Chinese carbon seatpost – 3TS copy of Canyon VCLS

hawkinspeter · 2019-05-09T10:55:51+01:00

I seem to have broken my FSA SL-K carbon seatpost recently and so have been looking at the Canyon VCLS shock absorbing ones as a replacement. However, they are quite expensive and I've seen the 3TS versions on FleaBay for £55 which seems cheap enough, so my question is does anyone have experience of 3TS carbon?

This topic has 26 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 10 months ago by hawkinspeter.

Creator

Topic
May 9, 2019 at 10:55 am #29632

hawkinspeter

I seem to have broken my FSA SL-K carbon seatpost recently and so have been looking at the Canyon VCLS shock absorbing ones as a replacement.

However, they are quite expensive and I’ve seen the 3TS versions on FleaBay for £55 which seems cheap enough, so my question is does anyone have experience of 3TS carbon?
Creator

Topic

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 26 total)

1 2 →

Sort:

Author

Replies
August 4, 2019 at 9:52 am #941937
0

hawkinspeter

benc wrote:
Thanks for the replies, much appreciate it. I’m 60kg so it may not flex at all for me… it is going into an aluminium frame so tightening shouldn’t be an issue.

hawkinspeter – yes I’d love to take you up in that offer. How can we chat privately re payment and address etc?

Thanks again.

Send me your email address to ndsipa _dot_ pomu _at_ googlemail _dot_ com and probably the easiest way is for you to email a pre-paid postage label to your address. I’ll package it up tomorrow (it’s currently at work) and let you know the weight and dimensions.

August 4, 2019 at 9:45 am #941935
0

benc

Thanks for the replies, much

Thanks for the replies, much appreciate it. I’m 60kg so it may not flex at all for me… it is going into an aluminium frame so tightening shouldn’t be an issue.

hawkinspeter – yes I’d love to take you up in that offer. How can we chat privately re payment and address etc?

Thanks again.

August 4, 2019 at 8:44 am #941933
0

hawkinspeter

I aree with @cant do wheelies

I aree with @cant do wheelies – I fitted it and the saddle position kept slipping and as I’ve got a carbon frame I didn’t want to muck around with over-tightening it. After a couple of weeks, I swapped over to a standard style (chinese) carbon seatpost.

@benc – I can send you my one if you’re willing to cover the postage and understand that I don’t take any responsibility for if it shatters etc.

August 3, 2019 at 11:46 pm #941931
0

cant do wheelies

I got one of the Ergon (aka

I got one of the Ergon (aka Canyon) “spring” seatposts (VCLS? I’ve forgotten) a few years ago and am still riding it.

a) I don’t think it adds much, if any, extra comfort. A much bigger effect is had by letting some air out of the tyres!

b) You have to do it up extremely tight to stop it slipping. It’s on my aluminium bike, so that’s OK. Carbon frame?

I think (a) is because they had to over-engineer in case a 100Kg gent sits on it. Each half could take the 100kg. For me (77kg) it feels rigid.

I think (b) is because as the post is in two halves, every time you hit a bump while on the drops the front half slides down (as does the nose of your saddle). i.e. you have to tighten it to a tension as though your entire weight is on half the seat post, which is only “gripped” on half the seatpost circumference.

As I recall, I paid about £200 for it. I subsequently bought a Deda Superlegerro seatpost for my other bike which made a much bigger difference to comfort for half the price. The Deda seatpost is (scarily!) light/thin compared to the Ergon. I would not risk a fake of that design!

So if you weigh 85kg+ maybe the Ergon would flex more, but I reckon I wasted my money. It sounded like a good idea and I read a good review, but there are reasons the “dual leaf” carbon spring seatpost has gone the way of the dodo.

August 3, 2019 at 10:17 pm #941929
0

benc

I’d love to get a Chinese

I’d love to get a Chinese copy of the VCLS seatpost but they seem to have disappeared from eBay and AliExpress. Any ideas where I can buy one?

August 3, 2019 at 10:17 pm #941927
0

benc

I’d love to get a Chinese

I’d love to get a Chinese copy of the VCLS seatpost but they seem to have disappeared from eBay and AliExpress. Any ideas where I can buy one?

May 16, 2019 at 11:32 am #941925
0

hawkinspeter

Just got a reply from FSA:

Just got a reply from FSA:

Thanks for your e-mail, the warranty on all of our products is two years from date of purchase for the original purchaser only. However our UK distributor does offer a crash replacement deal acquirable through your local bike shop or direct with me.

Don’t think I’ll bother pursuing that as so far I’ve had two FSA SL-K seatposts and both have cracked. (I’ve now got myself a cheap alloy seatpost to use until the chinese carbon turns up and have installed a new battery).

