I’ve never had a dropper post before but Santa may bring me one….

So, what is the current dropper of choice?

31.6mm required.

Thanks.

Brand x ascend II – the choice of the poverty stricken. £90 from CRC

Mine arrived yesterday

Reverb. Never had a problem with mine. They just work.

Surprised there’s not a million posters advising Fox Transfer yet…

Personally I’ve had Reverbs and Levs on a number of bikes and including a 2011 Reverb have yet to have any problems not caused by user error and tend to store bikes upside down.

Whatever you buy, never pick the bike up by the saddle with the seat in the lowered position.

I am another who got the brand x but not used it yet….apparently it has to go under the tree!

Happy with my BikeYoke

Magura vyron. Ability to swap between bikes in seconds

Bikeyoke Revive 185mm- pisstakingly expensive but the extra drop really makes a difference and so far it’s been flawless. Got a Reverb 170mm in the other bike purely because it was almost exactly half the price. Wouldn’t want to go back to a short dropper now tbh

Just gone back to a dropper after years of failed reverbs. £90 for a brand x -decided on the non stealth version so can easily swap between bikes and the cable is fixed at the post bottom so does not loop when lowering as with the old reverb. Easy to set up and seems fine so far. Only negative is the 120 drop is not as low as i’d like and the set up of the remote barrel adjuster is not ideal next to shimano brakes.

After 3 reverb changes under warranty and 3 lost months I got a KS lev – been great and even I can service it!Got a Thomson on the other bike and thats great as well but service can only be done by main dealer.
Brand X same cost as a transfer service!

Oh yeah I should have said, the 170mm Reverb is a replacement for one that failed twice on warranty. So I returned it, and bought a new one, to extend the warranty, and effectively got a free lease of a seatpost for a year. And tbh I’m fine with that because they fail soft usually, the Reverb Sag is annoying but it’s no disaster.

I do like the cableness of the Bikeyoke though, I always say “what do you do if you damage it”, lo and behold I damaged the lever in a big crash in the alps and was able to fix it with easily available tools and parts you can buy in many supermarkets never mind a bike shop. Hydraulic for posts is basically stupid

My old Reverb from 2013 was pretty good, warrantied after about 18 months, replacement was warranted again after another 18 months and was good when I sold it on a bike a few weeks ago. New Stealth Reverb playing up tonight on its second ride.

Fox Transfer on other bike warrantied after 3 months, and again after a further 3 months, a few weeks back – not failure but clicking due a problem in the base part of the assembly, both times.

Bkeyoke revive 185mm here on one bike and its superb.

KS levs have been good and mostly user serviceable.

Reverb are okay. Spares are available but the top cap is expensive. I have the tools and skills to rebuild it.

Thomson has been lovely when it has worked but, given how often it has been back and the cost of the factory only service, I don’t consider it viable to own outside of warranty.

Not ridden it yet but just fitted a bike yoke to one of my bikes. I think this is the one to watch. Super light action. Longer drop than most for a given length and a doddle to service. €20 for the service kit. No more than 20 seconds to fix it if it starts to sag and no tools required. In fact, I reckon I wouldn’t even need to get off the bike, just slow down a bit, to do it.

Currently have a reverb stealth and fox transfer. Both recommended, both been no trouble, Fox probably the pick of the two.

Had a Thomson and Specialized in the past, both external. No worries with either, the build quality of the Thomson is better than all others mentioned.

+1 for brand x. It’s the only dropper I’ve had that hasn’t broken (so far)
And I’ve had…..
Thomson (lasted 2yes 1month)
Reverb (less than a week)
Reverb stealth (about 3months)
Xfusion (about a year)
Cheap ks (doesn’t work reliably but I’ve kept it on the cx / gravel bike)

Mmmm…..Brand X…..seems to be ticking a lot of boxes.

Reviews good, price good in comparison.

Mmmm…..

Another brand x fan here.

2x KS lev here, had one 2 years now had a warranty issue earlier this year it was sent in on Monday and returned Wednesday all serviced and working.

The other one is a few years old I bought it on ebay and it never misses a beat.

Going to be buying a 175mm version based on how good they’ve been compared to reverbs ive had.

Brand X installed on my new ride.

I’ll let you know how it rolls.

Spesh Command Post has been my pick of the bunch so far. It’s a mechanical action which seems inherently more reliable than hydraulic/valve actuation.

Will be picking up a brand X as a spare soon as the price is great and reviews largely great too.

All our bikes are running on Specialized Command posts and cant fault them, they just keep working. Had one fail after six years, and it was sorted within the week by Specialized UK. If it has one fault and its only on mine is that in the Alps I could do with a bit more room when I drop it, for comfort, so I tend to just lower the post in the frame when its needed.

First ride on my new Brand X this morning. Fine so far. Easy to fit too.

I’ve had a good run out of a KS Dropzone but it finally gave up and started sagging a couple of weeks ago. Apparently the fix is a £60 new cartridge from Stif.

Had four Reverbs over the years and all now have at least 10 mm of sag if not more. I totaled up all the parts I needed to fix them and it came to something like £75 plus a chuff load of faffing and getting covered in oil.

I can send them all away and get someone else to do it for even more money (they’re all out of warranty).

So the Brand X for £90 it was.

Specialized command work, but the lack of damping make them a danger to your danglies!! 😯

I have Reverb Stealths (170 & 150mm) on both bikes but I’d probably buy a Bikeyoke Revive now.

I bought the brand x 2 a few weeks ago when the price drop occurred. So far very good, although I got the lever gunked up with dirt – easy to clean out.
The only slight gripe is that there is a bit of rotational and back and forth play at full extension. Not particularly noticeable when you are sat on it. But this is my first dropper, so I have nothing to compare against to see if it’s a reasonable amount of play.

