Am I the only one that has had seat post clamp bolts snap off? The originals which I gather by their finish weren’t stainless broke off and stainless that I swapped in there have done the same.
I’m riding along (generally around 5 miles in) and notice my seat sinking and then notice one of the bolt heads has broken off or like this past weekend it was still there but spun freely as it had sheared off.
They aren’t torqued down much more than the spec, although admittedly I do go a tad over as it just slips at spec torque. The only other stress outside of riding I can think of is that I doing a flying mount just about every time I ride.
I’m assuming you are talking about the seat clamp bolts. Don’t use stainless. They are softer than the original bolts. Don’t over tighten, stick to 5.2nm or you risk severe damage to your frame (seen ripped out inserts too often on these frames, a professional repair most of the times will be more expensive than a replacement frame). Use carbon paste on the contact surface (even if your seatpost is the cheaper aluminum version) and you should be fine.
+1 You don’t even have to over tighten… those frames are very prone to the inserts getting ripped out. It happened to mine and I always torqued to 5.2 or less and always loaded the bolts evenly. Luckily the Trek lifetime warranty is very good and they took care of me.
I’ve seen several reports of threaded inserts coming out, and so I don’t even dare going to nominal torque on my 2nd gen frame.
I use the original screws for these ones. I’ve replaced them once (maybe twice) since I got the bike. I do not ride much in the wet unless I get caught - so maybe they do not tend to rust as fast
