How to mark a carbon seatpost?

Guaps

How do I mark the height of a carbon seatpost? On my aluminum seatpost, I just scratched a mark, but I'm a little scared to mark my carbon like that.

My wife recently had her new bike fit by a local bike shop about 20 minutes from my house. They did a good job and she loved it. Then I took it to a shop right down the street to have the deraileurs adjusted. They are almost exclusively a mountain bike shop. The tech there couldn't clamp his work stand on the seat post because there wasn't enough showing, so he just raised the seat. That's not a big deal for the mountain bikes he works on, but I didn't measure the seat height after her fitting, so now the seat is not quite right. Bummer. So once we get the seat to the right height again, how do I mark it?

Thanks!

biker jk

You could use a coloured marker pen. I just measure the distance from the top of the seat post to the top of the saddle and record this in a notebook.

Camilo

Wrap a piece of black electrical tape around it. Cut it thin before you put it on if the full width tape isn't discrete enough.

Peter@vecchios

The best way is to mark it with some tape then remove the seat post altogether and then use a post that fits into the frame, that you then use to put in the stand. Tape and then clamping it can move the tape.

Like I say, not a lot of bad bikes, just bad bike shops.

Guaps

If I use tape and the post happens to slip down into the seat tube, wouldn't the tape come off?

Pharaoh1

I've had that happen to me when I've used tape. It's not a big deal, but you do have to replace it. What has worked for me is just a small dot or two of acrylic paint at the back of the seat post where it meets the seat tube. Not obvious and fairly durable too.

Scott

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Camilo

I've never had that happen. Your seat post shouldn't be slipping that suddenly. If they're slipping, they usually "creep" down, and might mar the tape, but not remove it. I happen to put mine about a half cm above the clamp anyway, and I know that if the tape is getting close to the clamp, the post is slipping (which it hasn't). Anyway, even if the post slips down and damages the tape, it won't actually peel it off, probably just mess it up a little. It will still be there to

(1) show you that the post has slipped
(2) show you where the post should be and where the new tape should go.

But like I said, I haven't had this problem at all.

Has your post been slipping? Have you used a torque wrench and/or the carbon paste stuff to install it?

Powerful Pete

As another poster said, your seat post should not be slipping.

I have used tape and/or a drop of liquid paper to mark the carbon fiber on the seatpost. Works fine...

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