May 11, 2019 at 9:10 am #941923
0

McVittees

I bought a Chinese VCLS post

I bought a Chinese VCLS post on eBay for about £50 a couple years ago to use on my mtb. No issues with it whatsoever. Only recently swapped it out for a dropper post.

May 11, 2019 at 8:20 am #941921
0

hawkinspeter

Jez Ash wrote:

Jez Ash wrote:
OP – your Di2 problem is on a different bike, right? Cos a VCLS post (legit or otherwise) won’t accommodate a Di2 battery

Well, now I feel stupid for not even thinking about that.

It’s the same bike, so looks like I’ll be making offerings to the gods of duck tape to hold the battery below the post.

Does anyone know how Canyon fits the battery on Di2 models? Edit: Looks like they use a custom bracket to mount it in the downtube.

May 11, 2019 at 7:38 am #941919
0

Luv2ride

Jez Ash wrote:

Jez Ash wrote:
OP – your Di2 problem is on a different bike, right? Cos a VCLS post (legit or otherwise) won’t accommodate a Di2 battery

This is correct. The 2 leaf springs effectively mean the bottom of the seatpost is in two halves, shown in this Canyon vid on Youtube:

May 11, 2019 at 6:57 am #941917
0

Jez Ash

OP – your Di2 problem is on a
OP – your Di2 problem is on a different bike, right? Cos a VCLS post (legit or otherwise) won’t accommodate a Di2 battery

May 10, 2019 at 7:41 pm #941915
0

The _Kaner

hawkinspeter wrote:
I’ve ordered a 3TS seatpost now as I’m impatient and curious about it. Let’s hope it doesn’t shatter into dangerous shards!

I haven’t experienced 3TS, but have gone with chinese CF seatposts and handlebars (Hylix) in the past and had no issues at all with any of them.

For the outlay, I wasn’t expecting much, and was surprised with the outward cosmetic quality.

Also the longevity seems to be good for the parts I have used, >4 years and no issues.

Just keep inspecting regularly and make sure there are no issue at the clamping points, and use a torque wrench to ensure you don’t overtighten.

May 10, 2019 at 7:24 pm #941913
0

hawkinspeter

Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the replies.

I’ve ordered a 3TS seatpost now as I’m impatient and curious about it. Let’s hope it doesn’t shatter into dangerous shards!

KiwiMike – are you aware of dodgy carbon fibre doing that or is it more of a general distrust of their quality control?

@BTBS – I’ve seen the Specialized seatpost coming up on discussions and reviews of flexy seatposts, but I prefer the look (and price) of the VCLS copy.

I’ve now got a new problem and am wondering if it could be connected with the seatpost cracking. I went to ride home this evening and my Di2 was completely dead. I rode it a couple of miles to the station this morning and it was all fine, but maybe something happened to it when it was in the bike coach.

I connected up the charger, thinking that maybe the battery had been depleted somehow (it was on 4/5ths charge this morning) but no response at all. As I’ve got a spare cable and a slightly duff battery, I swapped components until I figured out that it’s definitely the battery – I’m charging my older battery now and successfully updated its firmware, so the cables are all working fine.

I’ve had a good look at the dead battery and can’t see any damage to it and it’s been working perfectly since I cracked the seatpost, so maybe it’s just a coincidence.

(I’ll send the dead battery back to CRC for a warranty check – it’s only 11 months old.)

May 10, 2019 at 5:36 pm #941911
0

Luv2ride

I’ve got a VCLS copy on my

I’ve got a VCLS copy on my Cr1 SL road bike and I think it’s smoothed out the ride a lot. Seems pretty well made, and have considered getting another for my cross bike, though the straight top tube on my Pro6 may mean there would be insufficient post showing for it to be effective (the CR1 top tube is semi-sloping). Has proven to be pretty robust for me, lots of miles on it. Check you’d have enough seatpost length before buying…

May 10, 2019 at 2:01 pm #941909
0

KiwiMike

hawkinspeter wrote:
I’m quite impressed by the amount of damage to the FSA seatpost and the fact that I rode it a couple of miles to the station this morning before realising that it was a bit more flexy than usual.

There’s a reason why it did not immediately shatter and impale the inside of your thigh on carbon. Proper carbon manufacturers intersperse the layup of carbon sheets with more flexible materials such as Kevlar and in the case of some manufacturers exotic materials such as flax. This is so when the carbon, which is relatively brittle,  breaks, the softer noncarbon material holds everything together while you grind to a halt. This is extremely important when you have fractures around head and down tubes, where a catastrophic sudden snap could send you over the bars at high speed.

I guess it’s up to you whether you like the idea of being impaled on a bit of broken carbon fibre or the idea of a soft, controlled break.
Author

Replies

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 26 total)

1 2 →

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.