I like the idea of not having a remote. I hate cables and cluttered bars. Will i regret it?

Yes, or at least I wouldn’t ditch my remote.

Get the remote! You will regret not having it.

Yes, the first time you fall off reaching for the lever under your seat, while at the same time going OTB on a drop off 😉

id say you’re missing half of the benefit of a dropper if you don’t have a remote.

Can’t miss what you never had…I don’t have the remote, quite happy with the lever as it really doesn’t take much effort to drop/raise it.

clubber – Member
i’d say you’re missing half of the benefit of a dropper if you don’t have a remote.

Agreed… Unless you have a penchant for Michael Jackson style crotch grabbing when you ride in which case I imagine it is quite liberating!

Shamone!

Remote! You’ll probably end up moving it more than your front mech, and you wouldn’t go without a remote on that.

if you ride up one big hill then ride down a remote is not a big deal, but then a quick release is almost as good, if you ride trails that have a lot of variation you will want a remote.

If you have ever tried riding down a gnarly trail with one hand on the bars and one trying to find the lever you will wish you had a remote .

I’ve had both. I found the Micheal Jackson grab was ok, but I didnt use it anyway as freely or readily as the remote, particularly on tracks I didnt know. I found the under saddle leaver just works as quicker alternative to a flip seatpost clamp, in that it was up or down for periods of time. The remote allows a lot more on the fly adjustments.

You need a remote for the same reason road bike don’t come with down tube shifters anymore. Besides, IMO a reverb is the best of the bunch of droppers, and you can’t not have one with that.

I have one with a remote but I also have a nice looking bike that, like you, I did not want to spoil and so didn’t use the remote. Not a problem for me. 99% of my riding I know where I am and when I want the saddle down or up and so don’t have to do it in an emergency which is when it might be difficult,

If you have ever tried riding down a gnarly trail with one hand on the bars and one trying to find the lever you will wish you had a remote .

this.
Unless you know where you are well /the trails and they are quite smooth its not that much easier than stopping if at all.
Would not have a dropper without a remote

Remote all the way.

I love my remote! I use it loads, not just when the terrain changes frequently but also stops me from getting left behind when I’m the only one in my group who ever stops to adjust their saddle height. I’m sure I would find myself faffing about more if I had a non-remote one.

What is the best remote for a cable operated dropper? I remember reading recently somebody had used a shifter with the ratchet removed? The fiddly remote is my least favourite part of my ICE V8 dropper.

nuke – Member

Can’t miss what you never had..

I did! My Gravity Dropper was originally a Descender and it was basically a drop-tease. “Just imagine how good it’d be if you could drop the post now! But you can’t, you’ll die if you try to reach the lever. You’ll need to stop. That’s why the remote’s expensive, but you’re going to buy one anyway”.

It’s not completely useless but it’s not a patch on the real thing.

I have the KS Lever version. It’s good, but not great.

For longer trails and races like the Mega it was OK. For more varied terrain and gravity enduros it’s a pain. Compared to the Reverb on the missus bike it’s missing that instant change.

As everyone else has said: get a remote. I’m a dropper addict now but have one bike without a remote and find it v frustrating as I like to tweak my saddle height a lot

I also have the ks lever only version..I’m used to it now…my son has the reverb which he loves..I had to get ks lever cos my size is 27.2,,,,,reverbs don’t come in that size..

Il put my name to the non-remote argument.

Reasons…..
1, Cables are messy and untidy things and most frames aren’t designed for dropper post cables.

2, I just serviced my gear cables last night – it’s a pain – do you really want a 3rd cable to service.

3, Dropper posts can be quite unreliable to start with – do you really want to add more bits that can go wrong, get gunned up, snap in a crash? I’ve ridden with more than one person who has ridden home with his knees around his ears after frozen or gummed up cables.

4, They add a small amount of weight

5, overly cluttered bars look untidy and vulnerable in a crash.

All of these are minor and not deal breakers but………..

Under seat levers work just fine – you don’t use it that much and if you can’t ride one handed for a second (that’s all it takes) then maybe you need to go back to basics.

you don’t use it that much

…because you’ve not got the remote. If you did, you’d use it far more 😀
I’m firmly in the remote camp, I’ve had both and as others have said, a dropper without a remote misses at least half the point.

overly cluttered bars look untidy

Unless you ride a single-speed with a foot brake you need to get over yourself and do the right thing. You know you do.

Maybe it depends where you ride then. My riding is almost always long uphill drags followed by flat out downhill ripping. I dont like undulating trails.

Seat Up for the ups and down for the downs – so less than 10 uses per ride……and I honestly wouldn’t use it any more if I had the remote.

I think a shifter and brake lever is enough on a bar to be honest – that’s stuff you use all the time and needs to be accessible without taking your hands off the bar – so they need to be there. I just don’t think dropper post and lock out levers fall into that category so why add clutter and more potential things to break in a crash.

Like I said its not a deal breaker but just unnecessary – for me anyhow.

Remote for me, hated the short demo I had on a bike with a lever.

Remote for me, don’t really see the point without one. Use it more than my front shifter as above!

Maybe it depends where you ride then

To be fair, I think this is the crux of it, in some locations there wouldn’t be any need. Our local trails are fairly undulating and there’s bits of super technical gentle climbing and contouring where it’s nice to drop the post an inch or so without needing to stop and descents which go from pedally to steep and technical and back without stopping where it’s very nice to be able to adjust on the fly but a bit too bumpy and fast to want to reach back under the nose of your saddle. Here it makes sense.

To be honest the reason I bought the post in the first place wasn’t due to frequency of needing to use it. I was quite happy getting off to drop the seat at the end of a long climb – I normally get off anyway to look at the view!

I bought it because I purchased a frame with an interrupted seat tube which only allowed 2 inches of drop. The post was a perfect solution. I also do Megavelanche – where looking at the view is generally detrimental to your race position.

Is a non remote one called a seat post clamp.?
Why on earth would you not want a remote?

Is a non remote one called a seat post clamp.?
Why on earth would you not want a remote?

No
learn to read

I don’t like clutter on the bars but the benefits (for me) outweigh the costs.

Put the remote under the bar (with Reverb the RHS lever goes neatly under the left bar) for crash damage avoidance.

A dropper is there for your convenience, so don’t make life hard for yourself. When a fast bumpy trail suddenly throws in a decent drop I don’t want to be doing the Michael Jackson OWWW!

For non cluttered bars a full SRAM setup looks best. Having tried both I wish I hadn’t. Still looking for the right deal on one to replace the KS or a bodge lever remote.

ndthornton – Member

I think a shifter and brake lever is enough on a bar to be honest – that’s stuff you use all the time and needs to be accessible without taking your hands off the bar – so they need to be there.

I use my dropper far more than I use my front shifter, it could easily be on the downtube (it could be on the mech for all I care. Actually that’s not that bad an idea)

But also it’s very situational- for trailcentre stuff drop at the top, raise at the bottom is fine but for “natural” undulatey varied XC where there’s no such thing as a climb or a descent or a techy section, just a jumble of the three, being able to get it moving without taking your hands off the bars can be a godsend- riding through a rough pedal section and you see a drop or a load of big rocks at the end, frinstance.