3T Ionic / Palladio with carbon saddle - experience?

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

by idgitman

Riders, I have the official word on this... I recently emailed 3T regarding my Ionic-0 mated to my Selle Italia Flite gel. below is the response from 3T below my question. Long story short your rails have to be 7x10 not any other variations 8.5, 9, etc to use the Oval end caps. I think that the labeling should state this explicitly and we as purchasers should not have to interpret the cryptic PDF illustration which reads like a range of oval rails sizes and not an exact size...:

-------------------------------------------------------------

to info


The Great:

I have been the proud owner of a 3T Ionic - 0 Stealth Team seatpost as well as a few other well placed 3T products for a about a year now.

Originally I had my 3T Ionic - 0 Stealth Team seatpost mated to a round rail Fiziz Arione R3 Team Sky edition saddle with no issues what so ever.


Recently I've decided to do some endurance rides and settled on adding a Selle Italia Flite Gel saddle to the line up. The Selle Italia does have Titanium ovalized rails, so to complement it, I tracked down a set of hard to find 3T oval rail end caps.


The Not so Great:

After mounting the Selle Italia for the first time I did a metric century. About 3/4 the way thru, I was geting some groin numbness. After getting the Bike back home and cleaned up for the next ride, I did my usual post ride inspection. I noticed that the saddle had slid back and had become nose up, which explains the numbness. It appears, and I guess I did notice/put the pairing to enough rigors riding on the trainer all week in preparation, that the New oval end caps are not 100% securely clamping the rails. I originally torqued to the speced 5nM. After inspecting and now noting the lack of clamping power, the saddle does, if I hold it firmly and wiggle it have fore/aft play.


The Selle Italia rail dimensions are Ovalized 7X8, which by the 3T specs are withing range of the max 7X10.


At this point, since I have another ride this upcomming weekend I wrapped the rails with electrical tape in hopes of providing a little more gripping surface or at the least some non-slip due to the tape.


Have I missed something in the equations of this pairing(3T Ionic - 0 Stealth Team seatpost mated to a Selle Italia Flite Gel saddle)being compatable?


Thank you for your response in advance,
Anthony

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply Forward
info@3tcycling.com
May 9 (4 days ago)

to me


Hi Anthony,

unfortunately there is a misunderstanding. It is not a range – 7x10 mm max. It needs to be this measure otherwise the saddle can slip.

Best regards
Wolfgang



Service Support – Junior Product Manager
info@3Tcycling.com


3T Cycling srl - Via Vittorio Veneto, 25 - 24041 Brembate - Italy
Tel.: +39 035 4943451 - Fax.: +39 035 4943962

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Last edited by idgitman on Tue May 13, 2014 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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CBJ
Posts: 1058
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:22 pm
Location: Brooklyn

by CBJ

No doubt what the write on the site is confusing. Just saw that Selle Italia now have carbon rails with the same dimensions as the TI rails so there are some nice options that will not require change of end cap to the oval version.

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joshscott187
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 3:27 pm

by joshscott187

Has anyone managed to get the ionic to work with specialized carbon railed saddles?

I currently am riding a Doric and am having issues with it destroying bib shorts on one side. Seems to be the clamp design. The ionic seems to be a good solution but i am concerned the 7x9 carbon rails wont be secure. Would a cloth / tape wrap solve this issue?

Would like to avoid switching brands as stem and bars are all 3t though im not overly impressed with their design errors.

ross
Posts: 393
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:59 am
Location: Oxfordshire UK

by ross

You can file down the edges of the yoke as documented here, works well for me with SLR Kit Carbonio

http://forums.cervelo.com/forums/t/7641 ... ageIndex=2

joshscott187
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 3:27 pm

by joshscott187

That's a good hack and would probably solve the issue- but id rather switch out the post and sell it as its relatively new.

Im thinking enve is the best bet for the post but im just not a fan of the bulbous stem.

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

by mitchgixer6

You'll really struggle to get the specialized saddle to fit with the ionic. I tried tape and other things to get mine to work but gave up and eventually bought a metal railed saddle.

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Fixie82
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:45 am

by Fixie82

Sorry for the grave dig but doing some research on the Ionic's compatibility with Selle San Marco carbon rails. Have seen some pictures of the set up being used but not sure if it was modified to work at all. Selle San Marvo rails are 7x9.8 apparently so pretty close to the 7x10 3T chose to accomodate.

Like most of you I really like the aesthetic and mechanism, this combined with super clearance prices is making it an attractive option but want to make sure it's a good option first.

Cheers

thebunnyofdoom
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:57 pm

by thebunnyofdoom

Hi Everyone,

I had this exact issue with a new felt AR1 I purchased when installed a specialized carbon railed saddle (romin evo). The oval adapters did not work (too much play, not a good fit at all)

Solution: I filled down the ROUND caps that came with the bike to precisely did the 9mm of the specialized carbon rails. removal of about 2 mm of material.

Works great! Its only just like the oval version except slightly small.

cobrakai
Posts: 76
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2015 11:19 pm

by cobrakai

How did you do the filing, by hand or power tool like a dremel? I have round rails right now but I might want to move to a lighter carbon railed saddle at some point.

DuncanS
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:42 pm

by DuncanS

I have a Felt AR2 on the way and was planning on a Fizik braided rail saddle. Fizik rails are 7x9mm, so are they not even compatible with the 7x10mm Difflock? :'(

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

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wheelsONfire
Posts: 6283
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 8:15 am
Location: NorthEU

by wheelsONfire

Anders wrote:After returning the Ionic as I couldn't get to work with my Specialized Romin Pro saddle with 7x9 rails
I bought a Cranbrothers Cobalt 11 with the 7x9 kit. It has the exact same problem as the 3T Ionic. After some emails forth and back they finally informed me that the saddle was designed only for the Fizik saddles with the wrapping. These are more like 10x8 which is of cause why it can't be clamped down. The wrapping is there to prevent stress points on the carbon rails and adapts to the cups, so it need to fit a bit tigth in the clamps. Well the end result was that I found some fiber tape and wrapped that on the rails with an overlap as to get the right thickness. It seems to work, but will be verified on the road in a couple of months when the snow is gone and the roads are dry.


Buy MCFK or Ax Lightness Europa premium and problem is solved!

I have 10mm oval rails on my Bontrager saddle and no problems at all.

Also have a few Fizik saddles which ofcourse is no problem.

Btw, SMP Dynamic works great to.

11 saddles and all work without hassle.
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

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