On show at the Syntace/Liteville booth was the new Eightpins Dropper. Imagine you set a team of engineers on redesigning dropper posts from the ground up, without any of the flaws that sometimes plague existing designs.
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The 34.9mm seat tube standard they’ve based it around makes it so chunky, that it’s sort of like an alternate reality Soviet Russian dropper post. It’s entirely mechanical, apparently using a system of interlocking pins, but has infinite adjustment like most droppers. There will be four models available, with claimed weights ranging from 430g for the 150mm travel option, up to 550g for the whopping 220mm travel version. given the total size of the post and the internal mechanism, I expected those numbers to be higher!
Here it is. Photos don’t really do much justice to how burly the 34.9mm seat tube is. If I’d had a 50p on me, it’d have been in there.That bolt at the back? They’re calling it Postpin. It means no more seatclamps, and no more insecurity about whether your seat is perfectly aligned with your frame. You didn’t feel that before? Well, please try not to now I’ve put the seed of it in your mind.Due to pending patents, they’re being secretive about the mechanism right now, but were showing this much in cutaway. The lower part of the post bolts into place right down near the pivot or bottom bracket.The seatpost collars were shown in red or black, on Liteville 301 MK14 and 601 MK14 frames.Somewhere in there are the secret, not-quite-patented-yet gubbins.If you want to tailor the post height exactly, you can remove the upper tube using a 4mm allen key, then cut it down with a hacksaw.It has a two bolt seat clamp, and also a rotational clutch down inside the post. There was no rotational play handling it here, but apparently it will allow a little bit of saddle rotation in the event of a big impact.As well as a standard seatclamp, they’re developing a version with 23mm setback clamp to compensate for seat tubes moving forward on some current enduro bikes.This lower section is the part they’re saying very little about for now.As well as taking a hacksaw to the upper tube, you’ll be able to internally adjust the stop point. So, for instance, if you’re riding a lot of XC and don’t need to slam the saddle all the way down, you could limit the drop to a trail position an inch or two below full height.The Eightpins allows you to independently adjust max height and drop. Along with the four different length posts, they’re aiming for a range that can be precisely set up for any rider.Drive side attachment point for the lower mechanism.Perhaps in black?Available travel lengths will be 150mm, 180mm, 200mm, and 220mm.The only seatposts I’ve known feel more solid than this, aren’t droppers. As you might expect, the Eightpins will only be available OEM, at first on Liteville bikes.
Though this was shown on the Syntace/Liteville stand, the staff talking people through this post were distinct and seemed keen to stress Eightpins as a new brand. At first, it will only be available on Liteville 301 MK14 and 601 MK14 frames, from spring 2017. They wouldn’t talk about other OEM prospects. Find out more at www.eightpins.at.
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.
They put the pin *on the back*???
Designed without the flaws that plague other droppers, but you have to have a fairly unique frame with special clamp at the bottom bracket. Useful.
@allthegear One of them on the stand had it missing…
It was an unbelievably solid feeling post though.