3T Ionic / Palladio with carbon saddle - experience?

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Chongteng
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:30 am

by Chongteng

Dammit wrote:Is anyone running an Ionic post with an Arione R1?


I'm running this setup and it works fine. But you have to get the oval caps. No creaking.


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Wcl4
Posts: 193
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:33 am

by Wcl4

Running the Ionic 25mm set back with the selle italia slr carbonio. Seems to be working fine even though the customer service rep said it wouldn't work.

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indywagon
Posts: 71
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:53 pm

by indywagon

I'd like to add my experience to this thread:

I bought a new 0 setback Ionic to go on my Cervelo R5 because, like a lot of you, I thought it was a great looking post. It came with both the round and oval clamps. I found that the oval clamps did not firmly hold a 7x9mm Specialized Toupe carbon rail, so I emailed 3T's customer service about the issue. After a bit of back and forth, I received a new, tigher-fitting clamp kit for oval rails, and although it was a bit better than the first, it still was not a secure fit.

I have a Bontrager carbon-railed saddle that I'm pretty sure is 7x10 and it fits fine. I suspect that a Selle Italia carbon-railed saddle, which I think is 7x9.6 would also work with the 3T clamps, but I haven't proven that.

Anyway, my conclusion is that 7x9 doesn't work, which is a pity because it's a very slick-looking seatpost, but anything larger than that is a good bet. I'll probably be putting mine on ebay.

Chris

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Anders
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by Anders

I bought an Enve instead and the clamping mechanism is sliding so it will accommodate a small variation in rail dimensions. The clamp is also slimmer which solves the problem with the Ionic extending beyond the shape of the saddle. It will for sure be polish with time.

goodboyr
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by goodboyr

Huh? The Enve ships with two sets of clamps, one for regular rails, one for carbon rails.

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Anders
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by Anders

goodboyr wrote:Huh? The Enve ships with two sets of clamps, one for regular rails, one for carbon rails.


Yes but what I'm saying is that the carbon clamps will fit carbon rail that deviate from exactly 7x9mm, that being for example Fizik or Selle Italia rails. The standard clamps only fit 7mm round rails.

goodboyr
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by goodboyr

Ok.

cunn1n9
Posts: 221
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:24 am

by cunn1n9

I can tell you that the Ionic oval clamp does not work effectively with Selle SMP carbon rails. There is play and the seat will slide back when doing hard seated climbs. Had to go back to steel rails which work fine.

Great seatpost for looks and love difflock as once it's set up then you never need to change it. But I think you have to accept that your going to be using steel rails....

idgitman
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:29 pm

by idgitman

I seem to have the same issue, just email 3T. I've paired the 3T Ionic - 0 with oval caps with a Selle Italia Flite gel w/ Ti ovalized rails (7x8mm) The saddle slid back and went nose up causing some unwanted numbness on my last weekends metric century...

Waiting to see what 3T has to say, I sad to be a little un-optimistic... :(

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

I'm in a similar position with my new Felt AR1 seatpost. It came with the 3T difflock seat clamp mechanism and I realised pretty quickly I'd need the oval clamps for my Specialized Toupe pro 7x9 rails. Currently waiting on the parts arriving from 3T in Italy, I'll report back with my findings.

Really hoping it fits as I don't want to have to change saddles.

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

Update from me. I received the clamps today and they don't fit. I can see what the issue is though and I aim to sort it tomorrow. The caps are too long to allow the clamps to tighten enough to hold the saddle tight. This may be an issue unique to the AR1 3T seat post which I have. I reckon if I file the end of the caps enough I should be able to get enough torque on the rails for it to be tight.

The caps are hitting the teeth on the inside of the hole of the seat post so if I file it slightly i'm hoping it will fit.

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

Ok after filing the end caps it's still not torquing up for me. The weird thing is if I take the difflock mechanism out of the seat post it tightens up no worries. The only thing I can think is that the red barrel that the rails sit on is a different shape for the oval clamp.

Can anyone confirm or deny this? I did just buy the end caps from 3T thinking that would do the job, but now thinking I may need to but the caps and the red barrel. Might be cheaper just to buy a new saddle......

rijndael
Posts: 402
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Location: Haines, AK - Temporarily

by rijndael

With the Palladio seat posts, you had to buy a new spline with the cap for oval rail compatibility, that was fixed with the new Ionic. Perhaps your design is similar?

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

Looks like it could well be the case. It's a brand new bike for this year though so I would have thought it should have had the new splined part included.

Any way to know if it's the new one or the old one?

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trex021
Posts: 218
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2013 5:46 pm

by trex021

Just to put in my 2 cents... I bought an S-Works Toupe carbon railed saddle so I ordered the oval clamp for my Palladio seatpost from 3T. I tried it out for 10 minutes on my trainer and it scuffed the rails slightly. Fail. There was just enough gap to allow the rails to move under load. I ended up buying an Enve post and the included oval clamps worked perfectly without a hassle.

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