What quality, weight/ clamp like on these Thomson Elite post

[ibbz]

What's the quality (weight and durability and clamp component) of these like?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thomson-Elit ... 3963941521

Thomson Elite seatpost.

Any help most appreciated

I'm looking for a black alloy (or a Ti) seatpost of under 26mm - I have a 25.0mm USE Alien which I loathe (I absolutely hate the clamp component - must be thew worst design ever) and am short on options to replace it with and came across this Thomson Elite on eBay.

 

[rwm1962]

Dunno about weight (google may help) but been impressed with regular & dropper Thomson seatposts (& clamps, stems & bars). I'm thinking about putting the Thomson I have back on one of my main riders which also has a USE Alien purely for the retro feel. I don't find the Alien seat rail clamp reliable - if I go over a bump without unweighting the saddle it'll often move & there's no way I'm torquing it up any more. Find the Thomson seat-post clamps excellent. Grip with minimum torgue - much better than Hope.

 

[ibbz]

Re:

Thanks ! The clamp on the USE is very unreliable
You encourage me - I’ll go for the Thomson ! Thanks again!

 

[hamster]

I've bent or bust other posts, never a Thomson.

 

[ibbz]

I've bent or bust other posts, never a Thomson.

Reassuring! I’ve ordered it! I didn’t have much choice in size as the bike takes a I think 25.4mm and I wanted black and quality so thanks guys.
The USE Alien I have is prone to going wrong during a ride - worst clamó system I’ve ever done across - worse than the older USE

 

[mk one]

Great posts, been using them for years and never had a problem. Really well made and they have been making them since mid '90's.

 

[2manyoranges]

Re:

...on terrible clamps I don’t think the original pattern USE was bad - the two allen clamps - light and strong, and similar to the ones on bombproof early Syncros. GUB still make copies and they are extremely strong. Worst clamp surely must be the Crank Brothers’ Cobalt single nut. Two different radii on the clamp to ‘make it hold’ - which it does. Crank it tight and you need a lump hammer to adjust it. And I am not joking. I had to take a 1kg lump hammer to it to get it to spring apart. Not an ideal tool to carry around in a Camelbak to allow you to adjust the saddle position in the field...

 

[ibbz]

Re: Re:

...on terrible clamps I don’t think the original pattern USE was bad - the two allen clamps - light and strong, and similar to the ones on bombproof early Syncros. GUB still make copies and they are extremely strong. Worst clamp surely must be the Crank Brothers’ Cobalt single nut. Two different radii on the clamp to ‘make it hold’ - which it does. Crank it tight and you need a lump hammer to adjust it. And I am not joking. I had to take a 1kg lump hammer to it to get it to spring apart. Not an ideal tool to carry around in a Camelbak to allow you to adjust the saddle position in the field...

Hahaha!!! Damn right!
I quite liked the old original USE - not perfect, quite fiddly but you wouldn’t end up impaled up the wrong end by the Seatpost when the saddle decides to creak off like with the USE alien miles from home up hill somewhere

 

[hamster]

Re: Re:

...on terrible clamps I don’t think the original pattern USE was bad - the two allen clamps - light and strong, and similar to the ones on bombproof early Syncros. GUB still make copies and they are extremely strong.

I pretty much agree, bust a USE bolt the other week after 15 years. I bought some decent quality replacement bolts with rolled threads which should be good for another decade. I guess the lesson is to replace them every few years.

The Alien single bolt design is awful, so much being done by one thin bolt with a tiny head that's hard to reach under the saddle.

 

[rwm1962]

Maybe Jackie was using a USE in this clip a 1m 11s

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fl43rq3Zqw[/youtube]