What to look for in a seatpost?

On Sep 24, 2:24*am, AMuzi wrote:
*"(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
... they could improve their design by increasing the
range of tilt adjustment to accommodate the wacky rails on Brooks
saddles.
Andre Jute wrote:
You reckon there are enough Brooks saddles to justify a special
Thomson design just for them? Have to be two designs, actually. One to
fit the standard micro-adjuster, one to fit the trad Brook clamp for
straight pipes.

It's the angle of the B17 and Team Pro primarily. Wouldn't
cost much to change, it's just an unfortunate detail.

--
Andrew Muzi
* www.yellowjersey.org/
* Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Ah. Now that I have been enlightened, I don't see how it is Thomson's
problem that Brooks has its head buried in the sands of time. It would
cost Brooks less to change the rails, or the stamped mounting bracket,
and they could sell the variant version for a premium to their loyal
owners and pretend it was a special favour, in the age-old way of
British tradesmen (and when the other races take over a British
concern, they become even more snottily British, so don't expect any
better from the current Italian owners).

BTW, I'm still carrying a 13mm socket for the seatclamp and the Brooks
saddle tension adjuster spanner on my bike because the seat needed
fine readjustment when I treated it with Proofide. I'm starting to
look back nostalgically to my Cheeko90 seat, which was more
comfortable if not so durable, but what the hell, every five years
when it got tacky, I threw it out and for 40 bucks including carriage
received a new one, no nonsense about feeding it animal substances
every so often, or covering it when a few drops of rain falls.

Andre Jute
A little, a very little thought will suffice -- John Maynard Keynes

On 24 Sep, 03:28, Andre Jute wrote:
On Sep 24, 2:24*am, AMuzi wrote:



*"(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
... they could improve their design by increasing the
range of tilt adjustment to accommodate the wacky rails on Brooks
saddles.
Andre Jute wrote:
You reckon there are enough Brooks saddles to justify a special
Thomson design just for them? Have to be two designs, actually. One to
fit the standard micro-adjuster, one to fit the trad Brook clamp for
straight pipes.

It's the angle of the B17 and Team Pro primarily. Wouldn't
cost much to change, it's just an unfortunate detail.

--
Andrew Muzi
* www.yellowjersey.org/
* Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Ah. Now that I have been enlightened, I don't see how it is Thomson's
problem that Brooks has its head buried in the sands of time. It would
cost Brooks less to change the rails, or the stamped mounting bracket,
and they could sell the variant version for a premium to their loyal
owners and pretend it was a special favour, in the age-old way of
British tradesmen (and when the other races take over a British
concern, they become even more snottily British, so don't expect any
better from the current Italian owners).

BTW, I'm still carrying a 13mm socket for the seatclamp and the Brooks
saddle tension adjuster spanner on my bike because the seat needed
fine readjustment when I treated it with Proofide. I'm starting to
look back nostalgically to my Cheeko90 seat, which was more
comfortable if not so durable, but what the hell, every five years
when it got tacky, I threw it out and for 40 bucks including carriage
received a new one, no nonsense about feeding it animal substances
every so often, or covering it when a few drops of rain falls.

Andre Jute
*A little, a very little thought will suffice -- John Maynard Keynes

No, just every full moon.

On 2009-09-22, Chalo wrote:
Jay wrote:

I was unhappy when my Thomson Elite broke in two pieces after 15
months (7,000 miles), but Thomson gave me a replacement on a
'goodwill' basis. The angle of my post, combined with my height and
weight, mean I need the strongest post available. I have also been
more careful to take the load off the seat when the road is bumpy.

http://orion.neiu.edu/~jbollyn/bike/electra/right.jpg

That's a very useful update, Jay. So far, I have never observed a
failure of a Thomson post resulting from normal riding forces-- only
from accident, installation error or abuse. It is good to be aware of
such a failure, and to hear that LH Thomson Co. is committed to
upholding their excellent reputation.

I've slightly bent a Thomson post. It lasted 10 years on my mountain
bike, where it had 280mm (of 410) exposed above the seat clamp,
before developing a small crease on the back of the post at the
clamp. Not really failure, but I wouldn't ride it once I noticed.

Making lemonade, I cut it off above the crease and put it on my
tourer, then replaced it with an identical Thomson.

