Carbon upgrades for Dummies

rollingscone

Gentlefolk,

I want to upgrade my seat post and forks to Carbon next time I have a bit of cash and will almost certainly go second hand.


My question is, what should I look for, all I've worked out is that I need to measure the steerer tube diameter and that straight forks are racier than swept. But that's about it.

Edumucate me 410 Jeebus.

Squidgy Black

With forks you need to calculate the rake, and see how that will affect your geometry too. Also, if you're going second hand, you need to get the length of the steerer tube and then measure your own headtube and your spacer stack+stem height, to see that the steerer tube isn't cut too short for you to use.

colm_gti

Last time I looked into upgrading my seatpost from aluminium to carbon, I ended up buying a whole new frameset....be warned!

doozerie

Something else to consider with forks is the distance from the crown to the centre of dropout as not all forks are the same length. If you hold the forks up against those in your own bike you'll quickly see roughly how they compare in terms of length and rake so it's worth doing that if you can before you decide whether to buy.

For the seatpost the things to check are diameter, length (remember to take into account whatever the seatpost has written on it as minimum insertion length), and setback. 25mm setback is "the norm", if there really is such a thing in cycling these days, but zero setback seatposts are common enough too, and there are other degrees of setback. If the setback of the seatpost doesn't match your current one then you'll have to slide your saddle forward or back to compensate and if you are unlucky you mightn't have enough leeway to achieve the same fit as your older seatpost.

Some saddles are fussy about the clamps on seatposts too and some combinations are incompatible, though that's usually an issue mainly for saddles with carbon rails, but no harm checking the online spec of both your saddle and any potential seatpost that you might buy to see if either has any warnings about incompatibilities. Check for online reviews of the seatpost too to see whether people have had problems with the clamp design - some clamp designs seem to be unreliable if some online reviews are to be believed, some of the single-bolt designs come in for quite a lot of criticism, though obviously you have to balance that out with the fact that a lot of people can only motivate themselves to post an online review or comment when they have something to moan about so absence of good reviews might not fairly reflect the real popularity/reliability of a product.

fixie fox

A lot of seat post fasteners will crack a carbon post if they pinch it mainly on one spot.

rollingscone

colm_gti wrote: »

Last time I looked into upgrading my seatpost from aluminium to carbon, I ended up buying a whole new frameset....be warned!

Says the clearly unmarried ColmGti.

If I'd gotten funding for my PhD I'd planned on getting a Ribble frameset but as I didn't and am sadly back job hunting I'm going to keep my alu frame which is still getting compliments and wait till I have a few months in a proper job before getting a whole new bike (maybe a cx), so the 509 is here to stay but a couple of more Carbon bits will hopefully improve the ride quality.

kumate_champ07

carbon seatposts are not really an upgrade, more 'bling' than performance, just buy a Thomson Elite.

if you have training tyres on you could save 100+g by going with a good set of racing tyres.


carbon is best kept for frames and wheel rims

Brian?

Save a little longer and drop 5-600 on a hong fu carbon frame.

kumate_champ07

actually 1 more place where carbon is best, not sure about road but in track cycling alll sprinters used steel bars that weigh 700-800g, now the carbon versions are 300g and stiffer than steel! supposed to be more comfortable and less harsh than steel bars. carbon road bars would weigh close to aluminum but perhaps be nicer to use for longer rides

colm_gti

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

actually 1 more place where carbon is best, not sure about road but in track cycling alll sprinters used steel bars that weigh 700-800g, now the carbon versions are 300g and stiffer than steel! supposed to be more comfortable and less harsh than steel bars. carbon road bars would weigh close to aluminum but perhaps be nicer to use for longer rides

I recently change from FSA carbon bars to 3t aluminium bars and have noticed little to no difference in comfort, and the 3t ones were the same weight. There is noticeably more flex in the alu bars, but for the cost of the carbon bars, it's something I'm willing to live with for now...

Cee-Jay-Cee

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

carbon seatposts are not really an upgrade, more 'bling' than performance, just buy a Thomson Elite.

I disagree. I changed the seat post on my last bike for a carbon inline post which gave me a more comfortable riding position but also dampened down road buzz through the saddle. I initially intended just getting an inline aluminium post but found a carbon one for not a lot more and went for it and glad I did. I'd recommend one over an aluminium post for ride comfort especially if you ride on rough surface roads.

kumate_champ07

CJC999 wrote: »

I disagree. I changed the seat post on my last bike for a carbon inline post which gave me a more comfortable riding position but also dampened down road buzz through the saddle. I initially intended just getting an inline aluminium post but found a carbon one for not a lot more and went for it and glad I did. I'd recommend one over an aluminium post for ride comfort especially if you ride on rough surface roads.

could be where you had your saddle rails clamped, the carbon post equals more comfort is a myth