Submitted by
roberto castro
a Cross Country Rider
from san juan Date Reviewed: May 1, 2008
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$25.00
Purchased At:
pricepoint
Strengths:
A solid grip. Appearance.
Weaknesses:
A bit heavy. You can take 25-40 minutes to adjust, but once adjusted, solid as a rock.
Bike Setup:
Rock Shox Tora; Shinamo Deore throughout the bike...
Bottom Line:
Reserved for the dirty work. Grab solidly and it seems that does not break easily.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Sebastian Wiers
a
from Nashville, TN, USA Date Reviewed: November 26, 2006
Favorite Trail:
urban riding
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$50.00
Purchased At:
LBS (Bike Pedlar)
Strengths:
Knock Rated = no questions asked replacment. Thompson can't say that- I know, I have a bent one they won't replace.
Strangely enough, its also fairly light weight. The Thompson is only 20 grams lighter.
The clamp mechanism looks VERY solid. Once the saddle is installed, it is LOCKED, and should never shift, squeak, or strip.
Not sure why, but the vertical adjustment on the El Norte is very easy and smooth, but it holds quite well in the frame. Could just be that it's perfectly sized for my frame (maybe just luck of the tolerances), but the finish on the shaft also seems a factor. I can actually adjust it while riding!
Weaknesses:
The only real drawback is that the clamp mechanism uses matching teeth, meaning that angle adjustments are "indexed", not infinitely variable. That's not a drawback in its intended use, but it could be a drawback for XC riding. Oh, and this post is STIFF. Don't buy it expecting it to soak up any vibration or impact shock. Duh, its not carbon, and its designed to NOT bend. Again, its not designed for XC riding, especially not on a hard tail.
Yes, as others say, the saddle installation is time consuming and potentially tricky. Be very careful not to cross thread the screws, and the parts are hard to line up at first. You do need the right tools (an L shaped allen, preferably with a ball end) but any shop will have those.
Installation is particularly hard with 8mm saddle rails, which is very odd given the intended use.
Since it uses 4 bolts, and they thread into aluminum, you have to be careful to torque them evenly and to NOT over torque. A torque wrench might be a good idea.
None of this should put you off buying it, unless you frequently swap saddles (in which case I say buy two posts) or are really inept with tools and can't get the work done in a shop. I used to work in a shop and thought it was straight forward, but not something to be done half-assed.
Similar Products Used:
Thompson- which has an inferior waranty.
Bike Setup:
Mountian Cycle Rumble, 30.9 post, running 8-10 inches high when climbing or riding trails, and less than 4 inches when jumping.
Bottom Line:
Not not gonna bend or strip, and not gonna cost you any money to replace if it does.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
angle
a Cross Country Rider
from Los Angeles, CA Date Reviewed: August 19, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Hollywood Boulevard
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$20.00
Purchased At:
Price Point
Strengths:
Inexpensive, designed for strength, saddle security
Weaknesses:
Black only, no setback, slow to adjust
Similar Products Used:
Various other cheapo posts
Bike Setup:
Cobbled-together Surly 1x1 w/Titec stem & post, Paul rear hub, Atomlab flat pedals, Brooks saddle
Bottom Line:
I almost didn't buy this post because of the negative review. Everything said was true, but depending on what you need from a seatpost, some of the disadvantages can actually work in your favor.
Adjusting the seat is very slow (almost tedious) because of the four-bolt system, but, after thinking about it, I realized that this would also make it very difficult for a thief to steal my saddle, which has happened to me with single-bolt seatposts (believe it or not). Also, the overall design, with serrated clamp, zero-setback and, again, four bolts, seems to me to have been chosen to favor strength over easy adjustability.
I noticed that a lot of other people reviewing seatposts have broken them. If this is a problem for you, I'd give this post a try - especially since it's pretty cheap right now.
Note to Titec: I might end up getting a Thomson setback, since your layback version of this post is really ugly and only has two bolts anyway. If you made a cleaner, four-bolt version (without the drainpipe curve), I'd buy it. It would be nice if it was in silver, too.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Dan G
a Weekend Warrior
from Israel Date Reviewed: May 11, 2006
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$60.00
Strengths:
Paintjob, strength ('knock rated'), material quality & finish, the 27.2 version is not too heavy
Weaknesses:
VERY hard to adjust, no tilt gradulations
Similar Products Used:
varios brandless two bolts posts, Bontreger single bolt post
Bike Setup:
SC Chameleon, Full XT, Marz Z1 FR SL
Bottom Line:
While I usually like Titec gear - this post has few annoying engineering mistakes. As far as I know, there are two types of seatposts heads: single bolt with jagged tilt head and two-bolts with smooth tilt head. This post has 4 bolts and a jagged tilt head. Unfortunately, it means that tightening the bolts in one side doesn’t change the tilt angle. You actually have to open the 4-bolts almost all the way before you can change the tilt (move it to the next tooth). Furthermore, the bolts angel makes it hard/impossible task for a multitool or a short hex key. And remember, you got 4 bolts - and you have to open them all even if you just want to slide the saddle forward or backward (It actually encouraged me to get a long ball-head hex set).
For me, it is a nuisance as I'm experiencing with saddles these days.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
elad cohen
a Downhiller
from adi israel Date Reviewed: March 1, 2006
$ 50.00
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
