We’ve covered Ceetec’s latest chain guides and carbon bars & posts before, often finding them on a number of pro bikes on the World Cup XC circuit. But now we’ve had the chance to get even more up close with the small Swiss-made parts – especially the new SC C1 carbon seat clamp and the new machined alloy chain guides – and the craftsmanship & details are impressive…
Ceetec SC C1 ultralight, strong carbon seatpost clamp
The new SC C1 clamp from Ceetec is impressively lightweight at 7.4-8.6g, but what’s more notable is its fine detailing, the customizable solution for each rider, and the promise of more strength & support for your lightweight frame.
Many small carbon parts are often obviously hand-made, sometimes inconsistent in the materials, or heavily machined/sanded/post-processed. That’s not the case with the new Ceetec SC C1 clamps. These are straight out of the mold. No sanding, no machining, no extra finishing. You can even see the untouched tiny mold parting lines on the orange & blue clamp bands above, directly opposite the bolts. The layers of carbon are really consistent, something I like to see in an 8g pat that keeps my saddle from dropping.
Ceetec also offers a lot of small customization to fit your bike. The orange custom anodized alloy nut hardware isn’t available to the public, instead these were destined for the jb Brunex Felt team competing at the World Cups with Ceetec components. But red or black aluminum barrels, and black, silver & gold titanium bolt versions are available to consumers (plus some possibilities for more custom ano colors), and come in 31.8, 34.9 & 36.4mm clamping diameters to fit a number of frames.
More importantly the SC C1 clamps are available in two widths to fit a wider range of frames. The taller 16.8mm stack height version offers smoother, more consistent clamping over your sensitive carbon frame where there is enough room. If your clamp is cramped for space, the thinner bands of the 14.3mm high version still offer plenty of strength (up to 10Nm of bolt clamping), and is about 1g lighter overall. Retail for any of them is the same, a paltry CHF85/$86/73€ to shed a few grams.
Ceetec S2 / S3 Adjust chainguide
Looking back to the latest S2/S3 Adjust low direct mount chainguide we kind of made assumptions that this was just another fancy CNC-ed, but ultimately super expensive guide solution. Sure at CHF108/$110/93€ this thing isn’t cheap, but have a look at the details.
We don’t really know of another chainguide that has as refined a guide design. The direct mount clamp offers a bit of precisely machined adjustability, then the guide itself delivers even more. Two versions of the guide are available – a standard 1x ring guide (installed at right, above right) or a taller oval ring guide (uninstalled at left, above right). Both guides are 3D machined with more narrow spacing to the front to maximize chain retention, while more open to the back to prevent rubbing even with extreme chain angles.
Ceetec HDM 2.0 chainguide
The newest iteration of the Ceetec HDM 2.0 chainguide gets the same level of detail. Again the CHF88/$89/76€ high direct mount guide offers oval (above left) or standard round (above right) chainring compatibility with the same 3D machined, interchangeable guides. Then another titanium bolt mounts the guide to the keyed-in slot on the lightweight hanger (above bottom).
And once again the backside reveals the attention to detail. Precise machining removes every last bit of unnecessary material, while maintaining stiffening ribs where needed. The result is a robust chain retention setup that adds back just 19g after you already ditched the front derailleur. It’s the chain retention solution of choice for ex-world champ Sabine Spitz, ex-world champ Maja Włoszczowska, current world champ Jolanda Neff, as well as a number of other pros.
Ceetec, but aka Phenum
So the end of the story here is that in Germany there is another company related to cycling that sounds similar to Ceetec, although it really isn’t that close. In any case, that company made a claim that selling high-end cycling components under the Ceetec brand would be confusing. Without trying to get into a legal battle over a name, Ceetec has introduced a sister brand called Phenum just for the German market. All of the Swiss-made components and tech are the same – like this CHF348/$353/300€ C1 Evo2 carbon UD seatpost – just sold under another name to avoid legal complications.
