My Lev Integra has stopped working properly again, and is going back, again.

Too soon to say what the prognosis or solution is going to be, but supposing it’s time for a new one, is a Gravity Dropper still the bombproof choice?

I know they look shite, I don’t care about that. I also know the lever is fragile, but imagine I would use my southpaw. Only care about it going up and down and not breaking down. (To be fair, the Lev was faultless for six months).

I’ve got three of them, so I suppose I must like them. My only criticism is that I wish you could get a 125mm drop 27.2mm version. I can live with looking ugly – I just see it as functional.

At worst it would be the second ugliest thing on my bike so I don’t care. I need 31.6mm so plenty of choice I think.

Almost two years in on an X-Fusion, with the underseat lever and a year with a Reverb Stealth – no problems with either.

Out of a Reverb and a few different cheapo ones, my GD Turbo Multi is still my favourite and has had pretty much no love. I think it’s coming up on 4yrs old now.

While I like my X-Fusion Hilo still, if I were buying a new dropper tomorrow I would probably opt for the mechanical simplicity of a Gravity Dropper over the “infinite adjustment” of one that relys on oil and valves.

It’s started leaking recently I have just ordered a seal service kit (from Israel of all places?) for ~£25 and while it’s not a huge cost to further extend the life of a four year old dropper, compared to repairing a GD the job itself will be more mess and faff…

Wouldn’t touch a reverb, too many stories and the fact that it uses a hydraulic lever, just adds to the potential for failure IMO…

Another(ugly but I don’t care option) is the Satora Pro.
It’s remote, totally mechanical and in 27.2 so can be shimmed to what you want. I’ve got 2 of them and they are superb for the money, totally reliable. Can be had for £65 plus cost of genetic shim if needed.

Good luck with what ever you choose.

The satori pro seems to have gone up in price lately. Where can you get one for £65?

I’ve got as RSP Plummet, which is a rebadged Sartori Pro, in pieces in my garage. Unfortunately one piece has gone AWOL so it can’t be rebuilt. Just bought my wife a HiLo so glad to hear that that’s 50% ok 🙂

It’s not so much reliability as servicability, you can service a gravity dropper with a bog roll and a rock. But I think KS run them a close second- good backup now from Jungle, most parts are cheap, no Rockshox pisstaking or random unavailability.

Yeah, to be fair I can’t fault Stif/Jungle over this, they’ve been spot on and turnaround has been very quick. Hopefully they can get it sorted and running properly and then it’s academic.

nairnster – Member
The satori pro seems to have gone up in price lately. Where can you get one for £65?

Ah, apologies, was £76 including the 31.6 shim. Still a bargain to be honest. So little to go wrong. I have them actuated by my redundant (gone 1x 11) left gripshifter.

A trigger shifter will work too.

My GD is 7+ years old. Apart from a lube from time to time, and 1 new cable, I haven’t had any problems.

There’s a bit of play now, but I don’t notice it when riding.

I’d have another over anything else.

Only slight drawback is there isn’t a layback version.

Sounds like the way to go if a new choice becomes necessary then.

I have 3 gravity droppers, the oldest of which is now over 10 years old.

No issues whatsoever with any of them, the oldest has only been played with when I opened it up to see how it worked, the 2nd oldest has only been opened to have a new cable as the original was too short and the other hasn’t been touched.

Possibly the most reliable component on my bikes.

Its not just that they are more reliable (mine is over 7 years old) its that they are very simple and quick to service, with no special tools,

My KS is nicer to use, but it does need a bit more attention to keep it running smooth through winter and I can’t service the cartridge myself

Think of it this way…would you rather use hydraulic brakes with their ever so unreliable hydraulic levers, or cable mechanicals?

All the stories of reverbs i hear are about how reliable, maintenance free, smooth and durable they are.

THESE guys have a new dropper that looks bang on

Think of it this way…would you rather use hydraulic brakes with their ever so unreliable hydraulic levers, or cable mechanicals?

Its not the same thing, dropper posts are just binary, they go up or down, brakes you want much more control

GDs are great, reliable and super easy to service. However they are getting harder to find. I am looking for a 5′ 31.6 with no success even looking at the euro websites. My last service items cost pennies but I had to order them directly from GD in the US.

glasgowdan – Member

Think of it this way…would you rather use hydraulic brakes with their ever so unreliable hydraulic levers, or cable mechanicals?

As soon as I start to worry about modulation, heat buildup, and wear correction in my dropper post, I’ll see hydraulics as an advantage.

Well just take reverbs reliability on it’s own then. None of my mates have had problems, I’ve used one for 3 years, no maintenance. They really are damn good.

Conversely the sram suport tent at ukges would see a steady stream of reverbs, going in for repairs, to be fair sram are very good with repair/warranty, I know of 3 that they’ve replaced on the spot

Think of it this way…would you rather use hydraulic brakes with their ever so unreliable hydraulic levers, or cable mechanicals?

Got both and both are reliable, just don’t think hydraulic actuation of a hydraulic support system is a particularly good mechanical solution…

Plus Cable actuated droppers don’t require a bleed kit just to change the cable length or deal with shoddy assembly from new…

Argh! Spent until 1am this morning servicing my 2 dropper posts:

1) KS lev, done in 20 minutes (although there’s a ‘gas strut’ affair in there like on your car boot which isn’t user serviceable). Action is now ok although a bit jerky for some reason.
2) Reverb, took hours of faffing, reassembled it 3 times, used about 750ml of oil because of this (mostly squirted/dripped over the floor of the garage) and generally was a complete arse of a job that I know I’ll have to repeat one day. I love the action of the thing, the 125mm drop with really smooth motion but it’s an absolute PITA to keep running.

I also have a mechanical T-Mars type post, which despite being abused for months by my maintenance-phobic son still takes 5 minutes and a spot of oil to get it working again.

I’m going with a mechanical operation post next time…..

glasgowdan – Member

Well just take reverbs reliability on it’s own then.

It’s not amazing either. They upped their game after the early ones but they’re still no better than KS ime, both are decent but not perfcet… and they have a way for litle problems to become big problems.

And they’re just inherently more potential bother- I broke the lever on my KS in a crash in the alps, I could have got the parts I needed from any bike shop but instead I just went manual and used the wee lever instead. With my reverb? I’d have been boned. And not just boned, but boned with a bigger repair bill once you get home.

Fwiw I haven’t found my gravity dropper very reliable. Very wobbly very quickly. Fills up with shite. Gets stuck down. Comes undone. With regular tlc it does the job though.