not seen one yet that doesnt have its downsides.

Can live with a bit of side to side play over it snapping in half mid ride.

Its for the missus` bike shes a serial saddle dropper. (and i blame you jojo for this…..)

cranks brothers one seems nicest (as long as its 30.9 or 31.6).
and back up/support will be best from them

I’ve been running a Pure (non-remote) version for a few months now and am very happy with it indeed. Everyone who was riding with me at CYB and Penmachno the other day decided they wanted one! Funnily enough, the girls were keenest on the idea!

yeah the cb back up does seem the best …

unfortunantly i guess im limited by the fact she needs 27.2 for her scott 🙁 maybe its new frame time 😀 I did save her 500 odd quid by getting her drop bars and shifters for her road bike for 45 quid instead of letting her buy a new bike !

Sorreee! I got mine (a gravity dropper) secondhand (much cheapness) off the sales/wants section of our club forum, so have a trawl on e-bay. I like mine, it’s simple, fully self serviceable and the minor side to side play is unnoticeable whilst riding. It was extremely useful for the Kielder Avalanche.

For Jayne, I reckon being able to easily drop her saddle will really improve her confidence and technique on tech stuff.

it will you are right jo …this is why im looking into it for her 😀

do gravity dropper have a uk disty ?

latest dirt has a bit of a review…not in depth, but up to date

Has her quick release broken terry? Save her 150 quid on a crappy office chair in a tube that’ll break and buy her a new one then!

These things are a complete and utter waste of time and money.

Oh, and if she must have one, not pooperstar for obvious reasons.

My Octopron was no good. Tried 2 and they had the same defect. Avoid.

Gravity dropper FTW… had mine for 3 years now and it hasn’t broken under my 95kg loaded weight, only servicing I’ve had to do is replace the cable.

these things are a complete and utter waste of time and money

What a load of tosh! It all depends on how and where you ride guv’ner 😀

These things are a complete and utter waste of time and money.

They’re not – its a fantastic thing to have – dropping the saddle easily and quickly makes the DH so much more fun. My KS i900 (same as the Pure one) is great but a little tempramental – sometimes goes down of it’s own accord.

Phew i saw the title and author of this thread and thought one was going on the plastic penetrator, that would be a crime!

luke ….id never willingly hand any money to octopron you know that !

her QR isnt broken but like me she hates stopping…..but where i can just ride the bike and get on with it. She is not quite so confident when it comes to tech stuff and likes to have the saddle out the way !

and must plastic bikes always get nicknames that make them sound like dildos …. dougals plastic prowler and my plastic penetrator(although i will admit that it felt like a penetrator on saturday after 10 hours!!! )

i900 Remote on test at the moment. Good quality and reliability so far and I liked the older non remote version too that was tested in the mag.

Hi Terry

You probably didn’t notice my Gravity dropper on Saturday when we passed, you had other things on your mind im sure! But it is fantastic, easily the best thing i have put on my bike in 20 years of mountain biking(after disc brakes). I never thought i would see the day that i would have one on my bike but now there is no going back. Made the descents on Saturday even faster and more fun 😆
Gravity Dropper are distributed by Riding high Uk

Gordymac

ED as much as i trust your honest reviews im not buying an i900 even if it is the best product of this type out there ….

Gravity Dropper.

Why, oh why, does anyone need to know anything else. They’re solid, they work, they don’t need cleaned after every ride, they come in a 27.2 size and the only maintenance they ever need is a wee clean and mibbe a new (standard gear) cable very couple of years.

Fair point well made Druidh 😉

Gravity dropper here too. They take a lot of faff out of rides for me. I seemed to be forever getting my seat to the correct height or straight with a QR. I’ve got a multi with added 1″ drop from max but my mate found that its just an extra hole in the tube that does this, so he made his regular GD into a multi too!

Its an ok bit of kit – its a bit of bling really. Its does what it says on the tin – the only real downside is they are quite expensive, heavy & I have seen them go wrong leaving the guy on really short post for 6hrs! He wasnt happy. Ive had one & wouldnt get one again..

It would be a dawdle to manually fix a GD into the “up” position.

Well as it happens when we did stop for the day it took over an hr to fix by a guy who knew his stuff (I mean really knew his stuff)..So not sure about a doddle actually.

Sorry… but your guy who “really knew his stuff” might not have known much about gravity droppers 😛

Love the GD I have. Bought it second hand, use it a lot (it really depends on the type of terrain you are riding in as to whether you will use it a lot). Had it on there for 2 years. It is possible to smack the pin assembly off the back of the post as it is just glued on. I had mine knocked loose and rode with a zip tie around it for a couple of months before I got around to gluing it back on. Still worked a treat with a zip tie, still works a treat now that the assembly is glued back on.

Has a small amount of play side to side if you grab the seat while you are off the bike, but you never notice it while on the bike.

I much prefer the mechanical GD to my mates with CBros and other air activated droppers. Almost all the air ones i have seen have had problems.

