Friday mind wandering... clamp to keep seatpost at consistent height?
 

When I put the bike into my station wagon, I need to pull out the seatpost to clear the ceiling.

It's not rocket surgery to remember where it goes (and newer seatposts have graduation marks on them so you can see the proper line), but I thought that a very light carbon seatpost clamp, attached to the seatpost itself, would ensure that it goes back at exactly the same height. No fuss, no muss, no brains.

(I also thought about back to college days with my mountain bike, when I'd remove the QR seat when locking the bike (so nobody would steal it!) Having a clamp on there would have prevented the futzing with it to find the right spot. (And those old seatposts had no marks at all. Just a bunch of scratches from being removed and installed 1000 times!)

The seatpost is a standard 27.2mm, but a seatpost clamp is bigger, usually 31.8.

So, anyone know of a seatpost clamp that is actually 27.2mm that would clamp to the seatpost ITSELF? Or another solution?

Or, do you even bother with this?

Should I just go back and do actual work?

Interesting, I would think that electrical tape would do the trick, although it may break down over time and need to be replaced.

Tape.

I also have a post that needs to be moved from time to time. My cheapskate solution was to get the post exactly where I needed it, then use some nail polish to paint a small T, running down into the slot and across the top. It takes 2 seconds to position the post not only for height, but also alignment using my painted T as the reference.

My best seat height is about 1 millimeter below the warning mark on the seat post; I can easily eyeball that since I frequently use the metric system.

Get a basic rear reflector and just clamp it at the right height. You could even remove the reflector. I'll wager the LBS would give you one if you asked.

rubber band, rubber o-ring, mark from a sharpie, tape.

if you go on ebay, you can find various clamps in almost any size and color, advertised for use on bikes, just search for one that's close (if you can't get it perfect get one that's a little small so you can bend it open; if it's too big you can't make it smaller if it's metal), and just use it for whatever purpose you see fit.

this would do the trick, it stays in place on the seatpost and doubles as the actual clamp as well: KCNC SC 13 Twin Seatpost Clamp Cycling 30 7 27 2 31 8 27 2 34 9 30 9 34 9 31 6mm | eBay

Tape is easiest, why complicate things.

Bracket from a taillight works for me. I've also used a lightly clamped hose clamp.

Yah, I get the tape thing. Makes perfect sense. I did the tape thing (as well as the Sharpie thing) for years on that college mountain bike. Worked fine with minimal futzing. But on a nice road bike, for whatever reason, I like things neat and tidy and less gummy.

When I built up my fixed gear, I could have used electrical tape (or zip ties) to hold the rear brake cable to the top tube. But I got some Wabi cable guides. More expensive, more complicated, but also neat and tidy and less gummy.

http://www.wabicycles.com/images/close-up2.gif

I left the dot my PT put on it during my fitting. 2 years of riding outside has caused it to break down and crumble off, but the shadow of it from the glue remains.

Super lazy solution is the best solution.

I'm playing with my seat post height right now. Black seat post, black tape, end of problem. :)

Here's a corollary question; any good way to mark seat tilt? My seat occasionally seems to lower the tilt, and it takes a couple tries to get it right, mainly by eyeballing the angle.

IME - there's no way to perfectly mark and duplicate seat tilt. I use a straight edge and roof slope gauge to duplicate the tilt. However, it's only useful when replacing a post on the same bike, or using an identical saddle on a new bike. Otherwise, various saddles each have their own sweet spots, so matching an angle is only a place to start.

BITD - way back, Campagnolo made a gauge for matching both the height and angle of saddles, to make it easier to set up multiple bikes for the same rider.

I use this what I use when I pull the post to clamp in the work stand, but it might not work so well on a sloping top tube style frame:

http://www.os2.dhs.org/~john/square.jpg

Ah yes, the Campagnolo tool 736:

http://www.os2.dhs.org/~john/campy-736-tool.png

And even then it wasn't a common tool. It wasn't included in the so-called "full" tool set, but had to be special-ordered from Campagnolo.

I like this idea. The LBS will give you one based on my experience - I was using a reflector mount as part of a homebrewed light mount. It eventually broke so I went to the LBS to procure a new one. They handed me one and told me there was no charge, adding that for some reason they always fall off new bikes before they make it out of the shop to the showroom floor.

An alternative to this would be a seatpost mounted rear blinker light.

Try a phone clinometer app for saddle tilt. You have to calibrate the app. Put the phone on the same spot of the saddle or better, use a straightedge over the full the length of saddle.

I just saw this today when I followed a link on another post.

Topeak® Cycling Accessories ? Products - Ninja P

http://www.topeak.com/mediafiles/pro...8128/thumbnail

Gorilla double seatpost clamp: New Gorilla Park Double Seat Post Clamp Frame 31 8mm Seatpost 27 2mm White | eBay

I put one a bike with a CF frame that insisted on slipping even with the max force on the clamp.
Upper clamp locks onto the post and supports the weight.
Lower clamp just keeps the post from rotating.

Rocket surgery is easy. It's brain surgery and rocket science that give me trouble.

Back in 2006, my LBS was putting a second seatpost clamp on their carbon seatposts. The theory was that that frame seatpost clamp shouldn't be overtightened, and this second clamp was insurance against slippage. I set it with a few mm gap underneath, so I could see if any slippage occurred. Kind of nice to have.

It looked like a thinner version of the usual lipped clamp that fits over the frame, with no lip, and sized to fit the post, not the frame.

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Saddle tilt

I keep my saddles fairly level. The Aliante has a little tilt up at the front, so that the back half is more leveled.

I just view the top of the saddle against either a windowsill, bookshelf, or fireplace mantle. It's pretty easy to get it just right.

I used to scribe a mark with a razor knife on the saddle clamp, but that doesn't work very well for me. Even using the engraved markings on my Thomson seatpost clamp still doesn't easily get the tilt correct--just a slight movement in the indicator line moves the saddle quite a bit.

We awesome,esofthesebut never went into production. They would have needed to be so cheap that the shipping would have been more that the camp itself. they could be handy for people exactly like th OP.

The Topeak thingy looks interesting (but I think it only comes with the pump), and the Gorilla clamp looks like it would work exactly as I was thinking.

I suppose another cheap and easy way to go is to just take an old 23mm innertube and put it on the seatpost. (It would be practically invisible on a black seatpost.