Titanium bits: Stem and seatpost, looks or function?

[roguedog]

Hey all,

Quick question, does a titanium stems and seatpost "do" anything? Is it only for aesthetics or is there a practical, functional reason to have these bits on your bike? Is it jut the lighter alternative to carbon?

I get the aesthetic thing but just curious, I did some searching but didn't find an exact answer to this.

TIA

[Coffee Rider]

AFAIK, it's just aesthetic for the stem. I think I've only ridden one Ti seatpost and I don't think I could really tell much, but I mainly use carbon ones at this point. Aluminum makes way more sense from a logical standpoint (price/weight)

[Mike V]

Steel bikes with quil stem and heavy seatpost replaced by titanium ones make a descent weight drop. They also look ish!

[robt57]

Zoot fruit!

[kingpin75s]

Hey all,

Quick question, does a titanium stems and seatpost "do" anything? Is it only for aesthetics or is there a practical, functional reason to have these bits on your bike? Is it jut the lighter alternative to carbon?

I get the aesthetic thing but just curious, I did some searching but didn't find an exact answer to this.

TIA

Depends on the post. Depends on the length exposed. Depends on your weight. Wall thickness and diameter differences are significant. etc.

I believe that at a minimum both a Ti stem and post make a small difference, however from a "price/performance" perspective you will notice the flex of Ti most on a 27.2mm post with 7" of post or more showing (as an example).

I do not consider Ti posts to generally be lighter than carbon.

[JWB475]

I went from a straight 31.6 Easton carbon post, to a custom 27.2 Firefly Ti post with 10 mm setback and the difference was very noticeable (for the better).

[54ny77]

Form AND function combined: it'll look great while you ride at mach 3 or so, without any fatigue issues.

[Duende]

Some relevant info here...


http://blog.fairwheelbikes.com/reviews-and-testing/stem-review/

[happycampyer]

As with most things, the answer is "it depends." The stem tests by Fairwheel linked below bear that out. Regarding seatposts, around eight years ago or so, VeloNews tested a bunch of seatposts for flex and vibration damping.

Just like with frames, it is possible to make a lighter and stiffer stems and seatposts out of carbon than with titanium. Moots' straight and setback seatposts were the only titanium seatposts in the VeloNews test. Iirc, the Moots posts were in the middle of the pack in terms of flex and vibration damping. They were also in the middle of the pack in terms of weight. Hard to say how the Moots seatposts would compare to other companies' seatposts (e.g., Firefly, Eriksen,Seven, etc.).

Moots' RSL stem was about as light as ti stems get and still very stiff, but Moots no longer makes the RSL stem. Fwiw, according to a message I got from Moots, a lot of the weight savings came from the faceplate, which Moots still sells, and which can be installed on one of their standard stems.

It's too bad that no one has performed a similar test with current-model seatposts. I have been experimenting with a 1" titanium seatpost, but it is too early for me to tell whether it makes a difference in terms of vibration damping ad/or flex.

At the end of the day, I would say that it is more of an aesthetic choice than a performance one. You can find stems and seatposts (esp. carbon ones) that are lighter, and may have more vibration damping, etc.

[Toddykins]

I have swapped between a carbon post and a Firefly post (and a Thompson alu to round it out) and I can't tell much of a difference.

If you want dampening get one of the non-standard 'endurance/roubaix' designs in carbon post.

If you want bling go with ti. Tons of ti bikes with carbon bits. I say its time for carbon bikes with ti bits...

[thegunner]

for me it's all looks.

if i were going function, i would get an extralite hyperstem and a darimo seatpost.

[m_sasso]

I generally choose to use Ti components because of their alternative failure mode. They tend to ether bend or slowly fracture apposed to Al or carbon which are know to fail energetically.

However newer carbon components are incorporating materials like kevlar, high molecular weight polyethylene fibres and less brittle resins altering their failure mode and will likely make them a better choice in the future.

[Blue Jays]

Titanium seatposts look great on titanium frames. Gorgeous!

[Alaska Mike]

I have both carbon (ENVE) and ti (Moots) seatposts on my ti bikes. Can’t really tell the difference. For stems, I stick with ENVE to match my preferred bar. I’ve owned a Moots stem before, but never considered the aesthetics worth the up charge. YMMV.

[pdonk]

I have both a moots stem and seat post on my moots.

I have used an aluminum post and could not tell any difference in ride quality - but my post is not out that far.

In terms of stem, same thing, have used an aluminum stem (fizik) and the moots stem and could not feel a difference.

The guy I bought my bike from was into bling, (King ti headset, Zero G brakes, king hubs, zipp carbon crank) so having the stem and seatpost match was important him, it is a bonus to me as I like the way they look.

And here is a link to pics

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=158818

[mktng]

From my experience having both matching stem and post on my moots. It's aesthetic.

Maybe a lab test would show something else.

But real world. For me.
Slap a Thomson post and stem on the bike and I wouldn't be able to tell the diff. Heck..Thomson might even shave off a few grams.