Really pleased with this offering from fizik. Even though the brand is known for a narrower fit, I found that these shoes were great for my wide feet. No hot spots or numbness on century-length rides, and the boa system provides a consistent tightness. The cleats do not come in contact with the ground for the most part, and the traction on these soles is excellent. While the boa system is in the side of the shoe, I haven�t experienced any contact with the ground to damage them at all, and I�ve slid out one or two times since having them. Cannot recommend enough at this great price point!
Lots to like about this seatpost: (1) a simple attractive design which looks as though it should provide good compliance; (2) its saddle clamp accepts 7, 7x9, and 7x10 mm saddle rails without having to buy special parts; (3) the two bolt front/rear clamping system should eliminate the worries about slippage that you get with single bolt designs that rely on friction; (4) it�s reasonably light: the two 31.6 x 330mm ones I have weigh 195 and 197g (minus the neat rubber sealing ring, which adds 7g in case you wondered).
Setting the saddle angle is not as simple as shown in the wordless �pictograph� instructions enclosed. They indicate that one uses the front thumbscrew to set the angle and then locks the saddle in place by torquing the rear screw (both are titanium T25 Torx). If one is using a digital level (naturally the bike must be leveled axle-to-axle first), one quickly sees that tightening the rear screw raises the nose of the saddle by a degree or two. Which might not be visible without a level. The trick is to tighten the rear screw in steps, after each step using a T25 to tighten the front screw to bring the angle back a bit past the target value. Hopefully you will end up with the rear screw arriving at the final torque of 7nM before the front one does.
Take your time, being careful to fully seat the T25 driver into the screw heads before applying force. If you strip one of the heads, you won�t find a replacement at your local hardware store, and Fizik didn�t reply to emails. Using fresh T25 drivers may help: Crescent T25 1/4� drive sockets for your torque wrench cost only $3 on Amazon.
As other reviewers said, before you start it�s wise to disassemble it (one screw at a time, maybe taking photos as you go so as to get the spherical washers and pivots back the right way!) and lightly grease the screw threads and their pivots.
Also worth confirming that the multi-tool you bring along on rides includes a T25 driver!
A neatly made seatpost; reasonable weight (my 31.6x330mm weighs 260g rather than the 215g shown); well designed clamp which accepts 7x7, 7x9, or 7x10 rails; useful height markings; and a clever silicone collar which helps keep moisture out of the frame.
Downgraded it to 4 stars because of a couple of problems:
(1) The concept of using the thumbscrew to set saddle angle and then locking with the rear screw sounds great. Unfortunately, the angle drifts as you tighten the rear screw. So if you want say 3 deg nose down, you quickly learn that you must begin between 5 and 6 deg nose down to arrive at 3 when the rear screw is torqued.
(2) The head of the rear screw isn't deep or strong enough to handle all the tightening and loosening resulting from (1). Plus the torque spec of 8nM is probably too high for that screw. I carefully greased the threads of both screws before starting, but eventually rounded the Torx T25 head of the rear screw. Fortunately a 4mm hex locked neatly into the stripped T25 hole, enabling me to extract the screw. And I happened to have a damaged Cyrano 00 carbon seat tube, so I used the titanium(!) rear screw from that in the R3. That titanium screw has a much beefier head than the steel (?) one that came in the R3; that same design made in steel would probably avoid the issue in the R3. The torque spec for the Cyrano 00 clamp is 7nM rather than 8nM. I'm starting out at 6nM in my hybrid setup, will see if that works OK. If I were doing it again with the R3's current hardware I'd set the torque wrench at 6nM and be very careful to ensure full engagement of the Torx bit while tightening.
Of course, another option is to avoid all this and just get a Thomson Elite: a little lighter, a little cheaper, great angle adjustment. Alas they were out of stock when I needed this one!
The Tempo Overcurve R4 single Boa sail makes on the go adjustments easy as can be. I found they run a bit big (like all Fizik shoes) and if you have narrow feet maybe try a different model. The sole has a little more flex to it than I am used to but not too bad. The weight isn�t bad for a mid-level shoe.
