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Why is fitting a saddle to a seatpost such a fiddly process? And why are there so many different designs of cradles?
I've just fitted a saddle to a cheap Specialized seatpost and it took me best part of 20 minutes because some idiot (not me!) had lathered the bolts with thread lock so they barely turned in the thread, and there are two bolts (whereas the old seatpost manages just fine with one bolt). And the new seatpost has a stupid cradle which requires the bolts to mate to some cylindrical nuts.
Granted I've got big fingers not dainty ones, which makes this more fiddly but if the saddle didn't have a large cutout, I would never have been able to install the saddle...
Why so difficult for something which only needs to allow a few degrees of rotation and a small amount of fore/aft movement???
Sometimes I hate bike maintenance
<end mini rant/>
The two bolt USE seatpost. Fitting a saddle to one of those was a bleeding nightmare.
How more than one person thought that design was ok is beyond me.
Every Time I fit a saddle to a seat post I wonder if there is a technique I'm not aware of. They are all a PITA!
Fitting a bottle cage. Especially in small frames/frames with bags/other stuff in the front triangle.
Every Time I fit a saddle to a seat post I wonder if there is a technique I’m not aware of. They are all a PITA!
Exactly my thoughts - I'm sure there must be a better engineering solution.
I’m sure there must be a better engineering solution.
I-Beam.
Fitting a bottle cage. Especially in small frames/frames with bags/other stuff in the front triangle
Yeah, "ooh, I'll use my new fancy T bar hex keys to fit this new bottle cage.......oh, too long, where's that box of shit IKEA Allen keys....."
My Specialized Command post dropper always winds me up. Why not have the cable adjusting at the lever where its nice and accessible rather than at the bottom of the post? Nice one Specialized.
Every Time I fit a saddle to a seat post I wonder if there is a technique I’m not aware of. They are all a PITA!
Most 2 bolt standard 2 piece clamp saddles
- Undo the rear bolt fully, loosen the front bolt a few turns
- Slide out lower clamp part
- Slip saddle in backwards over the top clamp so its now in the right place to tighten
- re-insert lower clamp part
- re-insert rear bolt (If you're not cack handed you can do all this without ever removing the nut from the top clamp
- Tighten.
You can also remove the old saddle by doing this in reverse.
Yeah, “ooh, I’ll use my new fancy T bar hex keys to fit this new bottle cage…….oh, too long, where’s that box of shit IKEA Allen keys…..”
‘I know, I’ll use my mini ratchet! No, wait, can only get 100* of movement…’
Why is fitting a saddle to a seatpost such a fiddly process?
My first thought when I opened this thread was "I wonder if this is some-one also wondering why attaching a saddle has to be as awkward as it is"
See also derailleur limit adjustment screws that are annoying behind the cable when you need to adjust them.
My first thought when I opened this thread was “I wonder if this is some-one also wondering why attaching a saddle has to be as awkward as it is”
Me too.
And the reason why before I had droppers all my bikes had I-Beam posts/saddles, plus they were lighter (by cost) and the later 'flex' ones very comfy.
X-lite clikon seatpost made it simple as peas to put a seat on in seconds, muc-off should bring it back or license the clamp design out.
Fitting a bottle cage is easier when you use just the socket bit from a torque wrench set to get the bolt most of the way in with your finger n thumb on the knurled section then nip up the last turn with an Allen key.
Two bolts are far superior IME. Less creaking, more adjustment and stronger (have snapped a single bolt type on more than one occasion and I'm no heavyweight). They can be fiddly to install some saddles but worth it overall.
I've a dropper post that requires occasional pumping up with a pressure pump. To access the valve you need to remove the saddle 🤦♂️
Fitting and adjusting brake pads on a cx bike with cantilever brakes is very fiddly. My son's next cx bike will be getting discs.
Thank god it's not just me, thought I must be some sort of saddle fitting moron. We need a support group!
Also feeling it with the bottle cage bolts and allen keys.
Phew, I’m not alone. Definitely my least favourite bike job.
I’m sure it’s the real reason cut out seats exist so you can put something through the hole to hold things in place.
Are you people completely undoing the two bolts or leaving them done up but only by a couple of thread?. I used to undo them completely and yes, it was usually a total PITA to reassemble, but no problems just sliding it in if the bolts are still in.
Yup, dropper posts where you had to clamp the cable with fiddly grub screws, cut and finish the cable end without using 3 hands. Insert the post, fit the lever to the bars and then find the outer cable is too long, or worse, too short.
