Kinesis UD Carbon Seat Post

Kinesis's UD Carbon seatpost is both competitively priced and a decent weight thanks to the carbon fibre shaft and alloy clamp. You get loads of adjustability as well.

Available in a single 350mm length and two diameters (27.2mm & 31.6mm) the UD Carbon should fit the majority of frames on the market. The main shaft is full carbon rather than an alloy wrapped one which along with the clamp weighs in at 242g (31.6mm) which is about right for a post of this size and price.

There are graduation marks on the rear for easy adjustment of height in 10mm steps for a total range of 90mm. It would have been nice to see slightly smaller steps though, maybe 5mm just to take the guess work out of it.

The main clamp assembly is found on quite a few seatpost designs. The forged alloy clamp uses a free moving bottom rail cradle to aid insertion of the saddle and a threaded thumb wheel to get the level right. The top clamp is tightened down by the rear allen key bolt once everything is positioned just so.

It's a very easy set up to use and adjust with tweaks to saddle angle taking a couple of minutes at the most.

All the fixings are stainless steel so seizure issues from using the post in the wet and dirt of winter shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The gloss finish on the post looks pretty smart over the natural finish and thanks to the diameter being within a couple of microns off the nominal 31.6mm there were no slippage issues.

As far comfort goes the Kinesis is noticeably more flexible than the alloy post it was being tested against though the larger diameter still keeps things pretty taut.

Overall the Kinesis UD Carbon post is a decent weight and cost without being overly flash or bringing anything ground breaking to the table. The clamp is a tried and tested formula that is easy to adjust and fit your saddle to.

Verdict

Nice looking, well finished post that's easy to adjust; could do with more graduation marks