Offset or non-offset seatposts

[PDAR]

Campagnolo 25mm although different companies measure setback differently.

My two customs are 72 degree sta with 25mm setback. Would not want a shallower sta.

My non-custom 73 degree requires a 35mm setback - fewer choices, especially in silver. I have one now but getting a new one from Bold Precision.

Jeff

+1 I also did a Bold post for a custom Pegoretti. 30mm setback. Wanted a silver post and with a 29.4 tube there's virtually nothing out there except for a custom seatpost.

[Scott G.]

I could swear that the "chainstay length" thread is right around the corner.

-Eric

Big snow storms bring these threads.

The reason we have offset posts is old brooks seat clamp, so if you hate horse saddles, use a straight post.

[Archibald]

Straight seatposts look like ass on bikes that don't have sloping top tubes. Further, Thomsons look like ass on anything that has lugs much like Brooks saddles look like ass on anything that doesn't have lugs.

There, I said it.

Don't hate me just because I'm pretty.

And right.

[giordana93]

I can't believe this thread has actually turned into any kind of discussion--thought it would be a "groan" like saab's response--not really worth the time. it makes about as much difference as having your automatic transmission lever on the steering column or a console. given that 99.9% of bikes sold are not custom, a frame designed to use a straight post for a "normal" sized person could also use a set back post for folks wanting uber set back (I would guess that is more likely to occur than those wanting a more forward position).
and if you have a problem with the aesthetics of straight posts, it's your problem, and hardly a universally accepted standard of taste. as for the frames chosen above in post #6 "at random," one could have just as easily chosen 6 bikes with zero set back that work aesthetically (not to name names, but there are a few builders of "lust worthy" bikes that use zero set back posts"



anyway, for everyone lauding the Time frame and noting how any change will have the wheel hitting the seat tube--do recall that the many of the smaller Time frames run a 73 seat tube angle, which is quite slack (as do a few other well known brands). a 73 seat tube in a 52 or so size will require a zero setback for the majority of riders in that size, and there's no issue with clearance.. like ergott said, the chainstay discussion is only around the corner. we should lock this before it gets any stoopider

[SteveP]

that time is beautiful

[caleb]

that time is beautiful

I posted that Time to head off the "I'm too old to sit on a road bike" comment. I mean, the rider of that bike was birthed onto a glacier sometime at the end of the last ice age, so certainly any old desk jockey should be able to comfortably maintain such a position indefinitely.

[davids]

that time is beautiful

The yard needs raking.

[jerk]

not rookie assed shit. designed for the seat to be slammed all the way back.

How to say this tactfully?...

Designing a bike that requires the saddle to be slammed all the way back to get proper saddle setback would be some rookie assed shit, right? I know that knowing a lot is the name of the game on forums, but please don't subject my bikes to these kind blanket statements. I take design seriously and put a lot of time and thoughtful consideration into each bike.

Speedvagens are designed so that the saddle is clamped somewhere in the middle of the rails, not "slammed all the way back". Pushed back a bit from center, maybe, but rarely, and only if the options are considered and the choice is deliberate will the saddle be pushed back all the way. This is as it should be.

To the OP, I like straight posts. They're all business and don't (in my experience) compromise fit, aesthetic, or design.

[Jason Musgrave]

How to say this tactfully?...

Designing a bike that requires the saddle to be slammed all the way back to get proper saddle setback would be some rookie assed shit, right? I know that knowing a lot is the name of the game on forums, but please don't subject my bikes to these kind blanket statements. I take design seriously and put a lot of time and thoughtful consideration into each bike.

Speedvagens are designed so that the saddle is clamped somewhere in the middle of the rails, not "slammed all the way back". Pushed back a bit from center, maybe, but rarely, and only if the options are considered and the choice is deliberate will the saddle be pushed back all the way. This is as it should be.

To the OP, I like straight posts. They're all business and don't (in my experience) compromise fit, aesthetic, or design.

Wasn't a flame bro. Was actually saying that the SVs look right because of the 'thoughtful consideration' you've put into them! Most every SV I've seen has the saddle noticeably aft of center on the rails, and they all look fine imho.

[jerk]

it's an italian thing. italians always have their seats slammed all the way back and the stems slammed all the way down. belgians, germans, dutch, french- middle of the rails. portland straight post. just style i guess!

[Sasha]

.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but most of these frames are not custom, yes? That would make these examples a compromise between a limited size run from big companies and oddly shaped pro riders (not oddly shaped for their profession).

If they are custom, maybe all these riders have odd geometries that make it impossible to pull the STA as far as it needs to go. So they have to slam the saddle back.

Did pros slam their saddles all the way back in the mid 90s before carbon molds and marketing made it too expensive for riders to have custom bikes?

It's not a matter of East Coast / West Coast style. Allesandro Ballan does not slam his saddle back because he likes the look. There has to be some physio explanation.

[justinf]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but most of these frames are not custom, yes? That would make these examples a compromise between a limited size run from big companies and oddly shaped pro riders (not oddly shaped for their profession).

