RASE Components, LLC Launches The Mamba Rapid Adjust Seatpost

 the correct terminology is spaghettifacation

 I never usually post anything but this is just insane. 379 dollars for that. With what looks like a generic brake lever from Taiwan and an even simpler single bolt post clamp head. No air, no oil seals, no hydraulics. And yet its $379. $18 for a boot to cover the post. I thought for a minute that this might have been a product because it looked like it might cost 20 dollars. Even though an extra brake lever is ridiculous. I'm going to say this to the person behind RASE. It's immoral to be fooling people into buying that. May god have mercy that person's soul. He'll need it when he goes straight to hell.

 "The Rapid Adjust Seatpost is designed only for bicycle frames with a seat angle that is 71degrees or greater. The Rapid Adjust Seatpost should therefore, not be used with bicycle frames that have less then a 71 degree seat tube angle."

Straight off their website.

 Good idea but, the lever is a little big. A small lever like what Manitou uses on there nixon would be ideal. All-in-all, if a couple adjustments were made, I would by it so I could ajust "on the fly"... not for 400 bucks though... maybe 120 tops...180 if it were voice-activated. But again, with such a small diameter, It looks anorexic/sick (not in a good way- sick.) -Cory

 And another thing. Adjustable seat height posts are a brilliant idea for the right spectrum of riding. It's products like these with crazy prices and ridiculous features like that dumb brake lever that will discourage people from embracing other good and sane innovations in a similar area.

 seriously thats ridiculus. no need really. unless ur like 7ft tall. GRAVITY DROPPER IS STILL WAY BETTER!!!!!

 We thought we should answer a few quick questions. We are mainly Cross Country, All Mountain and Freeriders here at RASE Components. We designed our seatpost to give the most control going downhill, with the seat being able to fully lower. The seatpost is then able to instantly raise up to a persons exact, preset maximum height, for gaining the greatest power from the bike. XC, All mountain and Freeride bikes are all generally between 72 degrees and 74 degrees we have found. We have tested our seatpost extensively on these types of bikes. Bikes made specially for downhill are the only frames that have a seat tube angle less then 71 degrees and we simply have not yet tested the product on such downhill specific frames. Most of these frames do not even accept a full 400mm long post. Have a good time on the trail, RASER RASE Components

 Thanks for all the good questions, we put together a few more answers-

Design and Development
Our definition of Mountain Biking is riding on trails that have a variety of challenging descents from urban park stairs to giant rock formations like at Moab or faster downhill shoots. Getting from one decline to the next, we appreciate a nice winding trail or even getting some exercise going uphill.

Basically, we are All Mountain riders. We ride whatever a trail throws at us from cross country to downhill.

We wanted a seatpost that would give us the most control , and keep us from getting bucked of the bike through the fun technical stuff or caching a bit of air. We also wanted a seatpost that would instantly rise up to our exact, individual seat height when we wanted total efficiency.

We also wanted the post to instantly stop anywhere in the middle of the post for various mixed terrain.


Our Design Brief started as what we had to have from a MTB seatpost with
no compromise.

1. Our Rapid Adjust Seatpost had to fully lower for uncompromised
control of the bike.

2. The new seatpost had to rise up to a personally pre-adjustable
maximum seat height, where the most efficiency is attained.

3. The post had to be highly durable and have a superior locking
system, that would stop immediately whenever the actuating lever was
released.

4. The entire post had to be extremely dirt proof , as people may take
off any cover that may be offered and this is a dirt filled
environment.

5. The lever for actuation had to keep the riders hand locked onto the
handlebars, not get in the way of other shifter/brake operations,
and work well with our burley locking system.

6. The post had to remain relatively lightweight, registering in at 635
grams for the 27.2 post size.

7. Cost was actually our very last concern, as we were determined to
make a Rapid Adjust Seatpost that had what we thought all mountain
bikers really wanted.


We placed locking positions less then every half inch along the post
for a total of 20 optional locking positions., to insure immediate engagement with the locking system.

The locking pin is a bit longer then needed to ensure a positive connection. The spring behind the locking pin is the strongest we could find to further create a solid locking system.


Our post lifting system is a special, extension spring hammock type. Our post starts out as a solid bar of 7075 Al. A special gun-drilling process forms a hole that spans the entire back section of the seatpost. Our custom formed extension spring is connected at the top of this gun-drilled hole, goes around a pulley that is located at the bottom of the post and then comes up to attach onto the sleeve section.

