OK, I’ll admit, Im ‘dropper curious’.

I’ve got a santa cruz superlight, which doesnt have any routing for a seatpost, looks like this (only less shiny and more shite covered)

)

As i understand it my options are to drill a hole in the downtube (ouch!) or go with an underseat lever. So what available/good/worth looking at?

You could just get a non-stealth version with an external hose?

Don’t suppose you want a SH one do you? 31.6, 100mm drop?

Run an external one and cable tie the hose/outer to the brake line, that’s what I did on my blur anyway.

@yorkshire, yes, also an option…. Im new to the whole dropper thingy, hence looking for recommendations 🙂

@mos, 30.9 seatpost on my lump….

As i understand it my options are to drill a hole in the downtube (ouch!) or go with an underseat lever. So what available/good/worth looking at?

not at all. as i have a superlight.. with a dropper..

just put the lever on your handlebars and run it to the dropper using hte existing cable guides. i basically piggy backed mine along the same route as the rear brake cable, and front mech cable.

had to dig out the post, but i put pictures of mine up recently.. (click to enlarge)

Mrs B has a Superlight with reverb dropper and the hose is routed externally under the top tube – runs in the space between the shock mount, above the shock. Frame she’s got is a fairly recent one, so has hose guides fitted as standard, but you can get stick on hose/cable guides that work well (the ones with the zip ties are much better than the ones that come with cable clips – as the latter just fall off with the slightest knock).
….or just piggy back the hose cable, as canopy has done.
HTH

p.s. Check how much seatpost is sticking out of your current frame before you buy a dropper, as this’ll dictate whether you have enough height to accommodate a 100mm or 120mm drop. (The seal collar on droppers can take up 20-30ish mm of space)

^^What Momo and Canopy said, just run an external dropper cable along the rear brake hose routing^^

main concern really is.. if you’re running 2x or 3x you’ll want one with a lever like mine, not one that works like a front mech shifter

(mines the 2017 rsp plummet dropper discussed here http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/who-makes-the-new-rsp-plummet-dropper)

Aha… would be interested in how you’re routed it up if you have any snaps of that?

(which model did you go for btw)

no more snaps 🙁

it literally goes exactly the same route as the other cables.. i think i snipped all existing zip ties being used by the front mech and rear brake hose.. added one zip tie at the front to keep it tidy. and re-zip tied the including the dropper one.

fairy snuff, thanks!

I too have a Superlight with an external reverb, hose goes along the top tube with a zip tied guide near the seat tube junction and then uses the little clips you get with the dropper to clip them to the other cables/hoses. Works fine