Internal cable routing of any description, but special mention to integrated road bars, stems and forks where you have less than 5mm tolerance in the length of the hose and you have to replace the hose and re bleed if needing to change the bars, stem, add a spacer.
Later versions of Shimano front mechs - an absolute pain in the hoop - even though I’ve done hundreds. SRAM and Classified doing the world a favour by getting rid of front mechs.
Anything that needs an Allen key smaller than 2mm
yeah leave them hooked on by a thread and its much easier. Still fiddly, granted, but way better than trying to engage a thread in a moving cam that's hidden
Probably too obvious - but internal routing. Especially of a rear brake! Why?! Who decided this would be a new standard?? whoever it was I'm punching them in the gob first, the rest of you can queue behind me.
Bottle cages - I just use one of these. Best tool set I ever bought:
Cable brake levers that have the reach adjuster angled towards the bars, allowing minimal access for hex keys, and minimal amount of rotation (usually needing to be wound in fully, too). I've resorted to buying a 1/4" ratcheting spanner, and 2mm Wera hex bits (don't buy Facom ones, they snap if you even look at them the wrong way) to fit into it, just to do this one simple job.
My dropper is a pain, two bolts and cylindrical nuts to locate. Nothing is as good as my old bike's Dura Ace 7400 series aero seat post. One bolt, then a grub screw to fine tune the angle. Nip up main bolt, then adjust with the grub screw, then tighten main bolt. Easy peasy !
Probably too obvious – but internal routing. Especially of a rear brake! Why?! Who decided this would be a new standard?? whoever it was I’m punching them in the gob first, the rest of you can queue behind me.
Seeing as my dads old race frame had internal routing for rear brake and rear mech, i'd guess they're very much dead now. Seeing as he hasn't raced since the late 60's and the frame was built in the late 50's.
He was also riding a 1x driveline. I mean it was 1x5, but still...
And seatpins, it's just practice, and (sometimes) reading the instructions.
but internal routing
You know what? I don't mind it, it was shit in the early days fo'shure, but once you get you're technique nailed, it's never really that much of a hassle than you think it'll be.
For me, bleeding brakes or dropper posts. There's nearly always something I've forgotten, or haven't tightened, or is just out of reach of my 3rd hand, or I drop something teeny...I don't think I've ever done either of those without having to walk away, have a cup of tea, and a stern word with myself
Best tool set I ever bought:
They do look useful, where did you get those from?
Unnecessarily fiddly bike parts
There's to many of these to mention them all.
Particularly worthy of mention being SRAM's mechs with the silly little wheel as cable guide. The wheel turns a bit for the first five minutes then seizes, so it just acts as a static cable guide - which then starts to wear. It is also absolutely guaranteed to fray the end of the cable when threading it through. Shimano's loop of outer cable is far simpler and a better design.
Hope freehub main seals - as far as I can tell there is zero QA on these. Some flop in easily from new - then let shite in. Some take 20 minutes to get in, then wear, then let shite in.
Any crankset that is either non preload or is preload, but uses separate threaded pieces and collars to do the preload as they don't want to get sued by Shimano.
And why does every bolt, seal, pawl etc defy the laws of physics when you drop them 30cm and they ricochet like a bullet off to the side? Invariably under a kitchen unit or into nearby gravel.
I do hate the stupid little pin to open the bar mount hinge on Shimano brakes.
Dropper post saddle mounts are like that due to the quest for low stack heights.
Reverb AXS has the best saddle mount, with a single bolt to hold the saddle on, and separate angle adjustment (which doesn’t change when you remove the saddle), but they had space to play with as the battery and electronics dictate the stack height.
Every time I fit a saddle it reminds me how much I love I-Beam. I just fitted an old I-beam post and saddle to my jump bike (only seatpost I had in that size), it’s sat in my brother’s garage covered in crap and it went on like a dream. Never creaked, light, no fiddling with nuts, bolts and rails in hard to reach places. Easy to adjust and clean as well
They do look useful, where did you get those from?
Mine were from ebay, years back. Stuck a bid in and got them for £17! I think they do still come up on ebay
i’d guess they’re very much dead now
Dammit! Their offspring then. All of them
You can get the hinged keys from bondhus and (i think) wera do a set.
You can get the hinged keys from bondhus and (i think) wera do a set.
Most of those have got 1 pivot - I've got a set and never use them. The double pivot point is essential 🙂
The two bolt USE seatpost. Fitting a saddle to one of those was a bleeding nightmare.
Agree, you can't complain about seat post until you have used an original USE Alien with two 3mm Allen bolts. Normal two bolt seat posts don't cause any issues for me so I am putting that down to bad workmen.
jimmy748
I do hate the stupid little pin to open the bar mount hinge on Shimano brakes.
