Carbon question

[Andreu]

Are carbon seat pins and seat rails comfier than Titanium or alloy on equivilent bikes. The more I am reading it sounds like Carbon (well made!) absorbs more vibration....does anyone have any information on this where they have used Titanium or alloy then swapped kit to Carbon....only to find better (or worse handling).
Also, I have read a couple of articles (on professional riders) on stems or handle bars snapping.....I have never heard this before...would these be carbon too?
Ta,
A:confused:

[Kevin]

Andreu,

I have the Fizik Aliante saddle with the carbon rails. It is the most comfortable saddle I have ever owned. I don't know if its the carbon rails or some other aspect of the saddle that makes it so comfortable. As far as durability I have had the saddle for about a year and a half and have had no problems with the rails. The rails even survived a crash.

Kevin

[Andreu]

Have you got the leather or the microtex cover?.....how is the cover holding up? The Fizik saddles look good but at a price. I am wondering whether they are good value for money? The surface is washable.....what exactly does this mean...throw it in the washing machine every weekend in the winter?
What kind of seat pin are you using? I like the look of the Record Ti seat pin (nice and shiney) ..as you can probably tell I am still not convinced about carbon (apart from judicial use of it), but I am willing to give it a try!
A:confused:

[Kevin]

I have the leather saddle. It is holding up very well. I have not tried the microtex cover. I'm using the Serotta clamp with the Campy Carbon post. The post looks great with the carbon om my Ottrott ST.

Kevin

[zap]

I've been riding a number of carbon railed saddles for 10+ years now. Additionally, I've ridden Ti railed Flites and experimented with Specialized Body Comp's (the worst).

I have two versions of Selle San Marco's carbon's and the one modeled after the 200 is far more comfortable than the Concor Light. The difference is the shape and additional padding.

I also have the Aliante Carbon and find that to be a very very comfortable design.

Carbon saddle rails are stiffer than Ti so more force is transmitted to the saddle. In my opinion, carbon railed saddle comfort comes from the shape and amount (and type) of saddle deflection & padding, not from the carbon rails.

Don't forget that shorts play a role as well.

[Jay Torborg]

I have both the carbon railed and ti railed Aliante. I have tried both on the same bike, although with a different seat post (since I needed a special clamp to work with the oversized carbon rails). I could not tell any difference in comfort between the carbon and ti railed saddles. They both are very nice. It seems the main difference is weight savings.

I have noticed a little scuffing on one of my leather Aliantes. The other two still look new except that the logo has partially worn off. The one with the scuffing is not the one with the most miles, but it is on my rain bike and probably gets a bit more abuse. I've got about 9000 miles on one of the carbon railed saddles and I weighed as much as 215 while riding this saddle (now weight in the low 190s).