Ultimate Sports Engineering (U.S.E.) had quite a lot of new stuff on their stand at Eurobike 2017, including updates to their entire lighting range. Most notably though, they’re showing their own dropper post, which has an entirely new design.
Here it is, the Helix dropper post. U.S.E. branded, UK made, and entirely mechanical. There’s no oil inside that post. It works on air pressure alone, and the internals are patent pending.(Bike journalism fact time: seatposts are one of the hardest things to photograph. They’re long, thin and don’t really fit well into any conventional image aspect ratio).The posts at the show were fully functional prototypes, but with a few very obvious proto-bits on them, such as this 3D printed cable junction. U.S.E. now have three 3D printers in house for prototyping work.They’ll come with their own U.S.E. designed remote lever too, but the one on display was paired with a Wolftooth remote for now – nice to know they’ll be compatible.They asked us not to photograph it due to the finish (at present brass and chrome) being so far from the final (black anodised) design, but the air valve is at the back just under the seat. Return speed is set by air pressure, with the min and max not finalised yet, but this demo post was running around 50PSI and returning with a speed comparable to most dropper posts.The innards are an entirely new design from U.S.E., and patent pending, so they were slightly vague on showing or explaining them, but basically a brake acts on a central helix until the cable at the bottom of the post is pulled.
They went through a host of different prototypes, including coil spring and oil filled posts, but settled on this new design as something mechanically simpler, that would be easy for people to service at home themselves, and that would also allow them to more easily make smaller diameter posts without having to redesign or respec many components.
Many details including prices and weights, and exact dates are still TBC, but the Helix will come in 31.6mm, 30.9mm and later on 27.2mm, with drops of 125mm and 165mm. Expect to see it debut during 2018.
As well as the post, they were showing a range of handlebars, newest of which is……the Boom Carbon. 800mm wide, 35mm stem standard, 5º upsweep and 7.5º backsweep. Apparently the first prototype had a 9º backsweep, but riders found the 7.5º way more comfortable at an 800mm width.Scott Beaumont has been testing these out in 4X racing. Weight is 220g uncut, and as well as mm, they’ve helpfully printed how many grams you’ll shed by cutting the bar down.As well as their signature black, the Exposure Joystick will be coming in limited edition purple, blue and red, but there are only going to be three hundred of each.The Axis is an apparently often overlooked light, as people tend to look at either the Joystick, or do that then talk themselves all the way up to the more powerful Diablo. In terms of brightness, the 2018 version sits between them at a maximum of 1150 lumens (Diablo: 1500, Joystick: 1000).
One of the biggest changes among Exposure’s 2018 lights is that the Equinox is dead, and will be replaced by one of the new model Diablos.
This is the standard model Diablo, which will be available as a single unit, or with the external battery shown here.
Apologies for the phone camera shot of the brochure below, but these were one of the things not quite ready in time for Eurobike. As part of their 2018 range, some Exposure lights will get a Sync edition, which means as well as all the existing features of their range, they’ll have bluetooth connectivity too and you’ll be able to reprogram them with your smartphone. As well as that, Sync lights will be denoted by a graphite grey anodised finish.
In the case of the Diablo, the Diablo Sync entirely replaces the Equinox in Exposure’s 2018 lineup. As well as this, the Six Pack Mk8 and MaXx-D Mk10 will both have Sync versions too.The standard Diablo and Axis lights have Tap Technology, which means instead of fiddling around with the button at the back, you can tap them with a finger, or even tap your helmet depending on sensitivity, to change what mode they’re in.Not only does LED technology get better each year, but Exposure also tweak the design programming they do for their lights, eking out more brightness and power than before. This means every light in their 2018 range is brighter than their 2017 equivalents. For instance, their very first Joystick put out just 200 lumens, the 2017 version 900, and the 2018 Mk12 puts out 1000.The refined programming also improves on the Reflex automatic brightness settings they included in recent years, meaning it now responds faster to trail conditions (meaning if you’re riding something rough, accelerometers tell it to get brighter), but fades up and down with a gentler gradient.
The Sync lights are so new that the photos in their catalogue haven’t made it onto the web yet, but Exposure have full details of their lighting range, complete with RRPs, on their website (the U.S.E. dropper post is still very TBC though).
One more thing; it’s not new, they’ve been making them for years, but a lot of people familiar with Exposure lights don’t seem to know about it, and they still get incredulous customers and journalists saying “I’ve never seen that before!”
This tiny LED light is the Red Eye Micro, and is small enough to easily stash anywhere…… pop it in the charging socket on your helmet light…… and hey presto! Emergency rear light running off your headlamp. Being a single 5mm LED, it’s not the brightest, but does make you road legal and might save you in a pinch.
David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly.
Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.
Someone making a 27.2 dropper post? Hooray! Oh, no, of course, I’m not thinking am I? – it’ll be internal routing only, so still no dropper for my (still perfectly functional) Pipedream, sad face…
Been using them for years, and the red-eye micro is VERY bright, just rather directional. It’s far brighter than the typical £20 Lezyne/Cateye etc rear lights ime.
Someone making a 27.2 dropper post? Hooray! Oh, no, of course, I’m not thinking am I? – it’ll be internal routing only, so still no dropper for my (still perfectly functional) Pipedream, sad face…
blast, hadn’t spotted it was internal cabling
That red-eye micro!
Thomson Elite dropper (non stealth version) in 27.2 no good?
I know that ReMote 🙂
Looking forward to more details on the Helix, too.
Been using them for years, and the red-eye micro is VERY bright, just rather directional. It’s far brighter than the typical £20 Lezyne/Cateye etc rear lights ime.
I have a red eye, useful and easily stashable.