I have no doubt he knew his stuff..Ex-road & MTB racer, had his own bike shop, now runs multi-stage international MTB races..The version that I saw go was a good few yrs old & not the one currently on sale. The seal blew & the oil just sprayed everywhere – I dont know how you could fix something when it is no longer possible to retain pressure but he did. Perhaps you could enlighten me?

That aint a Gravity Dropper RepacK, the problem we have here is nomclementure. Gravity Dropper works by a mechanical spring and a pin through a hole. Cant blow a seal and lose pressure. Can be fixed by all sorts of methods by men as handy as the one you mention.

It would have been a Crank Brothers Joplin or something instead. Like I said in my post above all my mates with air activated adjustable seat posts have had problems. What I did not add is that all my mates with the mechanical Gravity Droppers (that is a brand name for a specific adjustable seat post) have had no problems at all (apart from me who managed to bash the pin assembly off the back and then fix it).

I would think that the post above by Druidh that mentions it would be a dawdle to manually fix a GD was referring specifically to Gravity Droppers. I have no idea how you would fix an air operated one once the seal was blown.

Oh and Gravity Dropper is one of the more sucessful original designs. That is why so many of them are referred to as “Gravity Droppers”.

Ah no worries fair enough – different bit of kit then. TBH it sounds like they have improved A LOT then! That can only be good news.

ED as much as i trust your honest reviews im not buying an i900 even if it is the best product of this type out there

You don’t have to buy them from Pure/SS – I got one much cheaper from xxcycle in france.

ah but if you buy it from france your warranty is with them and not the UK supplier and xxCycle dont reply to your emails.

As i found out, i got a bargain but its broken and i have no hope for a warranty. And its not the current version of the post, Avoid XXcycle robbing gits

Hmm that’s not good – I had an issue with mine and emailed them and got no reply. Seems to be working ok now though. I take it you have tried servicing it as in the instructions?

Edit: Also, mine is the same as the one Pure are selling – the i900 – there is an i950 too but Pure don’t seem to be selling it.

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

Just saw this thread. I have a remote GD on my old bike, a manual Crank Bros on the new bike. It doesn’t matter how I operate it, I like the effect of being able to lower the saddle. The Crank Bros can be stopped anywhere along the travel, while the GD only stops at each end.

The Crank Bros is a much cleaner design. The cable routing for the remote switch on the GD is bogus, and I have not had any trouble reaching under the seat to trigger the Crank Bros. Neither has ever failed me. Both have let me down, but only when I wanted them to.
______________________________________________________

Orwell was a f#@king optimist.

After seeing many of these on clients bikes (especially the French) the KS900 seems to be the most popular…none of the guys have reported problems.

The Crank bros are effing awful.lots of side to side play and ALL I have seen have had a problem

A couple of mateds and my DH guide (who is 85kg’s +++) has a GD and is going strong after 2 years…it just looks ugly.

Have you considered a KS 850? They are a bit heavier but they cost about £40!!

Oh!!

and the KS 850 is available in 27.2 dia

see herehttp://xxcycle.com/ksp-850,,en.php

Anyone heard much about this one? http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/rase-components-llc-launches-the-black-mamba-rapid-adjust-seatpost/

Nine inches of travel!

someone here has a black maba post

haven’t heard much for a while though – hope it’s OK (??)

To had to nasher’s post, the cheapo one need to be of the latest model.
Last year ones were just awfull, as to avoid play they were build with super tight bushing so it was a nightmare to get them down.

A spanish company call blackx seems to make some cheapish/reliable/ice ones. But I can’t find the website anymore.

Well, I’ve just ordered a K850…..
Will I still have my ghoolies by the end of the Passport Du Soleil…??!

Wasn’t ‘dirt cheap’, but will see how I get on with it, and then if i like ’em I’ll stick it on my HT SS, and get a better one (950 perhaps) for the meta?

Will review here early July…

DrP

I’m currently waiting for a Black Mamba to arrive (and have been for a while GRRR!), so we’ll see.

My choice is slightly limited by a) needing 27.2, b) as much layback as posible (gravity dropper has no layback). The Mamba has both and is fully mechanical into the bargain, although apparently it comes back up a bit quick…

I want mine for Mega duties, but depending on how I get on with it, it might get used elsewhere.

Gravity Dropper here. Ordered 2 in the last few months direct from GD in USA. $250 for the remote version and I got the multi drop type – 1 inch and 4 inches. First one cost £182 after exchange rate malarkey and 2nd one was £168 (better exchange rate), but then I got clobbered for £15 VAT and excise duty so it worked out about the same. Fortunately they mark the goods as $45 value. First one arrived in 7 days, 2nd one was about 2 weeks after they’d done the customs & excise thing. Both work excellently and I wouldn’t be without one now.

I’ve got the Crank Bro’s.
Have to lift it up manually, as the air pressure has gone. Does anyone know how to fix ’em? I have taken it completely apart, and still can’t get it to work properly.
Still wouldn’t ride without it though.
After-sales is non-existant as far as I can tell.