any downside to extended seatpost if you don't need it?

[Mrklaw]

The bike (Brompton) I'm picking up today has an extended seat post - didn't spot it in the description, and it was on the website under the normal 'M6L' button so I wasn't looking for it.

Any particular downsides? I can't use the standard post fully extended anyway, so I have to find and mark the correct position. Does it affect how easy it is to carry?

I suppose worst case I could swap it out - think its only about £30 for a replacement black edition post and do they swap out easily?



(edited to add in the name of the bike..)

 

[Racing roadkill]

What’s the bike?

 

[Mrklaw]

What’s the bike?

sorry - Brompton.

 

[KneesUp]

The longer post will add weight too. Not sure if that will bother you though.

 

[Mrklaw]

sounds not enough of an issue to stop me picking it up. And if it gets on my wick I should be able to pass it on to someone that wants an extended one in black.

 

[Mrklaw]

ok - it doesn't fit under my desk at work. Dealbreaker :P

 

[Nibor]

ok - it doesn't fit under my desk at work. Dealbreaker :P

It won't make it that tall

 

[Mrklaw]

It won't make it that tall

well it does :P I reckon I'm 3-4cm too high with the seat post down. Anyway have ordered a standard one from brilliant bikes, should be here this week hopefully. Anyone want a nice shiny black extended seat post? CBA to post it though

 

[Nibor]

Might be worth looking at the seat height setting thing when you replace it as you need the post out to do it. I am lucky the extended post is exactly the right length

 

[rogerzilla]

Main one is that it doesn't achieve the claimed folded size. On the upside, a small blinky lamp high up the seatpost won't need removal for folding.

Most men need (or should have) the extended post. It gives a max saddle height of about 31" from the BB centre. Unless you're quite short, your saddle is likely to be too low on the standard post.

 

[Mrklaw]

Main one is that it doesn't achieve the claimed folded size. On the upside, a small blinky lamp high up the seatpost won't need removal for folding.

Most men need (or should have) the extended post. It gives a max saddle height of about 31" from the BB centre. Unless you're quite short, your saddle is likely to be too low on the standard post.

I might need to double check how I'm sitting then. I'm 5'11" and the seat on the rental brompton I had was definitely too high. Although I think that was a telescopic, and I don't know the 'untelescoped' length to compare.

 

[Nibor]

I am 6' and 31" inside leg and it fits me perfectly at full extension (the long one)

 

[rogerzilla]

I'm 5'10" and 32" inside leg and I need the extended post all the way up (Ti extended post, which is fractionally shorter than the steel extended post). My saddle height is between 30.25" and 30.5" depending on crank length.

Yes, telescopic posts are longer than extended posts.

 

[Mrklaw]

Had a look at Brompton junction and their extended seat post seems to collapse lower than mine - not with my bike but there was about 6” between the top of the tube and the bottom of the seat on mine, and much less on theirs. Will measure tomorrow but theirs was 66cm from floor to top of seat

 

[Kell]

I hired the M3L with the telescopic seat post and found it really useful for setting the saddle height correctly. You pull out the bottom bit all the way, and then set the top bit to your preferred riding height. When folding, you only lower the bottom bit and then when you unfold and pull the bottom bit right up, it's perfectly set.

I didn't feel like I needed the telescopic one when I bought my own, so went for the extended version, which I don't need all the way up - so used the plastic shim thing to get it to the right height.

Interestingly, the telescopic one when folded using the method above went that little bit lower than the extended one.