I’d just like to express that I disagree massively with Gary Glitter’s views 😉

GW – There is no play in my gravity dropper after nearly a years use. I’d agree that 4″ drop isn’t enough but as a flat pedal rider, it’s still a very useful drop on XC rides. I will still drop the post fully using the QR if I want to ride some proper jumps on a ride, but I cannot see there being a 9″ drop post to deal with that rare scenario coming onto the market in a reliable form for a while. I’d prefer an SLX equipped bike with a dropper over xtr without. It makes a genuine performance and enjoyment difference.

I can’t see the point for shuttling at Inners ( 🙄 ) or riding at Glentress where you know whats coming. For the big mountain rides I do where it’s 2 hours up and then half an hour down I can’t see the point really, but for my local forest where I do adjust the height at least 4 times in a two hour ride I can see the benefit.
For terrain you don’t know I can see it being a handy tool for surprises and making the most of what is there without having to stop… and perhaps this is the real benefit?

Yes – for my local ride I could leave the seat at max and mince round, or I could keep it down all the way for the benefits on the gnar; but risk hurting my knees. Or drop it an inch and get neither the best or the worst of the above options… and why I tend to break saddles (probably 😛 ). I’ve never managed a clean loop of the forest with no dabs/stops… perhaps one of these will make it possible?

GW – There is no play in my gravity dropper after nearly a years use. I’d agree that 4″ drop isn’t enough but as a flat pedal rider, it’s still a very useful drop on XC rides. I will still drop the post fully using the QR if I want to ride some proper jumps on a ride, but I cannot see there being a 9″ drop post to deal with that rare scenario coming onto the market in a reliable form for a while. I’d prefer an SLX equipped bike with a dropper over xtr without. It makes a genuine performance and enjoyment difference

there already is a 9″ dropper post – the rase. Its as reliable as the other posts (ie, fairly but not completely), however a little heavy and agricutural in use.

it just hurts spending 200+ quid on a post when i know that a 20 quid one is perfectly good (even if i have to fiddle around with my QR)

granted, but the same could be said about rigid forks vs some fox 36s. You’ll be able to ride down almost any trail on either, but on the sus forks the trail will be faster, more flowey and more fun.

Solamanda – No play at all? honestly? I find that hard to believe as even on a new bike still in the shop i’ve felt play in them.

messiah – have you ever raced DH at Inners?

GW… For shuttling use a QR is what I was trying to say… not don’t drop the saddle 🙄

Side to side play is less than 1mm. They all have about 2mm up/down play due to how the mechanism works. Certainly more than acceptable and the kind of play you’d normally feel in a suspension fork bushing. Needless to say it’s alot better than the other posts on the market.

No deterioration in the time I’ve had it bar requiring a regrease twice.

grum – can you wheelie for an extended distance sitting down with your saddle at full extension?
try it on a dropper post and the play is instantly evident and more than a little annoying.

Yup but it’s not something I would ever really do on a bike ride. Again, you have to be looking for it. 😉

It’s not even difficult to design one with no play the manufacturers are taking the piss IMO.

The KS posts have 3 vertical slots in the bushing between the inner and outer shafts, 3 corresponding vertical slots in the inner shaft and cylindrical bearings fitted into these slots. That seems to be what’s stopping the play from being significant in them. Any play that there is is presumably down to manufacturing tolerances.

MC – I don’t have an “emperors new clothes” arguement, I have a shite product (and owners’ denial of it) arguement.

Well you’ve been claiming that the owners must be able to perceive the play and have been pretending they can’t to everyone else. That’s not the case for me and it would seem for many other owners. Then again, you can just answer that with a “well of course that’s what you say, you’re in denial, aren’t you?” 🙂

Initial reaction? Can’t you just lower your seatpost with your QR? Is the 5 seconds of time you save worth the £200 you’ve spent on that, plus all the extra maintenance hassle?

I won’t pretend that they’re ideal for everyone but I find them great. Great for when you’re reacting to the unexpected and don’t want to either make do with the saddle being at the wrong height or stopping to adjust your saddle. Great for dropping or raising your saddle without having to think much about it, get off your bike, faff, fight against the grit and slime in your seatpost, etc. Then again suspension, gears, etc aren’t ideal for everyone too…

WTF? it’s weird not to want no play whatsoever in a saddle?

It’s weird to demand no play whatsoever in a saddle when there’s already no play that’s perceptible when riding. But then I can barely wheelie let alone wheelie for extended distances while seated on a fully extended seatpost so maybe my riding is just not in the envelope where such things become apparent. 🙂

To summarise this thread, some people like them, some people don’t see the need, some people think they’re too expensive and some people think the technology’s not there yet. Sounds like the debates we were having about suspension forks/disc brakes/full suspension a few years ago!

solamanda – That’s what I thought. BTW have you ever ridden (or just felt the stiffness of) a cannondale lefty fork? a dropper post could also be made that stiff/free of play IMO

Grum – uh? when else would you do it? 😕
You don’t really have to be looking for it at all. unless you are just oblivious to your bike moving under you it’s blatantly obvious.

I don’t get this, do people think GW is making it up? If he is feeling play compared to a normal post then there is play, he doesn’t like it, where is the problem?

