Because the consumer is obsessed with weight, not reliability. Because you can't quantify risk of failure holding a post in your hand at the store, but you can put a seat post on a scale, and the lightest one wins.
If you want the lightest possible component, you'll get it and the inherent compromises built into it. As for me, give me Nuovo Record seat posts or give me death! (Sometimes a real possibility.) (And now we should hear some stories of broken NR posts. ;-)) Forks, crankarms, BB spindles, pedals, seatposts, bars and stems should be robust versus svelte in the context of your usage. A break here often means a crash. There's a reason the AVA is known as the "death stem". Especially for us bigger folks, don't pursue ultra light weight here, and don't forget to inspect regularly.
Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ.
>From: Mark Poore
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: Re: [CR]off-topic(?) mystery bike
>Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 04:54:32 -0700 (PDT)
>
>It always raised the question to me, why can they make airplanes and such that are dependable, but when they design and make seatposts and the like there is a history of failure. Kind of scary.
>
>Mark Poore
>Slatyfork, WV
>
>
>
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