Other than oddly colored skinny jeans, roller bags, and goofy haircuts, the one thing that there's no shortage of at this year's Eurobike trade show is dropper posts. You can now add Eightpins to that list, but the Austrian company's product is unlike anything else on the market. The main difference lies in the fact that the post is integrated into the frame of a bike, as opposed to using the more typical double tube design. This design allowed Eightpins to use an oversized 33mm post diameter, and to offer up to 220mm of drop. A thru-axle runs through the seat tube and affixes the bottom portion of the unit in place, while a dust wiper occupies the portion where a seat post collar or quick release would normally sit.
Initially, the Eightpins post will only be available on Liteville bikes, but other companies have expressed interest in the design, and it may start appearing elsewhere as time goes on.
Height and Travel AdjustmentsThere will be four travel options, with either 150, 180, 200, of 220mm of drop. The maximum drop a rider can use will depend on their seattube length – since the post needs to go somewhere when the seat is in the fully lowered position, a post with 220mm of drop isn't likely to fit on a small frame.
With the Eightpins, adjusting your maximum saddle height isn't going to be quite as easy as opening up a quick release skewer, but then again, once it's set most riders probably won't need to fuss with their position too often. There's a 4mm hex bolt hidden under the seat clamp, and turning it counterclockwise frees the upper portion of the post. Once that's loosened up, simply move the post to the correct height and tighten the hex bolt back down again. That will now become the highest position the seat will reach. To achieve the maximum amount of drop, the seat post tube can be trimmed down with a saw or pipe cutter. The concept is a bit of a mind bender, but the key point to remember is that the seat height and the amount of drop can both be individually adjusted.
Activation
The post is cable actuated, and relies on mechanical internals that allow it to be stopped every 6mm as it's raised or lowered. When the small bar mounted thumb lever is depressed, an air spring raises the post upwards.
In the event of a hard crash, the Eightpins seatpost is equipped with an overload clutch that allows it to rotate slightly to minimize any damage. Once you and the bike are done tumbling, the seat can be returned to its original position by hand.
Eightpins were definitely thinking outside of the box with this design, and it'll be interesting to see if any other manufacturers decide to adopt the technology. Now that dropper posts are nearly mandatory equipment for any mountain bike, a design like this may be the next logical step
And this is where I might seem crazy, but @vernonfelton alluded to it. Why can't the big guys in the industry get together and come up with a solution a lot of consumers seem to have: dropper posts and seat tube sizes. We've had every seat tube measurement possible, but if you can't see that a 40mm seat tube would allow that much more room for a dropper post and it's internal mechanisms, I don't know what to say.
You f*cked around with half degree head tube changes every year, one degree seat tube angles every other year, 1 cog jumps in gearing every few years. GET IT THE f*ck TOGETHER!
An extended seat post is supposed to support a 100+ kg rider while the terrain beneath them, no matter how soft or supple the suspension, will still cause somebody's bum to bounce and jiggle around on their saddle, attached to a seat post with a stanchion diameter of what, 20mm? Less.
Are we going to see 30.9, 31.6, 33.33, 34.9, 38, 41.220840mm seat posts until you all discover that, wow, more room allows for larger, more reliable seat posts with greater surface areas to distribute these loads? Keyed internals would be easier, stanchions could be larger diameter, thinner walled.
I don't care wtf you do, but figure it out!
Sincerely,
A disgruntled, former mtb consumer
www.apsltd.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=stop+sleeve
There are tools that crimp the stoppers onto the wire. No soldering required.
With diferent size riders but mostly diferent frames.In diameter and anchorage with a thru-axle at the seat tube end.
The ideas are great and the inovation also.But is it a new seatpost who anyone can buy or is it a new Litleville with a new seatpost ?
OK ?Canondalle has Leftys ! Are leftys beeing sold as other forks ?
For now,(as they say to be honest)buying a Litleville with a Eightpins for those who have finish of robbing a bank is a great investment.
-XC hardtails ? Check !
-Cyclocross bikes ? Sorry ... that`s where they stash their motors Smile
for XC bikes, boom here we go, nice...
I'm with you. It would probably take half a day to get it just right. Seat post height changes with seat tilt, and you have to set the tilt first.
Maybe a seat with a taint cutout so you could adjust in place. A few of the best seats are already set up like this.
At the moment so long as diameter is the same any post is ok apart from potential drop heights, its not a proprietory mount.
The example of swapping front and back ends of frames is a poor one and you are deliberately missing the point. The cycling industry needs to talk to each other or it is only going to get worse.
Never going to happen, get over it and move with the times.