I would buy one, I like the i900 but no 27.2, and crap seat clamp. The GD doesn’t have enough range at only 4 inches, the RASE black mamba has 27.2 and a big drop but the seatclamp again is woeful.

The clamp on the Joplin 3 is terrible, rubbish seals, seat clamp that persistently slips and isn’t reliable but I still wont sell it? Granted its not on the bike at the moment as I want to keep it good for the spring/summer after being warranty repaired (upgraded seal, bushings, oil and schrader valve) the second time its been repaired lol. Come to think of it I have only used it about 20% of the time since I bought it! Really cant say its good value for money but find it great at certain trails when it works! Hmmm anyone want to by a Joplin 3 lol?

BTW have you ever ridden (or just felt the stiffness of) a cannondale lefty fork? a dropper post could also be made that stiff/free of play IMO

Have you noticed the number of people complaining about the price of uppy-downy seatposts on this thread already? Imagine what it would be like if something with the price premium of a Lefty fork came on the market! 🙂

Lefties have square stanchions, don’t they? That’s to stop them rotating, I presume. They’re also pretty chunky in cross-section. It seems that many uppy-downy seatpost makers already have enough trouble cramming everything into a 27.2mm seatpost and making it strong enough without reducing the cross-sectional area of the inner post further by having to make it a square.

You don’t really have to be looking for it at all. unless you are just oblivious to your bike moving under you it’s blatantly obvious.

Maybe you just have super-sensitive thighs and arse? 😛 I wouldn’t deny the possibility that I am oblivious on the bike, I am most of the time after all.

I don’t get this, do people think GW is making it up? If he is feeling play compared to a normal post then there is play, he doesn’t like it, where is the problem?

The problem was that he accused users of these seat posts of lying or being in denial about not feeling play, which is not the case with me and presumably the others who took issue.

GW – I understand you desire for a post with no play. Back in the day I ran USE suspension posts and found the play in them very annoying, much like the majority of the dropper posts you get today. The reason I went for a GD was that a friend has abused his to hell and it still had what I’d call, a respectable level of play. I think the play in a GD is fine and miles less than a Crank Brothers or an i900 style unit.

On a side note, I’ve just bought some USD downhill forks so what do I know. :p

Grum – uh? when else would you do it?

Dicking around in a car park. Why would you actually wheelie sat down during a bike ride?

I don’t get this, do people think GW is making it up? If he is feeling play compared to a normal post then there is play, he doesn’t like it, where is the problem?

Because he’s obsessing over something that’s not an issue for most normal people, and claiming that they are somehow wrong – whereas it’s just that they are not as OCD as him about it. 😉

Chris – it doesn’t have to be anywhere near the cost of a lefty, and there are other cheap ways to build a telescopic post not to rotate too. As for me accusing people of denial, I’d suggest if you can instantly feel play (however slight) by grabbing the saddle with your hand when off the bike but not when riding there’s something far more weird about that.

Sola – You don’t race do you? doesn’t really matter unless you do IMO.. you just need to ride them slightly differently than a torsionally stiffer fork in ruts etc where tracking needs to be precise. I actually liked my old Shivers back in 2000 or whatever but they were pure comedy through certain sections. especially as I’d come from ’99 Monster Ts.

Messiah – TBH an allen key collar would be fine but most DH frames will not accomodate a full length seatpost at both fully extended and DH height so at least a Scoper would be needed anyway. Being a little lighter than my DH bike I can ride my mini DH bike up quite a lot on the 36T ring so a dropper would be ideal, might even be tempted to take it on XC rides with one (that didn’t wobble ;))

GW – I only race occasionally but I’m no shredder, about a top quarter finisher. I know it’s more the rider than the bike, (says the man with a top flight dh bike).

Why would you actually wheelie sat down during a bike ride?

many reasons.
To pass the time on duller terrain (especially shallow climbs).
coz it’s fun
lower rolling resistance
the burds love it
it is good for balance.
less trail erosion
helps your muscle memory develop bette skill
coz i’m a pikey 😉

toys19 – Member

“I don’t get this, do people think GW is making it up? If he is feeling play compared to a normal post then there is play, he doesn’t like it, where is the problem?”

I don’t think anyone’s got a problem with that? We just don’t like it much when he declares everyone else is “in denial” and that actually we must hate the play too, if we’d only admit it. Both of mine do have play, I just don’t care as it makes no difference at all to my riding. But for GW it does so he cares. Simples.

Course, he’s trolling and doing a good job of it so boo to us for falling for it

nah, I think you lot prob love the play?

I was planning on buying a reverb but there are some pretty scathing reviews on mtbr. There is also a rumour about Fox developing one. I would really like one but think I will wait until the problems are ironed out. Either that or pick one up second hand to use in the meantime.

Edited to add this: http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/Interbike-2010-Prototype-Fox-Shox-Adjustable-Seatpost,1606/Slideshow,11306/sspomer,2

out of interest, would a dropper based on the old thudbuster parallelogram seatpost work better? Would seem to be an easy way to eliminate play?

The problem is that other designed don’t look very good so they don’t make them because no one will buy it