--
Gregory S. Sutter "How do I read this file?"
"You uudecode it."
http://zer0.org/~gsutter/ "I I I decode it?"

On Sep 24, 9:09*am, Gregory Sutter wrote:
On 2009-09-22, Chalo wrote:

Jay wrote:

I was unhappy when my Thomson Elite broke in two pieces after 15
months (7,000 miles), but Thomson gave me a replacement on a
'goodwill' basis. The angle of my post, combined with my height and
weight, mean I need the strongest post available. I have also been
more careful to take the load off the seat when the road is bumpy.

http://orion.neiu.edu/~jbollyn/bike/electra/right.jpg

That's a very useful update, Jay. *So far, I have never observed a
failure of a Thomson post resulting from normal riding forces-- only
from accident, installation error or abuse. *It is good to be aware of
such a failure, and to hear that LH Thomson Co. is committed to
upholding their excellent reputation.

I've slightly bent a Thomson post. *It lasted 10 years on my mountain
bike, where it had 280mm (of 410) exposed above the seat clamp,
before developing a small crease on the back of the post at the
clamp. *Not really failure, but I wouldn't ride it once I noticed.

Making lemonade, I cut it off above the crease and put it on my
tourer, then replaced it with an identical Thomson.

--
Gregory S. Sutter * * * * * * * * * * * "How do I read this file?"
* * * * * * * * "You uudecode it."http://zer0.org/~gsutter/* * * * * * * "I I I decode it?"

I suppose ten years, with a possibly indefinite half-life (heh-heh!).
is good going for a modern lightweight part, especially one that by
design is abused -- I'm talking about the excessive amount of seatpost
one sees all the time today with the sloping top tubes and generally
undersized frames that are so common.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Amps at
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/
"wonderfully well written and reasoned information for the tube audio
constructor"
John Broskie TubeCAD & GlassWare
"an unbelievably comprehensive web site containing vital gems of
wisdom"
Stuart Perry Hi-Fi News & Record Review

Phil W Lee phil(at)lee-family(dot)me(dot)uk writes:

Andre Jute considered Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:28:44
-0700 (PDT) the perfect time to write:

On Sep 24, 2:24*am, AMuzi wrote:
*"(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
... they could improve their design by increasing the
range of tilt adjustment to accommodate the wacky rails on Brooks
saddles.
Andre Jute wrote:
You reckon there are enough Brooks saddles to justify a special
Thomson design just for them? Have to be two designs, actually. One to
fit the standard micro-adjuster, one to fit the trad Brook clamp for
straight pipes.

It's the angle of the B17 and Team Pro primarily. Wouldn't
cost much to change, it's just an unfortunate detail.

--
Andrew Muzi
* www.yellowjersey.org/
* Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Ah. Now that I have been enlightened, I don't see how it is Thomson's
problem that Brooks has its head buried in the sands of time. It would
cost Brooks less to change the rails, or the stamped mounting bracket,
and they could sell the variant version for a premium to their loyal
owners and pretend it was a special favour, in the age-old way of
British tradesmen (and when the other races take over a British
concern, they become even more snottily British, so don't expect any
better from the current Italian owners).

BTW, I'm still carrying a 13mm socket for the seatclamp and the Brooks
saddle tension adjuster spanner on my bike because the seat needed
fine readjustment when I treated it with Proofide. I'm starting to
look back nostalgically to my Cheeko90 seat, which was more
comfortable if not so durable, but what the hell, every five years
when it got tacky, I threw it out and for 40 bucks including carriage
received a new one, no nonsense about feeding it animal substances
every so often, or covering it when a few drops of rain falls.

Andre Jute
A little, a very little thought will suffice -- John Maynard Keynes

I'm pretty sure that Brooks have sold more saddles than anyone else
ever has

I would doubt that very much to be honest. Brooks saddles are still very
much a quality and expensive items compared to many.

["Followup-To:" header set to rec.bicycles.misc.]
On 2009-09-25, Simon Lewis wrote:

I'm pretty sure that Brooks have sold more saddles than anyone else
ever has

I would doubt that very much to be honest. Brooks saddles are still very
much a quality and expensive items compared to many.

Brooks has produced saddles at every price point including tens of
thousands of low-end vinyl "tractor seat" saddles and ass-hatchets of
every description.

Their current offerings in the North American market are currently
tilted toward the high-end, but that is only a fraction of what they
produce.

--

-John )