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Hey guys. You may have seen some of these inexpensive
carbon fiber bike parts on ebay and wondered if they're worth the money.
I've got just a small sample of carbon parts to show you.
Ones that I have a little bit of expierence with.
You probably started looking at them because they're lighter than your current parts and
it's easy to save weight in some of these areas.
This is a Merek 27.2 by 350 seatpost. This is a Hylix 27.2 by 400.
This is a Karbona carbon saddle, carbon rails, entirely carbon.
And this is kind of a no-name carbon saddle. The Merek and the Karbona I have alot of expierence
with but the Hylix and this no-name I just got recently.
So, kind of untested. We'll take a look at some weights her just
real fast. This no-name saddle, it's 94, 95 grams.
The Karbona is 118. The Hylix is 179.
And the Merek is 166. Anyway, the point of this is that some of
these saddles that come with the bikes and the seat posts are alot heavier.
If you've ever had a bike with a WTB Speed V saddle, those are about 328 grams so by
switching to this saddle, you would save over a half pound.
Even a quality saddle like a Specialized Body Geometry alot of those are in the 250 to 275
gram range so these saddles would save you about a third pound which is quite a bit.
Another thing that I do want to mention is that these parts are close to the claimed
weights. The parts that I bought here...
They've been within usually about 5 grams plus or minus of the claimed weights on ebay
so that's kind of a pleasant surprise. The cost:
These saddles are usually $50 to $100 and the same with the seatposts.
It's fairly easy to find them close to $50. I've put quite a few miles on this saddle
and this post and they've been pretty good. One of the downsides to these parts is that
when you order them, they come from overseas obviously so shipping time usually takes a
while. This saddle that I just got took 25 days.
The seatpost took about 23 days so you've got to be a little bit patient.
The other big down side is unknown quality. My expierence so far has been possitive but
you just really don't know. They are made by all sorts of different manufacturers
that you really don't know much about. Merek has some pretty interesting videos on
their ebay listings where there really testing the strength of these seatposts and again,
my expierence has been real positive. No breaks or anythign with any of these parts.
The only reason I'm changing saddles is this one I found a little bit uncomfortable.
Just this particular shape. This saddle is quite a bit wider so hopefully
it's more comfortable. I will put the details of where I bought these
parts in the About section so you can know where to get them if you need help.
One the I do want to mention is this is a brand new post, again.
I just got it yesterday and it's not going to work for these carbon saddles.
These types of heads with the round mechanism, they are made to mount saddles with round
rails. Here's that Specialized BG saddle and you
can tell that these rails are round and the carbon saddle's rails are oval.
So they're taller this way so they do not fit in these round heads so make sure you
know that when you're buying these posts. The Merek has a different clamp style and
it will allow for the oval saddle rails. So get this style if you're going to use a
carbon railed saddle. I'm going to start using this new saddle and
if I have any failures with any of these parts I will deffinately post them in the about
section. I'm really interested in your expierences
if you've tried these carbon parts from over seas, post some comments and let me know what
your expierences are. I'm a big fan of buying stuff in the US, US
manufactured but we have to be honest with ourselves that most bike parts are made over
seas, especially carbon parts. Even by the big manufacturers.
But I'm thinking about starting to test some of these other carbon parts possibly.
If you have any requests or any thoughts on parts that I should test, please post those
in the comments. These manufacturers are making all sorts of
carbon parts. Obviously saddles, seatposts....
I think they're making carbon rims now, carbon frames, and handlbars, all sorts of different
parts that are worth looking into. So I guess the bottom line, in my oppinion
is that these carbon fiber parts from overseas off of ebay are worth it.
I think they are worth it. I haven't had any problems with them and they
are inexpensive and a great way to save some weight off the bike.
So as of right now, I recommend that you try them.