I’ve got a call into my LBS, thought I’d post here as well. Can’t adjust the nose of my seat, here is the problem:
@mcneese.chad I know you work for a Trek shop, any thoughts to share?
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Those are a cone connection, and can bind up a bit. Take a flat blade screwdriver thru one side, and find a safe flat spot (not touching the carbon post) and tap the round insert out with a hammer.
Do that on both sides. Once you have them out, I like to use fiber grip on the cone surfaces to help keep them from sticking too much. But also helps prevent slipping too.
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Cone connection - so it’s two pieces? And tightening the screw causes them to expand into the round hole of the mast? Like a friction fitting.
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Yup, two cones (left and right) sandwich the center hole in the post/mast cap.
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I recently purchased a Trek Domane SL7 Di2 Disc from Trek Travel and had the exact same issue when moving my seat to the new bike. Darn thing was nose down and no matter what I tried … no joy. Then I searched online and came across this article and VIOLA!!! YAHTZEE!! … just that easy to nudge the compression cones popped out and I could adjust the saddle tilt!! I’m a happy guy.
Cheers.
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and forgot to say thanks!! domo! graze!! gracias!!
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What an awful seatpost clamp. I have it. Those things seize all the time. 1 bolt seat posts all suck, but this one is really really bad. This is reason enough to buy the lower end model, so you can replace the post.
The best mechanism I’ve found is Fizik’s. The bolt they use is awful, but once you replace that it’s great - micro adjustable, easy to use. Review: Fizik Cyrano Seatpost | road.cc
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I believe the Canyon posts are the same. I thought mine was frozen in place also until I saw someone do it online and “persuaded” it.
I use a bit of fiber paste, that helps prevent slips under bumps, and seems to make it easier to adjust (without locking in the cones as much) when tuning the angle.
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have you worked with the Trek micro-adjust seats?
looks like those are new on the 2021 Domane, and I see what appears to be two bolts in the seat clamp area. Believe those were on the 2020 Madone.
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I created a TrainerRoad account just so I could say THANK YOU to @mcneese.chad ! Your saved my butt today with your clear explanation of how to solve the cone binding issue (plus I just ordered some grip compound–this was also unknown to me). So thank you for teaching me two new things today!
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Sweet! Glad you got a fix too. 
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It seems like a terrible design to me. Never had any issue with it on my first generation Boone. Got a new Boone in 2019 and it basically slipped every ride (including CX nats). Right now I’m riding the new Boone with the old seatpost. The two posts look identical, any idea if there was a design change between 2014 and 2019?
I don’t know of anything in particular changing, but something sure could have.
You probably saw me mention it above, but using fiber grip between the cone contact surfaces of the caps and mast can help to prevent slipping.
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Yeah for sure. Last time I actually took it to my trek shop and had them do it. So much carbon paste. Seemingly no difference. I gotta get it back in to them.
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Dang, that’s disappointing. Sorry for the bad experience.
That clamp requires quite a lot of torque, seemingly too much, if I wasn’t using a torque wrench I’d be thinking “this thing is going to snap” about halfway through. I use white lithium grease between my cap and cups and never had it slip ever. I weigh 175lbs
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