Building on the stellar reviews and difficult-to-keep-up-with aftermarket and OE demand for its Lev dropper, Taiwanese supplier KS Suspension is set to bring to market an expanded line of the seatposts at a host of price points.
KS showed its upcoming Lev Carbon earlier this year at Sea Otter but came to Eurobike Demo Day on Tuesday with a nearly finalized production design, including a more refined collet seal around the slider. Aimed at the cross-country and cyclocross race crowd with 65 millimeters of maximum drop, the lightweight Lev Carbon should be available around the middle of the 2014 season, said KS's Rick Taylor. Pricing has not been set.
The original Lev, meanwhile, goes both up market and down with two new designs. The higher-end Lev get a carbon seat clamp with a ti bolt, a sleeker lever attachment with carbon trigger, and a new proprietary cable setup—dubbed KS Recourse—that saves 50 grams over a typical steel cable and housing. Final pricing is yet to be determined, but Taylor estimates it will come in about 15 percent higher than the preceding Lev, which retails around $400.
The Lev DX is the new price point model, with an alloy seat clamp and bolt, heavier lever attachment and polycarbonate lever, rather than carbon. Taylor estimates pricing at about 15 percent lower than the current Lev.
Weight difference between the two models, excluding levers, is about 60 grams.
On the OE side of its business, KS has expanded spec with Cannondale for 2014 and can be found on several bikes in GT's new Force and Sensor trail lines. Other OE customers include Pivot and Scott.
