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I recently changed my saddle and I've found I'm unable to get my new saddle level (as measured with spirit level).

The problem is the seatpost clamp - it has teeth on both the concave top of the shaft and the convex clamp part that fit together to prevent the saddle angle from changing. These teeth are quite large and they restrict the possible angles the saddle can be set at.

My previous saddle just happened to have an inherent angle that matched the seatpost, so I was able to set it "level" with the ground. I find with my new saddle, it is either slightly tipped forward or slightly tipped back. Neither are satisfactory - I need something in between.

Does anyone have a suggestion for fixing this (short of buying a new seatpost)?

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  • Place washers between the teeth.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 11:24
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    Why is this a problem? Forget the spirit level. You should set the seat angle to whatever feels comfortable. For me, that means having the front slightly lower than the back; since everyone's ass is shaped differently, the optimal position might be different for other people.
    – Mike Baranczak
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 13:17
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    The problem is that the teeth on the seatpost are too coarse to allow the desired adjustment.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 15:16
  • Place thick plastic pactches (cut from sports drinks bottle) between the lower clamp and the saddle rail.
    – heltonbiker
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 17:56
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    Ideally you'd get a washer that was soft enough for the teeth to bite into it (and also soft enough to conform to the curve of the joint) while being hard enough that the teeth wouldn't "telegraph" through and leave you with the original problem. And stainless, of course, or thick brass.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 22:27

1 Answer 1

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Unfortunately, this is a common issue with more basic seat posts.

There are 2 options:

  1. Use sandpaper or a Dremel to remove the teeth which fix the angles of the seat post. If you make it completely smooth, then you can use grip tape like that designed for a skateboard deck to add friction without locking you in to specific angles. This approach has drawbacks. The grip tape may need to be replaced on occasion. You need to be careful not to remove too much material from the post, as it risks breaking the post in use. As you can imagine, that would be painful.
  2. Replace the seat post with something without that limitation.

I hope that helps.

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  • Thanks for the suggestion. The seatpost is carbon (Q2) so replacing it is going to be costly but probably worth it in the long term.
    – nickdos
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 7:54
  • What frame are you riding?
    – zenbike
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 8:31
  • full carbon frame - can see bike and seatpost here: khsbicycles.com/05_flite_850_11.htm
    – nickdos
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 9:55
  • As expected, the seat post is very basic. It shouldn't be too costly to replace with a proper seat post.
    – zenbike
    Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 17:18

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