One bend is enough, or a hilltop. And the saddle, which was comfortable a moment ago, turns into a ferocious beast. With a hundred strokes per minute, it spanks your arse on root carpets or pushes you over the handlebars on steep sections. Entire generations of tinkerers and engineers have laboured to get the problem under control. In theory, the solution was clear. The saddle had to move away from the rider on tricky off-road sections. The Hite Rite from Breeze and Angell marked the birth of the Tele seatpost in the 1980s. The simple steel spring, connected to the seat tube and seat post, snapped the lowered saddle back into the exact starting position after opening the quick release. The hydraulic Tele posts of the following decades allowed the saddle to rise and fall more elegantly, but turned out to be prone to failure. Slagging guides, slobbering oil seals. Tele supports are the number one cause for concern. But that should now be history.
"There's a better way," said the young engineer Lukas Eberlberger to himself and set about developing a carefree Tele support five years ago. After two years, he came up with the brilliant idea: a mechanical support integrated into the frame. With the patent in his pocket, Eberlberger finally approached Jo Klieber, whose company Syntace/Liteville was ideally placed to develop the seatpost to market maturity. It is now available. However, only in combination with a matching Liteville frame. The Eightpins, as it is called, is not simply a retractable seatpost. It is a sophisticated overall system. Unlike conventional seat posts, it is not clamped from the outside, but anchored inside the frame by a screw axle. A clever solution. This means that there is no need for a separate outer tube, while the sliding bushes are located directly in the frame in a thin-walled sleeve. This saves weight - depending on the version, between 100 and 250 grams compared to conventional supports.
The Eightpins also offers more stroke due to its design. Just flick and go, so to speak. Apart from the gas pressure spring, whose only task is to lift the saddle upwards, the post is completely mechanical. This means that the bike can be lifted by the saddle even when the post is lowered, which often leads to the collapse of the seals and air in the system with hydraulic dropper posts. With the Eightpins, eight (eponymous) detents ("pins") ensure secure fixation. The production of the internal gearing is highly complex. "We had to develop our own production techniques and tools," says Andreas Haimberger, Marketing Manager at Eightpins.
The concept sounds convincing all round. But at the moment it is reserved for Liteville riders only. From 2018, however, it has been announced that Eightpins will also be available to other manufacturers. It looks like the days of devilishly wild saddles are over. And the days of clattering, drooling dropper posts too.
PRACTICE IMPRINT
In trail use, the very smooth function of the integrated dropper post is immediately noticeable. If you press the remote lever, it lowers with minimal pressure from above. The first time you almost fall into the void. This is unusual at first, especially as the possible stroke is enormous. But soon you don't want to ride anything else. Thanks to a clever pre-tensioning mechanism, you can feel increased counter-pressure on the remote lever immediately before the detent elements open with a distinct "click". This small, tactile detail makes operation even more intuitive.
Remarkable for a fully mechanical system: the finger forces remain low even under full load. The internal mechanical locking mechanism works perfectly and holds the support securely in all positions, even when pulling upwards.
Lateral play? Not a thing. And because the seat tube is very rigid, the Eightpins runs silky smooth even with a large extension. In practice, the 6-millimetre increments in height adjustment due to the design feel like stepless lowering.
The Eightpins has an adjustable friction clutch at the bottom of the postpin anchorage so that the technology is not damaged in the event of an overload, such as a fall. If the saddle is twisted, it can be turned back into the correct position with a little force. The initial assembly requires a few more steps than the aftermarket competition due to the need to shorten the 480 mm seat tube, but the extra effort is worth it. In addition to the requirements for the frame, which the manufacturers have to take care of, the integration also has a disadvantage: once it has been cut to the correct length, the seating position can only be adjusted up or down by a few centimetres. In the worst case, you then have to buy a new seat tube.
Conclusion Chris Artmann, BIKE Tester:
"The Eightpins telescopic support is functionally top, visually unobtrusive and technically sophisticated. What more could you want? Even integration grouches like me start to wonder. Let's hope that many manufacturers jump on board from 2018."
FACTS
Name Eightpins dropper post
INFO www.eightpins.at
Weight 613 g (with all small parts, with 200 mm stroke and 450 mm long seat tube)
Price 588 euros (because integrated into the frame, not retrofittable or available separately)
PREREQUISITES (frame) A continuous straight seat tube with a diameter of 34.9 mm, postpin fitting in the seat tube.
(For 2017 still exclusively on Liteville bikes)
INTERVIEW WITH ANDREAS HAIMBERGER, MARKETING EIGHTPINS:
"In our eyes, classic telescopic seatposts have had their day. Integration in the seat tube has many advantages."
How did you come to the conclusion that a design integrated into the frame is better?
We have made many attempts with the classic double telescopic connection, but found the installation space too limited to fulfil all technical requirements. The idea of the seat tube clamp is over 100 years old, and in times of form-fit connections, this type of connection has become obsolete in our eyes. Especially when a second tube is mounted in it in a sliding manner.
The seat tube must be cut to the correct length for initial assembly. How does that work?
Our system is more similar to normal seat posts, where you also have to pay attention to the minimum insertion depth and the maximum length in order to achieve the maximum adjustment range. For initial assembly, we supply a template that indicates the correct insertion depth depending on the frame size. According to the template, the tube is sawn off like a steerer tube and the seatpost tube is reinstalled.
The Eightpins has more stroke than other props and can be lowered with less counter-pressure. Who benefits from this?
Especially for tall and short riders. Thanks to the integrated design, smaller riders can lower the saddle, while taller riders benefit from the longer stroke. Everyone has more freedom of movement on the bike. The low counter-pressure is due to our special design. This means you have to shift less weight on the trail, which means you use the lowering function much more often.
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