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Reviews
Thomson Masterpiece seatpost
By John Stevenson
At a fairly astounding 157g for the 27.2mm, 240mm road bike version, Thomson's Masterpiece seatpost is one of the lightest we've seen without getting into the realms of hyper-expensive carbon exotica.
As in Thomson's regular seatpost the shaft and lower cradle are made in one piece and there's a two-bolt clamp to hold your saddle rails gently but firmly in place. The Masterpiece saves weight over Thomson's standard post by machining away all unnecessary material, as well as Thomson's ingenious shaping of the inside of the shaft. Instead of a circular internal cross-section, the Masterpiece is reinforced at the front and back, and has thin walls at the sides. Thomson usually achieves this by extruding the post; the Masterpiece is machined to its final dimensions, which Thomson claims allows closer tolerances than extrusion alone.
In its other details, the masterpiece is identical to Thomson's popular Elite post. The two-bolt clamp allows for very fine adjustment of the saddle angle, a decided advantage over most single-bolt designs which sometimes just won't give you exactly the angle you want.
As with the Elite, two versions are available: with a straight shaft and with a slightly bent shaft. Because Thomson puts the clamp in line with the shaft, the straight version puts the saddle further forward than most seatposts; the bent post moves it back into what, for most of us, is the right place. However, the Thomson setback design doesn't provide an unusual amount of layback: riders looking to get well behind the pedals on a standard frame will need to look elsewhere or go custom.
Given its asking price of $139 you'd be silly to lob a Masterpiece on any old bike (as this writer did to try it out -- it's probably worth as much as the rest of my commuting hack put together) but as the finishing touch to a top-end, super-light machine it'd be a perfect choice.
Price guide: $139 (USD)
Weight: 157g
Pro: Very light; renowned Thomson quality; two-bolt adjustability
& security
Con: Not cheap
More information: Thomson's
website
Cyclingnews Rating: 
