KS i950r Telescoping Seatpost Review

Adjustable height seatposts are very quickly becoming the norm for a lot of riders. There are certain types of terrain where a dropping post is not needed, but more and more riders are seeing the light and looking past the weight penalty to see the benefits of being able to get the seat out of the way on the fly. There will be a time very soon when many bikes will come stock with dropping posts straight off the showroom floor. Regardless of the make or model, a telescoping post can add safety and raise the flow factor to any ride. It's no secret that a lot of the telescoping posts on the market are finicky and leave something to be desired in the reliability department, which I find a bit strange because although the idea may be new to bicycles, the technology itself certainly isn't new. So with a few sour experiences in my past, I picked up the KS i950r to see how it would fare. I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did the i950r come stock with cable and housing for the remote, but also a booklet with detailed rebuild instructions. I'm not sure if it is because a lot of the industry is scared of consumers working on their own parts, but not enough companies include these things. Kudos to KS! Installation was a snap. The slotted cable stop combined with the aluminum cable anchor makes it quite easy to take up any initial cable slack from assembly. The two parallel seat rail clamp bolts are easy to deal with, even if it doesn't look like the more common in-line two bolt seatpost heads that we're used to seeing.

Inside the post you'll find a clever, one-way self adjusting bearing system that lets the post cycle up and down freely, but keeps it from rotating sideways. The design eliminates the need for a single or double key way layout that so many other posts depend on, even though key ways tend to be very susceptible to wear in my experience. The post's "stanchion" uses a double hard anodized coating that should keep it running smooth for a long time. The red anodized collar atop the post's body houses an effective seal, but is also used to control the KS's rebound via friction. Turning it clockwise applies more pressure and slows the post's return. Loosening the collar has the opposite effect.

The remote can take the place of an ODI lock-on collar, and some other brands as well, so it takes up very little bar space, but even more importantly it means that you don't have to try and squeeze it in around your shifter and lever clamps. The remote can be used on both the left and right sides of the bar as well. I needed to give the post a good bump to get it to lower at first as it was a bit stiff from not being used, but once it cycled up and down a few times it moved much freer. Also, care is needed to not over tighten the remote's lever clamp. Doing so kept the lever pivot from rotating freely.

With 5" of drop and the ability to have it stop at any point in its travel without having to search for a particular stop, the KS is very easy to use. Roll up to a technical section and give the lever a push, it doesn't take an excessive amount of cable pull to activate, and your body weight drops the post to whatever height you'd like it to be at. Fast and smooth trails can benefit from a seat that is only dropped an inch or so in order to lower your center of gravity, or maybe you'll feel more comfortable on that short but mega technical climb with the seat dropped 2" - the ability to select any height was greatly appreciated. The KS post had basically zero side to side play when new, a millimeter or two at most, and 10 months later it has not increased in the slightest. The dual bolt head has remained creak free and the rail clamping bolts have not loosened over time. The post's head threads on to the stanchion and I did manage to knock it loose once, although this was solved by using the seat for leverage and turning it clockwise an 1/8th of a turn to snug it back up. Like any cable operated system, whether it's your shifting, brakes, or a seatpost, it will only function properly if the cable can move freely through the housing. If there is any binding, be it caused by contamination or damage, the post will suffer. Hard to fault the post itself for this. Cable replacement aside, the KS post is still working great after nearly a full year of hard use, much of it bad weather, and close to zero maintenance. The KS i950r has a lot of redeeming qualities, but it isn't perfect. The first issue arose during installation, which was KS's choice to use a very small sized Allen key to anchor the housing cap at the post's head. I know space is tight and smaller is lighter, but its size borders on being ridiculous and will be prone to stripping out, especially by home mechanics who's Allen keys may not be in pristine condition. The other point of contention is the fact that you must use a 4 mm (the stop only accepts 4 mm housing caps) metal housing cap for said setscrew to properly hold it in place... yet the KS post only comes with standard plastic housing ends. Within a few rides the plastic cap had worked its way loose, never to be clamped tightly again. Once I replaced it with a metal housing cap, which can be quite hard to source in the needed 4 mm size, all was well again. It should also be noted that if the post sits unused for a few days it can become quite stiff until it is run through its travel a few times. There are some issues that could be addressed to make the Kind Shock seatpost even better, just as with any product. What it did do was prove itself to be a reliable and, foibles aside, well functioning telescoping post, which is far more than I can say for some of the competition out there. There are some interesting options becoming available, including the new RockShox Reverb and the new Fox post that is in the early stage of prototyping, but the KS is king of the current crop of telescoping posts and a very good investment for any rider who is looking to add some flow to their rides.