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Dropper posts - discuss

19K views 157 replies 93 participants last post by  Fairfaxian 
#1 ·
Ok, people who are not riding. You need to help me with an article.

Have you used a dropper post? Do you use them on all bikes, some bikes, no bikes? Are you thinking about them? What's holding you back?

For those who have experience tell me what's good and what's not.

Factors:
- dropping action and lever action
- installation ease and cable routing
- appearance and weight
- seat clamp mechanism
- maintenance and reliability

Be honest but be accurate.

I made this video and am about to make more. I just got the 2 missing KS posts and so I should have most of them now.

 
#156 ·
Update. Received,installed, and rode:



Overview

SDG I-Beam and Kore T-Rail saddle compatible
Unlike the Classic, the Turbo does not require tapping the seat to raise it from the down-to-up position
Remote lever makes it easy to adjust saddle height without stopping
Standard model has two positions, fully dropped or fully extended
6-position model can be adjusted in 1" drop increments
40 grams lighter then the Original GravityDropper
model: I-Beam 6-position
travel/drop: 1"-5"
diameter: 30.9mm
length: 425mm
color: black

This is not a review. I will do a full review on this site after a good series of rides.

The only post like this I had used before was a Joplin. It worked okay for about 2 months, but I didn't like it even when it worked properly. Seeing as how the original 27.2 GravityDropper (GD) Turbo my wife has just keeps working, and she keeps liking, I sprung for the unit described above.

Upon delivery I discovered that the i-beam seat clamp and seat is taller than a traditional set-up. The seat tube on this GD I ordered was long too. I just figured I would be able to cut the seat-tube down to fit my interrupted seat-tube frame (for the shock pivot) and no problem. I was able to make it work, but just barely. Just barely. (I chopped off about 47mm.)

The saddle I ordered is a RaceFace Atlas I-beam. It's really light - only 156g! I must be a weight weenie because I ended up going with this to minimize the weight gain. I didn't weigh the set-up, but compared with the Ritchey Comp 400mm post and comfy Titec Cromo Hellbent saddle I was running the weight difference in the hand did not seem big.

Switching to i-beam on a leap of faith is nuts, maybe bad for the nuts too. The weight savings is substantial though. The Atlas saddle had a white topo map embossed on the black synthetic. In practice this material and texture provides amazing grip. I liked that. At first it felt like sitting on the two part of a 2x4, and I was scared. But after a solid 3 hour ride, I think I'll be able to go all day on it no problem. Hopefully I'm not kidding myself.

After the ride I went out to the store on my cross bike to get some groceries on a well broken in Brook B-17 saddle, and that didn't feel great at all. So...I don't know. Either my ass was ruined by the new saddle, or it's tolerable. This is not about the saddle though. Spending time on this here because the saddle is part of the seat-dropper system I got.

The seat clamp for the i-beam looks as though it was put on backward. This gets me thinking that maybe the one I bought is assembled wrong. However, I was able to just barely get it to fit me at the end of its adjustment. You see, the remote cable on these is supposed to come out of the back of the seat-post. The manual explicitly says that the post is weak(er) if you put the cable coming out the front.

Up until I read that, I was thinking I'd install it backwards. If I put it on backwards the i-beam seat clamp would make sense. In the end I put it on with the cable coming out the back with the seat rail clamp at the end of adjustment with the nose down, the rail resting on the clamp-track (pictures needed to make sense of this I fear). I file or saw off some of the clamp rail to get more downward adjustment. After riding today, I will probably not need to do this, as the ride was pretty comfortable.

The seat-post and thumb-lever worked flawlessly together. The package came with 2 stick-on cable guides. I dutifully installed them clean. Upon riding I discovered that the rearward guide on the top-tube side would hit my knee sometimes in a potentially bad way. I will change that later.

The ride was at Skeggs (aka El Corte de Madera OSP). The place is pretty mellow over-all, and practically nothing there anymore needs getting behind the saddle on a standard seat-post bike. Where I live, all the legal trails are mostly and overly sanitized. However, it's definitely a place where this technology falls into regular application by those who have it.

So I'm blown away that there are six positions on this post. You can subtract the top and bottom postion, which leaves four 1" increments in between, which is pretty cool. I only used the top 2 inches on the ride. The terrain didn't demand it. Plus I'm one of those curmudgeons who was riding behind the saddle at Skeggs when the riding was wild on old rigid bikes with cantilever brakes. Not having a post in the belly is a bit of a scary feel to get used to. I know I will adapt, in time.

I found the 1" drop easy to find and fun to play with. If the trail was a mild dh or level with some minor to moderate technicalities, the 1" drop was very pedal-able and more effective than the full extension.

As things got faster and steeper the 2 or 3" drop really came into play. It felt like the head angle got slacker. I'm not sure if the rear shock sagged more. Probably not, but it felt that way. Going over rocky knobs and various ledges at speed was easier as I did not have to shift my weight back as much with the regular seat-post.

These are my experiences so far.

I actually like the way the big rubber boot looks. Although, when the seat is slammed all the way down, it compresses in a non-symmetrical shape.

I was paranoid about the tube seizing in there and I greased the tube with copper colored anti-seize grease upon installation. Unfortunately, this was too slick, and the post could be twisted by hand. I need to rub most of this off before I ride again. It wasn't a real nuisance. The saddle stayed straight to my surprise.

The saddle ended up being fine. The rear is minimal so at first it felt like I would fall off the back off the saddle. The good part is that the nose is a good shape for riding on the rivet when climbing up the steep stuff.

Moving the seat up and down as you ride is another control skill to learn. It's fun though. In a way, the device may make you stronger because you'll end up pedaling in low positions and be forced to stand-up and sprint sometimes.
 
#157 ·
I had a Joplin on my Santa Cruz Blur LT a few years ago and I must admit that it was handy and convenient on the downhills, but when weighed against the annoying bolt that would never keep the seat snug and also the leakage issue that happened after just two runs at Northstar, I switched back to a regular seatpost. Now I ride old school style on the steeps and I was never a big jump guy anyway...
 
#158 ·
I have the new KS which works like a charm. Its on an Ibis Mojo. But not having much luck attaching fenders. The only place to attach is around the seatpost CLAMP, as the saddle comes flush to the clamp when post is dropped full distance. But the SKS fenders have a bend (both styles) and with the fender attached to the clamp, it contacts the tire when I get too much rear travel. Can't think of a better way to describe this. Anybody in a similar situation find a workable solution?
 
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