There's not really a great deal to a seatpost, but Ritchey's top of the line WCS post manages to bring a couple of neat features to the party. The swoopy profile is something of a Ritchey trademark, although in this case the post is made in two pieces. The shaft is 2014 aluminium, with a forged 7075 head bonded to the top. It's the usual 350mm long, which is ample for most applications. At 220g the WCS is one of the lightest aluminium posts out there.

The clamp is a little out of the ordinary, though. At first glance it looks like a regular micro-adjust head, but rather than one big bolt up the middle the WCS has a pair of smaller bolts, one each side. There are no serrations in the tilt adjuster, which means that they won't all get stripped and leave the saddle floating in the breeze. It does of course also mean that the tilt adjust relies solely on the clamping power of the two bolts but that seems to be more than ample. You can probably get the saddle to shift if you hit it hard enough, but if you're likely to be doing that sort of thing you're probably not in the market for a fleaweight seatpost.

The twin-bolt design lets Ritchey include a neat little buttress in the head forging for added stiffness. It's a layback design which you'll either appreciate or you won't. There's very little clamp up above the seat rails, so owners of extra-flexy saddles needn't fear about bottoming them out.

As well as all the common sizes (up to 31.6mm) the WCS is also available in a 30.9mm size to fit various Specialized bikes, should you be looking for a seatpost upgrade.

Reliable clamp, smooth lines, lightweight

Limited pose appeal, if you care

Verdict It's not an exotic bit of kit, but Ritchey's WCS post is about as light as you're going to get without going to carbon fibre. It's reassuringly solid, the no-fuss clamp works fine and the price isn't unreasonable for a high-end post.

PERFORMANCE

VALUE

OVERALL