Bike porn

not loud if run with proper tension and well lubed. they are quite loud if run too tight though. even then it's not the kind of thing you hear when riding. mostly just when it's up on the shop stand.

Fair enough. I guess it's coz there's more metal, anyway. So when they start to dry out they'd be a lot louder than a Sram PC1 or a cheap Izumi... As there's more in contact with teeth.

Kestrel Road Bike

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4282708445_527bd89c24_o.jpg

Fuck me those are nice. Usually I hate road bikes on this thread as they're either super space age TT bikes or vintage falling apart pieces of rusty crap. These are just, errm nice.

Had a chat with robin today.

His view is that the straight inline seatpost is a product of mountain biking, brought into road bikes via tt bikes.

Traditional road seatposts were all set back - clamp offset from the post itself.

The thomson clamp is actually in line with the post itself but the post is then bent to give it layback.

So effectively the thomson is a kinky inline post that ends up giving a similar position to a traditional straight post where the clamp is offset.

Bingo. Thomson laybacks offer the same or less setback than a conventional straight seatpost with an offset clamp. They mostly exist just to offer people who want Thomson a layback option whilst keeping with the traditional style of Thomson posts and still using the micro-adjust clamping system.

Personally, I wouldn't have a layback post on a racing bike. Thomson inline FTW, that's the only way I can get my saddle in the right position over the BB.