Our cable is also built integrally with the locking pin to ensure operation out on the trail.

All the main pieces of the Rapid Adjust Seatpost begin as solid blocks of 7075 Al that has to be machined to make each form.

All of these product details are required to make a seatpost that does exactly what we want it to, even though this does make it a bit more expensive to produce.


Our lever
Thumb shifters had been used as gear shifters on earlier mountain bikes but as many riders took miserable crashes from loosing the handlebars while lifting their thumb up to shift over bumpy terrain, people decided to create a different system for gear shifting on a mountain bike. Under trigger shifter were developed and have become the norm , as they keep the riders thumb locked under the grip.

We did not want people to loose their grip and crash while actuating our seatpost, so we were not going to use any thumb type shifter that required the rider to bring their thumb up from under the grip.

To go with our strong locking system we needed a lever that had a good amount of leverage and also could travel a bit, to fully extract our oversized locking pin. We studied numerous lever designs of all sorts and the lever design that we choose to go with has everything that we were looking for.
Our present lever is strong enough to pull against our mighty locking spring.
Our activation lever also has enough pull to fully extract our burley locking pin and has a hinged bar clamp for easy installation.

Our lever works great. Sitting in from all the other levers and triggers, our activation lever does not get in the way. With the main braking lever pointed more downward at a 45 degree angle, the RASE activation lever gets a space extending straight off the handlebars, where it is perfectly reachable with one finger.

We think our present activation lever looks good and works great but we are coming out with a very nice and fully trimmed lever as well.

Bottom Line
We created the Rapid Adjust Seatpost to make Mountain Biking more entertaining, so a rider can catch air off of rocks rather then worry about flipping over one.

Have a good time on the trail,

RASER
RASE Components

 Thank you for more good questions-

We have not managed to damage any of our posts, even with 230 pound riders
riding it seated, over rocks. The main point of our seatpost is that you can quickly lower your seatpost, over rough terrain, so that you don't get slamed by it.

We all had basic seatposts, but between always stopping to change our seat height and occasionally crashing- we made this one.

We will change our lever picture to a better one, that will show how the lever is out of the way, yet fully accessible, and also causes the least possible "spaghettifacation".

We appreciate your questions,

RASER
RASE Components

 Hi, I got one! I should have got one much earlier but it wasn't invented at that time!!
Check also: www.mtbr.com/cat/controls/seatpost/rase/black-mamba-rapid-adjust/PRD_419448_141crx.aspx AND reviews.mtbr.com/blog/rase-components-llc-launches-the-black-mamba-rapid-adjust-seatpost
Regards from Luxembourg/Europe

 nice idea, but fitted to a cockpitof an xc/am bike where is the room amongst all the shitfers, brakes, lockouts and now this, its just gonna be spagehtti junction of cables.

 I am looking at this a second time, and I have to say I want one. This would definitely save me some time and keep me in the saddle w/o havin' to get off and on to lower and raise all the time. I still wish the lever was a little less of an eye-sore. Raser talk to your design team and think about changin' it to something like Manitou used on there Nixon... you know? Not only would it be a better design, I think more people would warm up to the post more eventually.

 Hey I think its a good idea to put lots of travel on it. But your website at rasecomponents.com its terrible.
- need moreclose ups of the raising mechanism.
- more close ups of the clamp
- pictures of itactually workingon a bike.
- willit work with a shim? to work ona scott ransom?
- if parts are broken whatabout replacement parts? (your website pageis blank)
- your faq page is blank....

If Imgong to spend thatsort of money I need to know that the seat post is not going tobe discontinued after you get tired of the idea... so I will be able toreplace parts etc....

also if someone emails your site yous hould reply.

 looks ok, but if monstercruiser is right about the $379 price tag, then you can forget it! Better off with a maverick speedball or crank bros joplin. Although i hay hold judgment until I see one....

 where the hell are you gonna put that lever when you already have 2 ever amnd shifters?

 You can't be serious... a third brake lever? Where the hell is it supposed to go?

 That looks like a really cheap post and an even cheaper brake lever! Quality?!

 Finally, a post that moves enough to make it worth it. Now I'm just waiting for a cleaned up 2nd gen model.

 POS