Emonda seat mast questions
 

Haven't posted here in a while but I've been fiddling with the fit on my new-to-me 2016 Emonda SL6. It has a seatmast cap with a 20mm offset and a clamp that works with circular rail saddles only. My preferred saddle has oval carbon rails, and my ideal fit on the bike pushes the saddle pretty far forward so that the clamp is gripping the rails a bit far back for comfort.

I've searched around and haven't been able to find seatmast caps with 0 offset... were any made? Are there any out there with under 20mm, and are there any replacement rail clamps that will work with oval rails? If not I can live with the fit and saddle as-is, but I'm hoping I can get things a bit comfier.

I had a zero-offset (or minimal offset) for my 2018 Domane - not sure if they were the same seat mast cap or not. They had some available in their extra-light lineup, whatever that was called. Also had tabs/ears for ovalized rails. IIRC, there were round (standard) and two ovalized tabs - one for 9mm and one for 10mm, maybe? They were sometimes hard to find 4 or 5 years ago, might be more of a challenge, now.

edit: I had something like this, but not exact - https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...-ears/p/27250/

You can get 8X10 ears from Trek that might fit the Emonda mast cap. They no longer make a 7X9 set of ears, or at least I could not find that they did earlier this year.

So what you're saying is... I can just have your seatmast cap after our next Richmond ride and you'll go buy an overpriced Allez? Works for me!

Wondering if this is compatible, since the saddle I use is 7x9-

https://www.ebay.com/itm/302465271084

Ha. Sold the Domane during the pandemic.

Here's a 175 with 5mm offset, you'd still need to find the right ears for it, though - https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...olorCode=black

I love bikes.

"Hello, Trek! I'd like to sit a few mm further forward!"

"That'll be $160, please, and good luck finding the additional part you need to mount a pretty standard saddle rail"

Oh yea, I think I met the Cervelo last time you were in town. I'm still hanging on to my old Madone for nostalgia, may put a newer group on it and revive it at some point, but it's semi-retired now.

Yup. I found mine from a bike shop on eBay. At the time, it was one of those, "**** - we'd better dump this off, for whatever we can get, before no one needs it!" Now, I think that we may be in to the, "**** - someone's really gonna need this, so let's get all that we can for it" territory.

I guess I could also just mount the current seatmast cap backwards, slam the saddle back, and look like a total idiot. :foo:

Timtak could probably help you with that.

I've been afraid of integral seat masts with proprietary parts for a long time, and threads like this increase that fear. Don't know if it's just because people for whom they work well don't post, or if it's a real problem that I should keep in mind the next time I'm in the market.

I have had no problems at all with my Trek seat mast. We haven't had any problems with my wife's Specialized proprietary seat post either.

The only thing I've ever heard about proprietary parts is that one day they might not be available. That's not unusual in today's world for many things. I have at least two items (that I can readily think of) in my house for which proprietary parts are no longer available because the manufacturer no longer supports them. They are much more valuable than any of our bikes.

Fair enough. I have a seatpost that slips occasionally, so the other option isn't perfect either.

Even as the one facing this problem, I don't think it's really that big a deal or a reason to avoid a certain bike, so long as you're buying new and the shop can swap to suit whatever your fit or saddle needs are. Just makes it harder for those of us who buy things used 6 years later. Seatmast caps and seat clamps aren't exactly wear items so in theory if it works for you it'll always work, unless it's busted in a crash or somesuch.

As someone whose newest bike was 25 years old when I bought it, the used market is more where I'm concerned. Of course, if I stay with my pattern of buying bikes that are at least 25 years old, it'll be a while before I get to the point where I'm looking at frames with seat masts. And that's not taking into account that my wife thinks the 3 bikes I have are already more than I need (and I don't see giving one of those up without them getting wrecked).