The current Dean clamp assembly is their third version. The first version of their clamp brought the total weight of the 26.8 post to just 155 grams. The clamp was revised because, though well conceived, failed to hold under some of the more arduous landings. The second clamp used by Dean was made by Control Tech using the same two clamp pieces used in the Control post described above. The weight of a 27.2mm size of the second clamp type was 192 grams. The third version of the clamp assembly uses forged aluminum parts to make a micro adjusting clamp. The post is made of Titanium 3Al-2.5V tubing with a 1mm wall thickness for the mast. The vertical mast has the same diameter and wall thickness from the bottom to the top. The top of the vertical mast is cut for the forged head piece to be pressed and bonded into it. The head piece forms a saddle for the clamp pieces to rotate within. The upper surface has raised ridges which tighten against similar ridges on the bottom the lower clamp piece. The lower clamp forged of aluminum has 37.5mm of full saddle rail contact. The upper clamp piece lays over the lower with no interlocking points. The two clamp pieces are held in place by a clamp over the top of them. This upper saddle clamp has two 10mm diameter rods one on each side of the clamps. These rods are held by the upper saddle piece at their ends leaving the center exposed with a tapped hole for a bolt to cinch the upper saddle clamp down. The bolts that hold the upper saddle clamp down and therefore the clamp pieces, are held in place and rise upward from the head piece in the mast. The rods rotate making threading the bolt easier. The bolts are chrome plated steel with 6mm by 1mm thread pitch, have a 5mm hex fitting, are 30mm long and weigh 8.5 grams each. With clamp perpendicular to the tubing section, the center of rail to end of tube length is 376mm. The weight of a 26.8mm DEAN Titanium Mountain post is 242.5 grams. The Dean MTB Post is made in USA, using an imported clamp assembly and available in 26.8mm, 27.0mm, 27.2mm, and 28.6mm.
Size-68-70-72-86 $ Price in Catalog
DEAN also makes a short length version of their mountain post, for road racing riders. Everything about the post is the same except the length of the tubing section, which is a nominal 240mm. With the clamp perpendicular to the tubing section, the length at the center of rail to end of tube is 237mm. The weight of a 27.2mm Dean Titanium Road post is 239.5 grams, (the added 118mm of tubing in the mountain post, just over 4 1/2", really weighs only 3 grams). You would expect the Road to sell for less than the MTB post, but the material cost of the tubing is inexpensive, compared to the labor and other costs of making this post. The Dean Road Post is available in 26.8mm, 27.0mm, and 27.2mm.
Size-68-70-72 $ Price in Catalog