If they are custom, maybe all these riders have odd geometries that make it impossible to pull the STA as far as it needs to go. So they have to slam the saddle back.

Did pros slam their saddles all the way back in the mid 90s before carbon molds and marketing made it too expensive for riders to have custom bikes?

It's not a matter of East Coast / West Coast style. Allesandro Ballan does not slam his saddle back because he likes the look. There has to be some physio explanation.

Dude. Those geometries are optimized for professional road racing, not for the amateur mass market and adapted to the pros.

edit: unless they are in fact custom, which if I'm not mistaken that Colnago EP is.

[caleb]

Did pros slam their saddles all the way back in the mid 90s before carbon molds and marketing made it too expensive for riders to have custom bikes?

Made to measure...

Belgian



American

[

German



Spanish



Italian

[david]

i find this thread, mostly, interesting.
i've often wondered about this very topic.
this is how i've been sorting it in my head. tell me if i'm mistaken.

there's a spot the rider should be in where he has a good balance of weight between front and rear wheels.
obvioulsy, the rider moves around during a ride so he can vary that to his liking. it's not as if there's one and only one spot.
but there is an ideal starting point.

if a bike is designed to use a non-setback post and that post, coupled with the proper seat tube angle, along with correspondingly appropriate geo choices elsewhere on the frame, puts the rider in that ideal spot, then that design - and post - works.
if the frame is designed with a setback post and all other geo choices are in synch with that and the rider is placed in the ideal position, then that's fine too.

what gets effed up is when a rider puts a non-setback post on a bike to compensate for a bike that doesn't really fit him.
for example, at 5'8" i prefer to have the tip of my slr saddle 4cm behind the center of the bb.
a setback post requires me to have a seat tube angle in the 74.5 degree ballpark in order to have the saddle clamped in the middle of the rails.
i see some bikes in what is supposed to be my size from a top tube measurement that have 73 degree seat angles.
when i look at the way these bikes are often presented by their manufacturers, i see a setback post on them.
only way i could get into my position on such a bike is to use a non-setback post. i would then need a longer stem to get the desired reach.
wouldn't that put my weight more forward than it should be?
isn't that where things go wrong?
so, aesthics aside, is the ssue not the post, but the mis-use of the post?

[Archibald]

I've had some "pros" demand their bikes be designed that way but as a builder you always have to fend off the "if it's custom why is the seat slammed all the way back?" questions. It was explained to me this way: if the bike is set up with the saddle slammed all the way back, the rider doesn't have to ever fuck with it when they pull it out of the bag, off the bus, after assembly, whatever, the saddle always goes all the way to the rear and then they just worry about height. Which is somewhat funny if you watch the greatest show on earth you'll see Merckx constantly tweaking his saddle.

[Sasha]

Dude. Those geometries are optimized for professional road racing, not for the amateur mass market and adapted to the pros.

For the most part, my post is a question, in search of answers. Why would a pro slam the saddle all the way back? Style? That seems hard to believe. The answer has to lie in the relationship between the saddle position and the BB, right? So Tafi, Ballan, etc., want a lot of setback behind the BB. Wouldn't it really stress the saddle rails to push it all the way back? If he had any bike he wanted, completely custom, wouldn't Andrea Tafi want something centered on the rails when he saddles up for the Paris Roubaix?

As for the mass market/pro road racing optimization, I think it's probably somewhere in between. If Specialized maximized all their frames to the geometry of the Schleck brothers, it would be hard to sell a lot of bikes. Sure, the fetish for owning a pro bike would definitely have a draw, but that has limits. If I'm not mistaken, this is why Boonen famously had the sponsor fight with Specialized. They designed a bike that would sell well, and told Boonen to sit on it. He's an odd shaped fellow (relative to the rest of the world) and didn't fit on it.

[Saab2000]

Yeah, Merckx.... And I heard he doesn't know very much either..... And he couldn't ride a bike very fast to boot. Useless if you ask me.

[El Chaba]

It is best to defer to Italians on all matters of style....they prefer a setback post with the saddle slammed....non setback post with the saddle centered?....bruta figura....

[Sasha]

if the bike is set up with the saddle slammed all the way back, the rider doesn't have to ever fuck with it when they pull it out of the bag, off the bus, after assembly, whatever, the saddle always goes all the way to the rear and then they just worry about height.

A ha. How we're getting down to brass tacks.

[giordana93]

could you even buy a non-setback post 25 years ago?
--and is that not where this supposedly sacred aesthetic was born? i.e. a straight post with one of those primitive clamps pictured in Scott's post above (#22) and brooks saddle gave about an inch of set back; the first one piece posts copied the setback (and made it a little easier to get that campy seatpost bolt wrench up under the saddle by the widest part)...

what's even goofier these days is that saddle A slammed all the way back can have as much as 2-3 cm different set back than saddle B...

and echoing what I and David said above, lots of small bikes with slack STAs now "fit" more people by swapping posts just like the sloping top tube phenomenon allowed manufacturers to drop down to 4 sizes fit all.... yada yada winter thread indeed