I added aerobars to my road bike and had my shop fit me to more of a TT position, but my seat can’t go far enough forward. After looking at it and doing a little research, I think I could just turn it 180*. It allows me to adjust the angle of the seat up and down as well, so I wouldn’t squish my nutter butters. So my question is, would turning a seat post (which is carbon wrapped) do anything to its structural integrity? I’d rather not have it snap on me during a race. I’m about 6’3" 175-180lbs for reference.
I used to run mine backwards. If it’s crabon wrapped it’s not going to snap. The only problem you might run into is getting the proper length. Once you swing it around, you’ll need to raise it quite a bit.
shouldn’t make a difference…if anything you will be putting more weight on your arms because of the weight moving forward, and less stress on your seat post
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I’ve been riding like this for about 3 months but would like to see what it feels like to move it forward. If I do follow through with this I’ll post up some pics so you guys can critique my form.
take a look at the first picture. i’m able to adjust the seat to what seems to be a pretty good degree. so i don’t foresee any problems with regards to making the seat level. more than anything i just want to make sure it’s safe.
I’m pretty sure I have the same seatpost as you, and when I was using my road bike as my tri bike a couple of years ago I tried turning it 180, and it’s not possible to get the saddle level. I bought a PD forward seatpost and used that for my first season. Keep in mind though that putting more weight forward on a road bike geometry will make your handling very sensitive when you’re in the aero bars. I believe this is due to the difference in fork rake between a tri bike and road bike.
I did the exact thing with an alloy post. At first the saddle wouldn’t go level (nose up), so I took a round file and filed the centre channel in the saddle clamp (the clamp the wraps above/below the saddle rails) until I could get the nose down. Never had a problem with it, rode an IM like that on rough roads. I’ve since turned the bike back into a road bike and flipped the clamp back around the way it was designed and have another 5+ years on it without any sign of fatigue.
Don’t let the ‘carbon wrapped’ thing fool you. I have a similar post, and it’s only got one layer of carbon around a standard aluminum post. I have no reason to think that this is anything more than a marketing gimmick. As far as snapping goes, this post is only as likely to fail as a standard Al post which is… never. Probably more likely to break the frame tubing before the post.
I tried it at my shop today… the seat couldn’t quite go level because there is a little lip on it preventing it from rotating further. I may consider taking a file to it… And I understand it is a standard alum post w/ one layer of carbon, I just wanted to clarify what type of post it was.
Get a Thomson Elite Zero setback or even the layback model and turn it around. You won’t be sorry. My 1st Thomson lasted 15 years on my MTB before I snapped it coming down hard in a crash:( Just bought a new layback which should be here in a few days.
I have a 27.2 410mm zero setback for sale in the classifieds if you are interested.
