Dropper post... What are my options?

Rushmore

Ok.. Looking at maybe getting a dropper post after seeing how easy they are to use after riding with someone who had one...

So what are my options / prices... pros and cons?

delcol

not that i am an expert i never used one, far to fancy for my liking..

but the rockshox reverb one seem to score the best reviews

one of my mates has a specialized comand post it's took some abuse but i know he did have a few issues with it-it was slow returning to the up positons but after a bleed it was fine..

now to open a can of worms and throw the cat into the pigeons.

the ks ones are or were poo they may have sorted out the issues now but i know back in 09 3 mates had them and ended up binning them as they had to much trouble with them..

same with the early crank brothers joplin one. but i sure the newer ones sorted out their issues..

my money would go on the rockshox reverb

b45her

get the gravity dropper, their the only type of adjustable post that isn't a pain in the arse , its ugly but its super reliable and needs almost no maintenence .

oodboo

+1 for the reverb, never owned one but just seems the best but I might be inclined to wait to see what comes of the crank brothers kronolog (but I don't like their remote).

1mancity2

you don't say what diameter seatpost your frame takes but,

I have a reverb and it's brilliant, easy to setup and use just watch the cable routing if on a full suss.

I've also had a joplin which was ok but the lack of a remote and having to take your hand of the bars to drop it was a pain sometimes.

Giant switch gets mixed reviews but its alot cheaper than a reverb.

benpinnick

b45her wrote:

get the gravity dropper, their the only type of adjustable post that isn't a pain in the ars* , its ugly but its super reliable and needs almost no maintenence .

My reverb has been totally PITA free. And it doesnt look like my grandad made it in his shed.

IBISMojoHDamon

Reverb, I've never tried anything else but having said that, the Reverb has been brilliant, does everything you ask of it other than pedal your bike for you.

If I was to get another one, I'd go for a right hand side handlebar mounted one and mount it on the left, upside down... For some reason, it's more awkward to push when it's on the left above the bar compared to my mates right mounted that's on the underside of the bar on the left. ;0)

lostboysaint

Reverb. Had a couple of the others, now got the best. Most reliable, smoothest, least play, wonderful piece of kit.

andymc06

I have only ever used a reverb. Faultless out of the box. It is a lot of money but if you look after it, it should last years. £200 over 4-5 years say, doesn't look bad value at all in my opinion.

Stevo_666

I've not had anything to compare to but the Joplin 4 that came as std on my bike works fine so far.

People seem to be divided on Reverbs. The bloke at the bike shop where I bought the bike said he'd seen quite a few returns due to problems - he wasn't trying to sell me another seatpost as the Joplin was OE on the bike. Also, seem to remember that Reverbs remote switch is positioned so that you bust it if you turn the bike upside down to do a bit of fettling?

benpinnick

The remote is a bit annoying positioned, but its perfect to use, so you just need to be carefull if you flip the bike over. Its prtty tough though, so I have some scratches but no damage worth noting.

sandy771

My reverb is excellent only had it for 2-3 months but it takes a hammering from my 17st weight on 2-3 rides per week and copes brilliantly.

Northwind

Reverb is fine as long as it works... Especially now they've fixed the issue with the hose unions. Overpriced and overcomplicated IMO but still good. And excellent support if they go wrong. Hydraulic operation is nice but a bit of a weakness in some ways-if you break a cable you'll be able to find a replacement anywhere, but not if you damage a hose or union.

KS i900 and i950 used to be rubbish, but they've mostly sorted that. Mine didn't work from new but was fixed under warranty and hasn't skipped a beat since- 2 years constant use all year round with just 1 service, no bother. Very good. Warranty service via Superstar was, well, rubbish tbh- they told me to service it to fix it, then when that didn't work told me I must have caused the problem when I serviced it (ie, my servicing travelled back in time), then they said they'd fixed it but sent it back still broken. But they did manage it on the 2nd attempt, after they stopped making things up.

Gravity Dropper- lighter, and the most reliable and the easiest to fix and service, and the easiest to get parts for. But incredibly ugly which seems to put people off. Available in 27.2 unlike most.

Crank Bros... I've done 2 rides on a Joplin 4 and it broke in the middle of both rides. I know a few folks with these and they've all had problems. Warranty backup has been good though. Nice when it works. The new one might be great- they've got unmatched experience in making bad dropper seatposts and fixing faults so the testing process should go well But you've got to be insane to buy a new design dropper post IMO, every one of the recent ones has done its beta testing with paying customers.

benpinnick

Northwind wrote:

Reverb is fine as long as it works... Especially now they've fixed the issue with the hose unions. Overpriced and overcomplicated IMO but still good. And excellent support if they go wrong. Hydraulic operation is nice but a bit of a weakness in some ways-if you break a cable you'll be able to find a replacement anywhere, but not if you damage a hose or union.

The hoses, strain reliefs, barbs etc. are easily had. £4 for the bit that joins to the seatpost (that most commonly fails as I understand it) £10 buys you all the hoses and connections. They even do the bits in white!

Northwind

Sure, you can order them easily but you can walk into any bike shop in the world and get a gear cable, and fit one in 2 minutes without needing a bleed kit or similiar. How many shops stock reverb parts when you want them in a hurry?

cat_with_no_tail

The Joplin I had worked well, apart from when it got incredibly filthy (and I do mean CAKED in mud) then it would sometimes refuse to click into place.

The Gravity dropper turbo I've been using on the old Edison has been superb. Worked straight out the box and hasn't put a single foot wrong since. It's also (to my knowledge) the lightest dropper post available. It's also available in "multi" option for those who want High/low and something inbetween.

The Reverb that's coming on my new Reed is something of an unknown for me. I'm willing to try it out, but it's going to have to be f**king good to be better than the GD though. First sign of having to cockabout to get it set up and it'll be on the classifieds.

ricardo_smooth

my reverb hasn't been on many rides yet, but Llandegla was filthy at the weekend and it caused no issues whatsoever, likewise with any other mud caked rides it has endured so far it's operated exactly the same in wet or dry

Northwind

Oh- Gravity Droppers, the multi drop isn't their best idea ever. It puts another massive hole in the inner seat tube, which unsurprisingly isn't as strong then as a tube without a massive hole in. It's not exactly weak, but I've only ever seen pics of a few broken GDs and every last one was a multi-drop snapped at the hole. I never used it anyway so I just went back to standard single-drop.