Kinekt 2.1 Aluminium Suspension Seatpost

The Kinekt 2.1 Aluminium Seatpost is a spring-loaded suspension seatpost that makes a welcome addition for your gravel or adventure bike. It takes a bit of playing about with to get it set up, but once done it is effective – as long as you don't mind the weight increase.

I've watched the whole gravel thing with amazement over the last few years, and though I might have been in the 'aren't they just glorified cyclo-cross bikes with a good dose of clever marketing?' camp initially, after riding a variety of manufacturers' takes on the whole thing I've learnt to love the bikes.

I like things as they are now, though: tyre clearances roomy enough for plenty of grip and comfort, while maintaining that buzz of a rigid frame and fork. I don't want to see suspension forks on this type of bike – I'm happy for my wrists and knees to do the work. If you're going long distance, though, or your pain threshold is diminishing with age, then a little bit of help is acceptable...

The Kinekt 2.1 suspension seatpost uses two springs and a parallelogram style design, which gives about 35mm of vertical travel, but what I really like about it is that it's hugely adjustable.

First off, in the box you get a range of springs with differing damping rates to reflect your weight. From there you can adjust the pre-load of the spring so you can control the start level of the compression when you are sat on the saddle.

Swapping the springs over is a relatively simple affair, as is tweaking the pre-load – all you'll need are some hex keys.

I like a firm ride on whatever bike I'm riding, and with the pre-load set to 0 or 1 I found things a little too springy. I don't want to be bobbing around as if I have a slow puncture in the rear tyre.

With a bit of trial and error I found that level 3 gave me the best sort of feel. I'd carry on riding as normal, taking my weight mostly off the saddle for the big hits, while the post would take out the lower level stuff from small undulations, giving huge dividends over long rides.

Having a lot of movement in the post allows you to whack potholes or clout tree roots, but you need to remember that you aren't on a full-susser here. Just because you aren't feeling the whacks doesn't mean your frame and the rear wheel aren't taking some abuse.

The Kinekt post gives around 12mm of set back and that isn't affected when the saddle moves up and down. Once you've set the post height to allow for a bit of sag it's pretty much fit and forget.

Kinekt offers the 2.1 in a range of options: diameters of 25.4, 27.2, 30.9 and 31.6mm, and a choice of two lengths, 350mm and 420mm. There is also a carbon fibre option in 27.2mm and 330mm or 380mm lengths.

Weight is obviously a factor compared to a standard post. This 27.2mm x 420mm is 614g! That said, the bikes I used it on would all get away with the shorter 350mm, which according to the Kinekt charts would save 38g, so around 532g. That's not bad for a suspension post. The Cane Creek ST G4 post is 545g (£169.99) and the Redshift ShockStop is also 545g and costs £229.99, a tenner less than the Kinetic.

The Redshift offers the same amount of travel, and when it comes to value and craftsmanship the two are very similar. The Cane Creek uses an elastomer rather than a spring, but you get 50mm of travel and a huge weight limit of 150kg. The Redshift's limit is 110kg, while the Kinekt is available with springs for weights up to 145kg.

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As you can see from all of this, the Kinekt 2.1 is competitive in terms of weight and performance. If you are happy with the weight increase over a standard post and want some more comfort then I'd say go for it. It works well and I like how adjustable it is – tiny tweaks on the pre-load bolt make for noticeable differences. It's at the pricier end of the scale, but at the end of a gravel epic, it'll be worth the investment.

Verdict

Offers a decent amount of travel and highly adjustable, but it ain't cheap