Seatposts. You buy one, stick a saddle on and sit on it. Simple, right? Wrong.

Actually in a modern world where crazy things like electronic shifting and GPS bike computers have already happened, it was inevitable that even the humble seatpost would have an infusion of technology eventually.

These days seatposts come in all shapes and sizes with some designed to aid aerodynamics, others aiming to improve comfort and a few that, controversially, are still just cylindrical tubes designed to keep your saddle in the correct place.

But seriously, like most things in the bike world, choosing a new seatpost isn’t quite as easy as just picking the first one that comes to hand. There are a number of important things to think about, and we’ll run over each of them in this buyer’s guide.