Utilizing The Lightweight Benefits of Carbon

Hands On: Monoprice Carbon Seatpost

This seatpost is another excellent new product coming from Monoprice in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Traditionally an electronics company; Monoprice is branching out with carbon bicycle components covered by their warranty. This 187-gram seatpost features a very minimal saddle mount and measurements on the post for referencing different bike configurations (forget notching and scratching), and comes in a very approachable $50. Pick up this quality seatpost for an easy decrease in weight – just make sure you have the right allen wrench that’s long enough to turn the forward bolt.

The Monoprice Carbon Composite Seatpost is an excellent upgrade on any bike with a 27.2 mm seat tube. It also features an insertion length ruler and 20mm of setback on its light-weight saddle clamp. (monoprice.com, $50)

Revisiting Carbon Wheelset under $800

In Issue 135, we took a first look at the Monoprice 38mm Carbon Clinchers. At the time of this writing, the wheelset is still available online for under $800 and features the 1-year warranty from the SoCal company. On the bike, these wheels resulted in a huge performance increase over a comparable  aluminum wheelset. They felt stiff and light while going around turns, and made bunny-hopping addicting. They are a bit lighter than other wheelsets in their price range and make for another easy upgrade.