I remember some guy who was bugging all of the cycling site admins circa mid-2007 to basically plead with us to not promote cycling as it wasn't safe.
The reason was that he'd not maintained his bike, and that his seat post had slipped into the seat tube during a ride. The result of this was that his body weight went from saddle to leg before he could react and engage his muscles. The effect was that he snapped his lower right leg and the bone came straight through the flesh and left him in a crumpled heap beside his bike in agony. He was incredibly traumatized by this, so some 9 months later he was still emailing new cycling sites to warn cyclists of the dangers.
Now I remember thinking: Dude, this is your fault... you didn't maintain your bike. So largely ignoring it and not indulging in scare-mongering by repeating it on the site.
But in this case of a custom seat post I do recall that interaction and how queasy it made me feel. And whilst ensuring the seat post clamp is secured is certainly a maintenance issue it's not a surprise that I now buy Thomson seat posts.
Sure, make one... but make sure you understand the forces involved and issues involved. I'm pretty sure it's not just "stick a tube on this, and in here".
A seat post is not a part that I'd want to fail.
I remember some guy who was bugging all of the cycling site admins circa mid-2007 to basically plead with us to not promote cycling as it wasn't safe.
The reason was that he'd not maintained his bike, and that his seat post had slipped into the seat tube during a ride. The result of this was that his body weight went from saddle to leg before he could react and engage his muscles. The effect was that he snapped his lower right leg and the bone came straight through the flesh and left him in a crumpled heap beside his bike in agony. He was incredibly traumatized by this, so some 9 months later he was still emailing new cycling sites to warn cyclists of the dangers.
Now I remember thinking: Dude, this is your fault... you didn't maintain your bike. So largely ignoring it and not indulging in scare-mongering by repeating it on the site.
But in this case of a custom seat post I do recall that interaction and how queasy it made me feel. And whilst ensuring the seat post clamp is secured is certainly a maintenance issue it's not a surprise that I now buy Thomson seat posts.
Sure, make one... but make sure you understand the forces involved and issues involved. I'm pretty sure it's not just "stick a tube on this, and in here".