Comfort
Comfort
Comfort is where things start to get fun. We’ve already touched on the (often) negligible benefit a carbon post can offer in the comfort stakes, but post material aside, many strange things have been done to seatposts in the name of comfort over the years, and you’ll periodically see something that looks a little wild cropping up on a bike from a major manufacturer.
Cue exhibit A: Canyon’s VCLS2 seatpost. Rather than being a cylinder, it’s essentially a leafspring design designed to allow up to 25mm worth of movement when you hit bumps in the road. In our experience, it’s very effective if you want to add a little plushness to your ride, and is available as an aftermarket seatpost, as well as being specced on a range of Canyon bikes.
Now exhibit B: the Cobl Gobl-R post on Specialized’s Roubaix (I swear I haven’t made that name up) endurance/sportive/cobbles bike. The CG-R, as it’s more popularly known, features 18mm of vertical compliance and Zertz vibration damping inserts all designed to make riding over the cobbles a less draining experience.
As we mentioned earlier, another way to improve seatpost comfort is to simply make it thinner to allow for more flex like Cannondale did with the 25.4mm post on the Synapse. The Synapse is an extreme example but comfort is the main reason why most bikes take a 27.2mm post now, rather than the 31.6mm of old. Still, as we’ve touched on, the crucial thing is that you need to match the diameter of your seatpost to your frame.
Ultimately, though, while comfort from a seatpost isn’t to be sniffed at, the shorts you’re wearing, saddle you’re sitting on (and fit/shape of both), and tyre’s you’re riding, are likely to play a far larger part in ride comfort than a particular. It’s part of the equation, sure, but not a magic solution to rider comfort.