one, 1-2 weeks. ugh. Anyway, I'm jealous that you have another bike, and I would definitly use that one.

Just ride it until you get a more beefy replacement.

How is the current state of the seatpost any different than it was the last time you rode it to work? If it's basically the same as the last time you rode, why can't you ride it now?

Jeff, just out of curiosity, what kind of seatpost is it?

jeff i am with you on bombing ridge (i don't do it regularly but have on occasion during rushhour with no problems).

coming back up that biatch everyday is making me a man for sure...

notfred: It's not, I was just being lazy about reinstalling it. I did though and rode it in... riding it home tonight.

donnamb: A Truvative XR (single bolt). 27.2mm, my bike actually came with a 27.2mm post and a 30.8mm shim, so the store ordered me the same exact post except in 30.9 and will hone the seat tube if necessary (since in theory the new post will be 0.1mm larger than the old shim). The wider tube should be significantly stronger so hopefully I won't bend this one.

My setup is hard on the seat post though, I run a 350mm post pulled out to the minimum insertion line, then I have the seat slid all the way back... so the leverage on the seat post is pretty extreme.

Max: I dunno about making me a man... coming back up ridge usually has me crying like a little girl .

that means it is working!!!

i used to think i was gonna have to pull over and vomit EVERYTIME i rode up ridge. now it only feels like that MOST of the time.

Well it's that time again...

Not sure what's more dangerous, a seatpost that might fail or bad brakes on a big hill.

I'd say bad brakes. I have a milk crate bolted onto my rack, so if the seatpost failed it would bend back about 2 inches and I'd be sitting on the milk crate. That seems more survivable than a full speed unstoppable blast into the middle of an intersection .

<sigh> I'm a little irritated at Wissahickon Cyclery. They're really nice and seem knowledgeable and carry decent bikes, but they NEVER call you back.