Elitaone Seatposts are fine and I'm a Dummy

[amacal1]

Were you seated while riding downhill? On my gravel bike, I'm always out of saddle on the downhills mainly for balance. Though it probably saves my seat posts from snapping as well.

I'm curious what amount of force is needed to snap a carbon seat post.

From my original picture where I show my snapped seatpost (not the minor cracked one, the one I snapped fully), I can tell you that it's A LOT. And, I'm fairly certain, in hindsight, that one was already cracked a little. I was riding a rough patch of gravel/singletrack levee trail at night and there was a massive concrete step-up and step-down somewhere in the trail. I nailed it at about 16-18mph while on the seat and heard a massive "CRACK". It was so loud that one of the other guys in the group thought HIS seatpost had snapped, lol. I didn't notice how big it was at first, but when I had to turn around and leave the group I rode back over it and saw that it was a solid 6" (or more) concrete bump. I don't remember if it was on the step-up or the step-down, but I think it might have been the step-down that got it. All 180lbs of my fat ass + bike slamming down on it at that speed could not have been easy, and the sound that rang out as it gave up the ghost was impressive.

[jonathanf2]

From my original picture where I show my snapped seatpost (not the minor cracked one, the one I snapped fully), I can tell you that it's A LOT. And, I'm fairly certain, in hindsight, that one was already cracked a little. I was riding a rough patch of gravel/singletrack levee trail at night and there was a massive concrete step-up and step-down somewhere in the trail. I nailed it at about 16-18mph while on the seat and heard a massive "CRACK". It was so loud that one of the other guys in the group thought HIS seatpost had snapped, lol. I didn't notice how big it was at first, but when I had to turn around and leave the group I rode back over it and saw that it was a solid 6" (or more) concrete bump. I don't remember if it was on the step-up or the step-down, but I think it might have been the step-down that got it. All 180lbs of my fat ass + bike slamming down on it at that speed could not have been easy, and the sound that rang out as it gave up the ghost was impressive.

I have a buddy who's 250lbs.+ and he exclusively rides only steel and titanium because he knows he'll break something with all that weight! This is a guy who warped his 1x gravel chainring because of the all the torque he puts down!

Carbon is definitely not a friend of big boy descenders! It's probably a good idea to stay with alloy over a certain weight. I've even seen carbon saddle rails break with some bigger riders on the trail.

[Merry]

My Elitaone post developed some extra compliance.

My Elita One post has been OK so far, but upon checking it two ish weeks ago, it had a light indented groove (as where the aluminum seat tube edges are). Seatpost is in the right orientation and the collar is installed as per instructions. Torqued below max spec - 3.9 nm with carbon grip paste. This is installed on a CAAD10.

I wonder if the QC is iffy? I'm still keeping a close eye on it, as it hasn't broke on me yet.

[jannmayer]

Were you seated while riding downhill? On my gravel bike, I'm always out of saddle on the downhills mainly for balance. Though it probably saves my seat posts from snapping as well.

I'm curious what amount of force is needed to snap a carbon seat post.

I was actually riding uphill on a somewhat rocky trail when I heard the crack. I'm also usually out of the saddle when descending. I do take that bike on some bumpy trails - more easy singletrack than actual gravel. I'm also about 95 kg, so that's asking a lot of a seatpost.


No issues with the one on my road bike though, and I've had that one for longer.

[klementino]

Mine broke as well. I had a hard time inserting it into my carbon frame at installation, I believe that the width of the seatpost was a bit wider than the specified 27.2 mm.

Installed it with carbon paste and torque wrench, and it developed a crack after a couple of weeks of road riding.

Bought a Newmen seatpost and it fits like a glove.