2018 Philly Bike Expo – Thomson

Thomson is a brand known for making high quality, strong, no-nonsense cockpit components. Based in Georgia, a large majority of their products are made in the US at the Macon facility. We had a chance to catch up with Product Manager Mike Christensen to talk more about the Cerakote finished products they have on offer, along with a few other new items.

If you missed our preview article for the show, Thomson has added the Cerakote finish to their polished silver and black offerings on select stems, seat posts and seat collars. The thin film polymer-ceramic coating is used in many military applications and creates an extremely durable finish. It is much stronger than traditional anodizing, making it more scratch resistant and protects from corrosion. The new finish should help keep your parts looking new for much longer from the rigors of riding, or even burrs inside your frame that can scratch up your seat post.

The first color to launch is their Jungle color, which is more of a faded green color. Christensen didn’t mention future colors, but my guess would be a tan, or maybe a grey. We’ll keep you updated as we hear more.

Here are the items that are currently available in Cerakote from their website:

Elite Seat Post – $124.95 – 27.2 mm diameter, Straight, 330 mm length – Forged clamp, integrally machined head, and an elliptically extruded 7000 series aluminum body, tilt adjustment from +5 to -29 degrees, made in the USA.

Collar – $39.95 – 29.8mm diameter, 7000 series aluminum – Consistent clamping force using the Thomson Seatpost bolt, washer, and barrel nut combination, made in the USA.

Elite X2 Stem – $124.95 -10 degrees, 90/100/110mm lengths – 2-bolt interlocking handlebar clamp, which is more road focused, lighter and more narrow than the X4, 36mm stack height, made in the USA.

Elite X4 Stem – $124.95 -10 degrees in 80/100/110mm or 0 degree in 70/100/110 lengths with 1 1/8 steerer – 4-bolt clamp design to prevent bar slip in more demanding conditions, strong enough for downhill and enduro, light enough for cross country and cyclocross, made from one piece of solid 7000 series aluminum extruded billet and machined down to remove excess material to remain light and strong, made in the USA.

Matching Cerakote bars can potentially follow, but the details are still being worked out. We don’t have official weights, but the Cerakote finish weight penalty would be negligible if any. The durability would more than make up the potential few grams difference for an entire cockpit.

Though he didn’t have them with, Thomson recently added 35mm stems and flat bars to their line up. The Elite 35mm aluminum bars are available in 10, 20, and 35mm rises, 800mm length, 9 degrees upsweep and 5 degrees backsweep. The 7050 aluminum bars are butted and tapered in many places to offer the best fatigue life available. The Elite 35 X4 aluminum stem is available in 32, 40, or 50mm lengths, and uses their 4-bolt design for the bar clamp. The combination offers precision steering and durability, allowing you to make the most of today’s stiffer bars and forks.

We also were checking out the 27.2mm dropper seat post on hand, which should see an internally routed version coming soon. Currently, only available in a 125mm externally routed cable dropper for 27.2mm, we’d love to see the skinny Covert be offered in a 100mm or less drop for gravel or even cyclocross. Current lever offers only come in a 34.5mm clamp size, which would need some rubber shims for a 31.8mm bar, but you can always hack a DoubleTap or STI lever if you are running a 1x set up.

Christenson mentioned there are many projects in the works, so more to come in the future. We’ll have some Thomson items coming in for a road/gravel/cross project we are working on, and will have reviews following.

http://www.bikethomson.com