KS – Kind Shocks was showing a couple of new seatposts at this year’s Sea Otter: the LEV and the Integra.
The Lev is air sprung and a cable operated hydraulic up/down post and has a cable access at the top of the seat post outer collar at the base of the seatpost shaft. This has the same advantage as the Crank Bros Kronolog in that when you adjust the post up and down, there’s no giant loop of outer cable flapping around as on systems where the cable mounts to the saddle clamp area. The LEV is much lighter than previous posts and will come and 30.9 and 31.6. There was a 27.2 post on the labels too, but not on show.
So that’s the LEV. There’s also a LEV Integra, which is for those bikes designed to have internally routed adjustable seatposts. Here the cable enters the post from below, up the seat tube, and does away with any external cabling once the outer cable enters the frame at the headtube. Scott and Trek currently offer this option, but expect to see more next year.
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I don’t suppose you’ve got any min & max insertion (which is a figure more required for dropper posts) figures for those posts? Can’t seem to find it anywhere.
Looks like a Star Wars Light Saber?
With the cable looking like it’s fully sealed, it looks like it’ll do away with one of the issues with their original post where crud builds up in the up-ended cable and jams the lever in the open position meaning the post just keeps going up and down…
Interested to see pricing and how it compares to the Reverb.
“top of the seat post outer collar at the base of the seatpost shaft ”
I have a bit of an idea from the pics, but any idea how much gap there is between the lower part of the post and where the cable is routed into the post? Any chance of a seatclamp collar (a normal fat one) will fit behind it? If not its looking like it might largely only fit frames that are ‘technically’ too small for you? And then limit saddle drop even more than the i900/i950/etc for when you want to drop the dropper in the frame
As above any info on dimensions; saddle rail to base of collar? saddle rail to base of post?
What drop length will they be offering? Just 125mm, or are they still doing 150mm as on a few i950’s?
a quick google suggests price of ~$400. 8) also 150mm coming.
damn, can’t edit! was meant to be a :wow!: at the price.
“This has the same advantage as the Crank Bros Kronolog”
AND THE BLOOMIN GRAVITY DROPPER which has been doing it the right way for a decade.
Seems that the remote will also replace an ODI lock-on clamp, should make less clutter on the bars.
@ the purist, the ODI replacing lock-on clamp was available on i900s and i950s since about when the i950 came out. It seems like a good idea, but because the lever is so far ‘extruded’ from the bar, I found I had to take my hand off the grip to use the remote. Position the remote a bit further in and I could use it with a slight hand shuffe/thumb ungrip to use it
The new posts are said to be available ‘right now’
where?
@james – that shows how much I’m keeping up with this up&downyness. Cheers for the info though, another reason not to spend 300 quid on one of these.
I’ve got to say, one thing they still haven’t sorted properly is the lever. None of them are particularly ergonomic if you consider where your thumb normally lies, under the grip. No matter how you mount most current levers, you have to move your hand in some way to actuate it. What we really need is an electronic actuator to tell the post to drop – now we’re talking 2013!
This –> The new posts are said to be available ‘right now’
where?
Not available anywhere I can find online that’s UK based. Just actionsports at the moment, which might be more problematic come warranty time (which seems like a higher likelihood with dropper posts).
When they say they’re available ‘right now’ that probably means they’re shipping them now, but it might be a while before distributors and then shops get them…
“None of them are particularly ergonomic if you consider where your thumb normally lies, under the grip”
I quite like my old KS i900 one under the bar, minimal hand suffling and relatively in the thumbs ‘domain’. Not perfect, especially given I broke 2. One in a crash, the other by trying to push it ..
Therein lies your problem! The lever is not meant to be used! fool….
😀