That always bugged me. Bolt removed, I want the hinge to open. Bolt inserted, hinge can't move. There isn't a third scenario where I need some pointless little failsafe
I must be the odd one out here, I've not really ever had much trouble fitting a saddle regardless of the type of clamp. I've got a couple of those USE jobs and they're fine IMO, excellent for adjustment...
Are you lot trying to fit seats to frames clamped in work-stands? That's what I normally do, but you can always just take the post out and assemble the two together on a bench before adjusting the angle when it's back on the bike. There's no shame in simplifying a job to make it more achievable...
If I really find one a bit tricky I'll just reassess my method. Single bolt are most annoying IMO but that's because they rely on notched adjustment and I always seem to want an angle not quite in line with the ones available...
The main advantage of rails is that you can vary material and/or use hollow or solid form to Ballance off cost/comfort. The fact that they had to redesign 'I-beam' again to add flex no doubt highlights the reason for it's death. It was sort of a solution to a problem nobody was really complaining about at the time and most people looked at it and figured out it was going to be super stiff...
Like that?
£45!!! Ok, well I guess I'll just put up with being annoyed for the 30 secs it takes me to screw in the hex bolt on my water bottle cage.
Dropper posts with the clamp at the seat post end requiring you to remove the lever and feed enough slack through the bike to remove the seat post.
My new one has the clamp at the lever.
TBH, internally cabled droppers are a PITA regardless of where the clamp is.
I used to be into older Landrovers before i got into cycling - there are plenty of jobs on an 80's/90's Landy which have you wondering WTF they were thinking. Working on Landrovers is also a good way to grow your tool collection because of the mix of Metric/Imperial and other random nonsense - including needing a special thin-walled socket to remove the prop-shaft UJs, and a 2" socket for wheel bearing replacement.
I get where you're coming from with bike though - the saddle always seems to move as i tighten the bolt!
Those little Hope pad safety pins. They drive me mental,especially trying to fit on to the front in situ.
(Holding it with a small pair of needle nosed pliers is the solution)
Shimano’s loop of outer cable is far simpler and a better design.
Agreed. But that then bugs me that the cable exits and rubs in the extremes of lower gears
Yeah, “ooh, I’ll use my new fancy T bar hex keys to fit this new bottle cage…….oh, too long, where’s that box of shit IKEA Allen keys…..”
Thank you mondraker, the inner hex on the linkage was quite a tight fit. I took an old IKEA Allen key, rosted it with my pocket rocket and bent it to make a low profile Allen key.
Those little Hope pad safety pins. They drive me mental,especially trying to fit on to the front in situ.
I ended up using force and ripping off
That always bugged me. Bolt removed, I want the hinge to open. Bolt inserted, hinge can’t move. There isn’t a third scenario where I need some pointless little failsafe
It’s so that the lever can’t fall off the bar in the event of a bolt failure while in use.
The love for I-Beams is hard to understand - no support on the saddle where you want support, and loads of support on the saddle where you arguably need the most flex. Horrible. Think I still have a saddle somewhere if someone wants it?
Crank extractors. The possibilities for it going horribly, horribly wrong are huge. Take a camera lens filter thread pitch, use it to apply massive force to a delicate alloy component in an area where everything gets caked in mud and then weave into it a number of seemingly random standards.
including needing a special thin-walled socket
Reminds me of the Nukeproof pedal axle removal tool - guaranteed to be out of stock everywhere when you first need one, so you end up in a socket lottery.
Just spent far too long getting pads back in my hope E4 caliper, turns out the spring thing between the pads was a bit iffy, used another one from some spare pads and they went straight in first time, such a little thing caused a lot of expletives.
We've had a family spate of Shimano lever pistons sticking (4 in the last year, all clean oil and only ever Shimano oil). All bar one have worked again after stripping, cleaning and lubing the piston.
But the levers always seem excessively fiddly. Little plastic cups on the push rod / servo wave bit. Tiny fragile plastic paddle for the free stroke adjuster. And two parts of the lever and a stupid spring to concurrently align when trying to get the pin back in. No wonder they don't sell spare parts....
Full mudguards. So many bolts and fittings, and need a few extra too. Things needing measuring, cutting, and drilling to fit them.
RockShox fork cable guide 2020, tiny bolt goes into soft metal at an angle.
Everything you adjust for ergonomic positioning and angles that doesn't have reference marks on.
Fitting new brake fluid in any Sram brakes.
The difficult to adjust brake levers that it's nearly impossible to get a hex key into is one that bugs me - that's something that ham-fisted amateurs should be able to adjust without needing to take it to a mechanic.
