Questions & Answers

49 thoughts on “Questions & Answers”

1. Hey guys new to riding again. Just bought a small ebike offline from China. Its has seatpost clamp measures 34.9 but there are no measurements on actual seatpost. Original shipped to me bent and now its too hard to adjust seat height when riding and putting in my car and needs to be replaced.
   I have no idea what size post I need to buy and which one is strong and tall enough to fit my frame of 6’4 and 370lbs.
   I was looking at Thompson Elite, Thudbuster Lt, Ritchey, and Syntace. But I don’t know which to go with to hold my weight and is tall enough for comfortable ride.

   Also, need to extend factory handlebars because they are too short as well. Need new stock bars for low-end HD Tea electric bike I found on ebay.

   Thanks for any help and advice you can offer a newbie
   Char

   • Hi Char,

     As I like to say: “One good measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.” For more details, see:
     Seatpost diameter standards and how to measure them

     After you are certain which size (diameter) you need, measure which length you need. For that you should consider:
     Minimum seatpost insertion length
     I.e. add that to the amount of the seatpost sticking out of the frame.

     Once you have those important measurements, you can start looking for a matching seatpost that is strong enough.

     Ritchey generally makes decent quality stuff – but avoid their “WCS” (World Championship Series) components since they are built to be as light as possible, at the expense of any “needless” extra weight (and strength).

     Generic, cheap, Chinese-made steel seatposts can be heavy but very strong (though not always, unfortunately).

     What I often do is go to a local bicycle shop I trust and plainly ask “what’s the cheapest that’s any good.” They usually know which models are least often returned.

     That’s especially effective nowadays when most manufacturers change models each year, making them sometimes better, sometimes worse. Bike shops that sell a lot of parts get feedback relatively quickly.

     Hope this helps. 🙂

     Relja

2. hi,
   I have a doubt regarding the shape of bicycle forks. In general they have hollow tube shape. why cant they be made into I sections so that they can have a high bending strength when compared to hollow tube shapes. and also why hollow tubes are mostly preferred over other shapes
   Don’t mind if it sounds silly. Thank you

   • Hi Rock,

     Hope this helps – for a start:
     Bicycle frame design explained

     Relja

3. the way they make steel bicycle forks now is the best design ever,proven design over many years,if you made them in sections that would be expensive and also would be heavier and possibly weaker at the joins,the way old chromemoly bikes were made is the safest,strongest most durable frame ever made,you will hardly ever find an old frame that got bent or cracked,unless it got a serious beating,forks only bend or break if bike is not used properly

4. weight is also an issue on any bike which is why bicycle tubing is hollow and that rounded tubing also adds to the bicycle strength,you cant find a better material than traditional steel bicycle tubing,its ultra tough.i doubt if they will ever find a better material than cromemoly to build bicycles from,steel bicycles still running from the 1970s and 80s says it all,bicycle tubing is lightweight,tough and very very durable and quiet easy to work with compared with other modern materials.you can silver solder it,weld it or braze it.

5. take a look at some old gaint mountain bikes from the 1990s those bikes were over engineered and you could not bend any part of those bike if you tried,even those forks you could not break them,oversized steel tubing they had and the early ones had no suspension at all but those bikes rode on the roughest of trails and nothing bent or cracked,the early bmx bikes were just as tough.

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