| If you are the type of mountain biker who likes different kinds of riding from the casual cross country rides to the thrill of downhill trails then you must be used to moving your seat up and down as the riding conditions change. Most people prefer their seat to be high up for uphill riding to get the most leverage and down low for downhill riding so it stays out of your way while leaning back or taking jumps. After all, having the seat at the right height can make all the difference in how you take on the trail. |
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If you ride areas where the terrain is constantly changing from uphill to downhill riding then you are most likely sick of getting off your bike to adjust your seat height. This is where an automatic seat post comes in to play. With this type of seat post you can adjust the height of the seat from a lever on the handlebars without having to stop or get off the bike. This comes in very handy for quick on the fly adjustments that you can do without losing momentum.
There are different types and brands for these types of seat posts so you have many to choose from. Many are hydraulic and require hydraulic fluid to make the function and others are mechanical and use air pressure like your shocks do to move up while using your weight to move the seat back down. Mechanical seat posts usually require less maintenance and in some cases can be more trouble free while hydraulic seat posts usually offer a wider range of seat heights.
Specialized has their own brand of seat post called the Command Post and it's a mechanical\air sprung seat post that offers 3 height positions. They include this seat post on many of their higher end bikes. It works by having a lever on the handlebars with a cable running back to the seat post allowing you to make height adjustments on the fly. To move the seat up simply take your weight off the seat and push down on the lever. You can use your weight to control how far the seat goes up. To put the seat down push the lever again while putting weight on the seat to bring it down to the desired level. It offers up to 125mm of drop depending on the model (the others are 100mm and 75mm) and weighs in at 543 grams.
Since its mechanical it only has the 3 settings which should be fine for most people. To fine tune the 3 different heights you need to adjust the post within the frame itself. For the most part the 3 different heights are nicely spaced apart and include all the way down, a mid (trail) lever setting and an all the way up (uphill) setting.
For the most part the seat post is pretty good but you just have to make sure you don't hit yourself where it counts when putting the seat up since it comes up with a good amount of speed. This can be adjusted with the air pressure in the post itself but if you have it too low then you will have problems getting it to work properly. Our test seat post lost a little air after a few months and had to be topped off which can be done with a standard shock pump. When it loses air it tends to not want to go up to the highest level without a little help from your hand lifting it up. Even with the proper air pressure getting it to go up to the top position can take a couple of pushes on the lever. This can probably be fine tuned with trying different air pressures or taking it apart to make sure it doesn't need any servicing but most people won't want to do this and we would think you shouldn't have to do any maintenance for long time.
The seat post does offer very quick height adjustments compared to hydraulic seats which take a little more time to change positions and since its fluid free there is no having to do fluid changes or bleeding lines like with hydraulic equipment. The post most likely will require maintenance at some point but it doesn't seem to be too complicated and you can watch videos on how to do so on the Specialized site or YouTube. To buy one for yourself will cost you around $275.