However, the one that always makes me wonder what the **** they were thinking is the BrandX dropper post lever. Did they sit around thinking what would be the most complex, fiddly way to make a lever pull on a cable?
+1 on mudguards. Some real fundamental design issues on so many.
Cantilever Brakes can be a faff just to get them in the caliper, especially the pads with about 4 various washers. Once on, they are fine.
I took the motor skid plate off my Orbea Wild. Unbeknown to me there was a backing plate which the screws screwed into. With the bike being upside down the backing plate fell into the motor somewhere. Can not get it out for love nor money, but it annoys the hell of me when I hear the metal on metal rattle whilst I ride.
You want fiddly? Try reshimming Shimano freehubs.
Fitting new brake fluid in any Sram brakes
Eh?
Changing hub bearings.
or more specifically, accessing hub bearings in order to change them. The actual removing the bearings and pressing in new ones is a joy with the right tools but before you can get to that point, maybe its just me but removing the axle is always a right PITA. Working out how exactly it comes out and which tiny grub screw needs removing with a size of allen key you don't have....then its do i just bang it with a mallet? Hmmm not coming out - perhaps....ahhhh there is a tiny threaded collar hiding in there that needs to be removed....but what with? Etc etc etc. And don't get me started on putting the 12sp cassette back on by gently piling up the rings like the great pyramid of giza only to find one has gone on the wrong way round and the lock ring is cross threaded as its made of the finest brie.....
Non-Shimano cranks are horrendous.
I tried getting a Race Face Cinch off the other day. Even used a breaker-bar, wouldn't shift.
Hollowtech type cranks are where its at.
As above, cable droppers. Even if you follow a good tutorial, the tolerances are so fine.
It's the one think I'd go wireless on if I had the loot.
Non-Shimano cranks are horrendous.I tried getting a Race Face Cinch off the other day. Even used a breaker-bar, wouldn’t shift.
I've got some Rotor cranks on my gravel bike and they're a pain to remove. There was an issue with the BB years ago involving rebuilding the whole BB and crank area several times and that rapidly lost the novelty of unscrewing the lockring, turning it round and screwing it back in to then use it as the "crank puller" (yes, this is actually the way it's designed!) and then undoing it all again once the cranks are off.
Next time I need new chainrings, the bike is getting a GRX chainset...
Everything you adjust for ergonomic positioning and angles that doesn’t have reference marks on
This x100
I tried getting a Race Face Cinch off the other day. Even used a breaker-bar, wouldn’t shift.
Proper 30mm axle cinch? These come off easily in my experience with the built in self extractor. Take the load off the preload collar and just undo the bolt.
2″ socket for wheel bearing replacement.
Said 2” socket is also handy for removing the lock ring from a mixer shower when replacing the 3-way cartridge. It was a landy wheel bearing tool that I ordered specifically for that job!
2″ socket for wheel bearing replacement.
Said 2” socket is also handy for removing the lock ring from a mixer shower when replacing the 3-way cartridge. It was a Landy wheel bearing tool that I bought specifically for that job!
It’s so that the lever can’t fall off the bar in the event of a bolt failure while in use.
Are you talking about Shimano brake lever clamps where you have to insert something into a hole to release the clamp after removing the bolt? Since when do lever clamp bolts fail!?!?!?!?
Yes they are always annoying. What happens with me when fitting: Insert something in hole to release clamp. Discover bolt is too far away so put down lever, clamp closes. Pick up bolt. Insert something in hole to release clamp. Lift brake lever to bar accidentally brushing clamp against something which closes it. Insert something in hole to release clamp. Drop bolt. Discover bolt is too far away so put down lever, clamp closes. Insert something in hole to release clamp.
Removal usually slightly better.
After removing lever I now screw the bolt into only one half of the clamp so the clamp can't close and lock because bolt in the way.
Non-Shimano cranks are horrendous.
The last non-Shimano cranks I had were SRAM GX. I'd decided to bin them, but then I couldn't get them off as the crank bolt had seized.
A drill sorted the issue and I was none too careful about what other damage I did to them in the process. It was cathartic in a way and they went straight in the bin afterwards.
Stupid non-preload with a stepped axle and the SRAM gap on the driveside - specially designed so that the tophat spacer could shear and wander out along the axle, leaving you feeling like the cranks were about to fall off. Bin.
Since when do lever clamp bolts fail!?!?!?!?
Having seen what the "average" bike owner can do to a simple allen bolt, i'd guess at "pretty often".
I never want to work in a shop again.
What he said.