Deda Superleggero RS Seatpost

The Deda Superleggero RS seatpost is very light, good looking and pretty easy to use. It's an expensive way of shaving some weight from your bike, though, if saving weight is your main concern.

• Pros: Light, good looking
• Cons: Expensive, wheel adjustment difficult on some saddles and prone to sticking

Made from undirectional carbon fibre, the Superleggero has a 12mm setback and it's available in 350mm and 400mm lengths and 27.2mm and 31.6mm diameters; that'll cover most road bikes. The clamp is described as a single bolt by Deda but really it's two: one at the front to set the saddle angle and one at the back to tighten everything up. Once you have your saddle angle set, you can remove the saddle using just the one bolt, although it's still easier if you undo both. The Superleggero is compatible with Di2 batteries using Deda's adaptor.

> Find your nearest dealer here

I removed the standard seatpost from my mid-range Merida Scultura and replaced it with this one. The outgoing same-length (350mm) seatpost weighed 257g and the Superleggero is 167g, so that's a not-insignificant saving of 90g. That equates to a hairsine ratio (see here) of just over 0.5: half a gram saved for every pound spent. As you can see from the chart on this page, there are more cost-effective ways of saving the weight, not least buying a cheaper-but-still-lightweight seatpost. It's quite an expensive way of shaving the grams, really.

Obviously, fitting a posh new seatpost is not just about saving weight. You want it to be effective too, and the Superleggero is fairly easy to get on with. The double bolt clamp makes adjusting the seat angle a precise operation, rather than loosening everything off and adjusting and tightening again. The rear bolt is right under the saddle; if you have a split saddle you'll be able to adjust it using a 5mm hex key, but if you don't you'll need to use the knurled wheel which is a bit of a fiddle. I've generally found that wheels like the one used here can gum up after wet or dirty rides, but unless you're altering your saddle angle a lot, or switching saddles, it's mostly a case of remembering to strip, clean and grease the mechanism from time to time.

Deda doesn't make any specific claims for how much more compliant the Superleggero is than its competitors. It's a light post, and there's a bit of lateral give in it, especially as I tend to run plenty of seatpost. My Merida isn't an uncomfortable bike, and it's running 28mm tyres, so it was hard to discern any direct benefit from the swap; it's a marginal improvement at best.

Lastly, you want your posh seatpost to look cool. There's no point paying £185 for a seatpost if it doesn't look cool, right? No worries on that front: the Superleggero is a very good-looking seatpost, with a nice organic shape and graphics that are bold without being too intrusive. Certainly it's a much nicer looking 'post than the workaday one it replaced.

Overall, the Deda is a decent post, but it doesn't really do anything to make it stand out and the £185 asking price feels a bit steep compared to other options like the Reilly carbon seatpost we tested eariler in the year: that's even lighter, and half the price.

> How to trim bike weight on the cheap

If you're looking for a bling Italian seatpost to adorn your bling Italian Sunday-best bike, though, it might fit the bill.

Verdict

Nice lightweight seatpost that's easy enough to use, but expensive for what it is