Brand X here too. They work and they’re inexpensive. Buy some Fox or RS stickers to clag on it with the change if you’re that fussed. There’s a bit of play but the RF Turbine I ended up with (long story…) on my last bike did that as well.

And when every new-fangled fancy-pants dropper I buy fails and needs sending back – I reach into the spares box and pull out the old dusty Gravity Dropper and it just works 🙂

Another +1 for bikeyoke. Lovely bit of kit. Lever action is so much nicer than on my reverb.

I’m a fan of the Reverb – I’m on my fith now (previous ones either sold or were on stolen bikes). All have been fine – I don’t understant the concern about hydraulics. They’re easy enough to bleed and its not worse than damaging a brake lever.

Currently running a 170mm stealth and it’s great – the extra drop is noticeable.

My dropper experience has been :-

1x KS E-ten
Cheap and functional but heavy, required maintenance after every ride to get the best out of it. Limited 100mm drop and external cabling.

2x Reverbs
Amazing when they work! Can be a pain to route internally if you have the stealth version. Unfortunately both went back under warranty, first one was replaced with the B1 version which then failed about 6 months later (retaining circlip disintergrated). Serviced for free by Fishers then sold onto a mate. Think he’s now having problems with it!

1x CrankBrothers Highline
Only used for about 6 months, seemed pretty bomb proof if a bit slow on the return. Lever was easy to position and nice to use. Cable actuated so easy to route. Solid post with no play at all.

1x E13 TRS+ dropper (current)
Fully mechanical post with 4 positions. Eye-wateringly fast on the return, good ergonomic lever although can be quite fiddly to set up. Had to send back on warranty as the post stopped returning to full height and the cable retaining bolt on the lever failed. Shop (Brink) sorted quickly and has worked fine since – does have some rotational play though.

If i had to get another i’d probably go for the CB Highline with 160mm of drop. A few of my mates have Fox Transfers, but they are so expensive!

my stealth reverb packed in, sent it away as under warranty. Decided to try the Brand X XL 150mm dropper for £109. Seems spot on so far.

Crank Brother highline last 5months before the cartridge failed. I’d problaby just go brand X, they are all over priced shite.

Only post I’ve ever had to warranty was a Bikeyoke Revive. TF turned it around pretty quickly though. Something inside it had come loose and spat all the fluid out of the air valve.

They replaced it, but I don’t think the new one felt as good as my old one. The revive function was handy, but needed doing far too often.

It’s recommended not to lean the bike on it’s side or upside down with the post down, so I probably did that a few times.

Missus had a reverb for 3 years without fault (or service). Still got it as a spare. Both of our bikes still use Reverbs now. I was a bit apprehensive about it due to reading about all the problems, but it’s been all good so far.

Any hefty chaps riding the 150mm Brand-X?

I’d like to buy one over the 125mm version but worried that my ‘power’ coupled with the longer shaft will affect the reliability for the worse.

Fox DOSS 4 – years never touched it – still working 🙂

Paul@RTW – Member

Had four Reverbs over the years and all now have at least 10 mm of sag if not more. I totaled up all the parts I needed to fix them and it came to something like £75 plus a chuff load of faffing and getting covered in oil.

You don’t need any parts to remove the sag. People always say to replace the IFP with the newer version, but since every version of the IFP suffers from the exact same issue, there’s not much point (I did upgrade mine, more fool me)

My Reverb went soft after a year or so.

Command Post has developed a significant rotation, about 20 degrees. Other than that I like the command post, although 125mm only means I still have to move the seat post manually.

Had one fail after six years, and it was sorted within the week by Specialized UK

That’s not my experience. Specialised UK will refer you to your dealer, who will deny there’s anything wrong, grudgingly agree a return and then a week later renege on the agreement leaving you to refit the faulty seat post yourself if you want to ride.

Was a big reverb fan… Until SRAM started cracking down on the warranty that is! I’ve had 10 of them now (9 have suffered from the dreaded sag) and SRAM used to fix/replace under warranty no problems. Not the case any more!

Tried the Magura Vyron on my HT for a bit. Fantastic idea, was reliable for me (have heard a couple of horror stories mind), but the delay started to bug me in use. Seems to me it’s only a firmware update away from being a bloody good product, but… Where is the update?

Fitted many Brand X’s for people. They seem good so far, but only 120mm drop until recently.

Got a Thomson Elite on my HT now. Superb bit of kit, easily the most over engineered seatpost on the market. Not looking forward to it having to go away if/when I break it though as it is likely to cost a lot… That and they cost a bomb in the first place!

Trying out Crank Bros Highline on my full sus right now, slightly slow return but otherwise feels very good indeed. Got the 160mm version and the drop is useful.

Have fitted a few KS for people, a Lev and some of the cheaper eTen’s. Generally not that impressed. They’ve done nothing to make me get over the horror story that was my i900 some years ago when Superstar were the importer!

Spesh Command posts should come with a heater warning if you’re male… WRONG!

Fitted an E13 for a customer the other week, seems a good bit of kit. Coil spring and user serviceable makes it a good choice if they’re as reliable as they claim.

Hard to know what to suggest to anyone, we all have different personal preferences. I still love the Reverbs but I don’t like that SRAM changed their warranty policy, so for now I guess my top recommendation would be the Crank Bros Highline. Though I’ve yet to put enough miles on to wholeheartedly recommend it, though hopefully that will change soon.

Both Reverbs I’ve had have sagged badly. The one on the full sus has about 20mm of sag now, very annoying. Just got a Brand-X XL for the hardtail. Very nice action and the extra inch of drop is useful. Time will tell how long it lasts but with a 2 year warranty and at that price you can’t go wrong. Very easy to install too and no messing about bleeding it either.