Yeah, The Nitto is pretty and there are differences among seatposts but it's a simple component. The only problems I've had with seat posts are with single bolt jobbies like the Nitto. You've got to crank them really tight or they'll work their way loose.

Bah. To heck with your crazy seat posts and seats altogether...
http://www.calhouncycle.com/productc...88_general.jpg

The first post was pretty much set and forget but it did get moved to a new bike. 2000 miles later it wouldn't stay in position when i hit a bump in the road while seated. The second one may have never been right from the start because I was always having to fiddle with it to get it to stop making noise, and then i noticed the clamp area had uneven wear. My fault? could be, but my Thomson post hasn't given me the slightest trouble, and it's been moved to several different bikes over the years, and just keep on working.

I have been running an Ascent Carbon Fiber Seatpost that I got from Nash for 29 bucks, I have been as much as 270 on it, and as little as 225, and though about 10,000 miles it's been just fine. It's 250g, not sure where that comes in, but being what I weigh I can't really afford to be too much of a weight weenie (if I want to make my road bike lighter, I can lose about 50 lbs (which I'm in the process of doing actually, at 229 as I type this, and shooting for 190's, then who knows) but back to my point, I love my seatpost, I put it on the roadie when I built it, and I've ridden it every spring through fall (I switch to an IronHorse for the winter, mtn bike with studded tires).

Joe

Nihon Jitensha Shinkoku, that's why.