The perceived wisdom seems to be buy new to make sure you get a warranty – no matter which one you buy

I’d been looking at the Lev and buying from a nice LBS but it appears the Thomson one is now within my price range (from The Internets) and it’s got a two year guarantee.

Anyone ridden one long enough to vouch for this or is the Lev the one to beat still? Anyone had both in the real world?

Or do I sack it off and go for two reverbs to make sure I always have one working one?

I bought a cheap KSi900, it’s mechanical rather than hydraulic, rebuildable, repairable. etc.

I bought a used KS last week. I wouldn’t buy a used Reverb. I’d want a warranty/guarantee.

I also think some of the pricing is a wee bit cheeky secondhand.

Yes new prices are now ramping due to everyone now wanting one but previous all were quite reasonable. On one etc banged out loads of Reverbs at <150 a year ago. So if someone wants decent money for a Reverb now I’d want to see a receipt…….

Good call on the receipts – so maybe a used one isn’t so bad initially?

I don’t think they are bad. Reverbs been out for quite a while so (although someone can own for 3yrs/only do 3 rides or 2months and ride every day)- if you find a 1yr old one backed by a receipt- you know your on the way to paying right for it. Cane Creek DBs have also been out for over a few years now. Polish one up and whack up the price and who would really know how old it is (unless you know/have thoroughly researched)?

Post On -One, I notice a couple of months later the same lefthand lever ones popping up for £190+ (new in box). etc.

I’d rather have a used Reverb, than a used KS. if the Reverb broke, you can get it fixed nearly anywhere.

KS have always been flaky for repair work, and despite having a proper distributor now that’s still the case.

The Reverb by default will have more issues, they probably outsell every other post out there by multiples of thousands.

4 Reverbs in our house, everyone I ride with (apart from one guy with a Lev, which is broken, again) have them, no issues. They can be had for around £100-150 second hand if you want. I wouldn’t listen to Hora, just because On One got hold of some OE stock 12 months ago and sold it cheap, he expects them to be worth peanuts now, clearly not the case.

Right. It wasn’t just On One though, CRC and multiple German retailers at the time.

Saying that…..for £169 this is a good price and Merlin are good with warranty issues:

http://www.merlincycles.com/rockshox-reverb-seatpost-oem-70685.html?utm_campaign=googlebase-GB&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=shopping&utm_term=Mountain+Bike+Seatposts&gclid=CMCJnIWX4r4CFSjItAodkSoAqg

So is £190 new a decent price for a reverb?

And is an MMX one any different to a regular one?

And if you had the choice – £190 reverb or £245 Thomson?

Or £150 s/h ‘something else’

Hora, if people are prepared to pay £120+ for one second hand! then that’s what they are worth! just because you arn’t! it doesn’t mean they arn’t worth it.

The Merlin price is good, but it’s the L/H lever, and any self respecting Fashion Biker (Tm) running a 1x system knows you run a right hand lever under the bars on the left hand side. Generally that’s why the LH lever models are cheaper.

Plus no bleed kit.

MMX is no different, just means you can mate it to your SRAM brakes in one clamp if you want to.

Me, given the choice, Reverb. I’ve used/ridden a bike with most of the other posts, and IMO it’s the best out there. I’d probably pony up for a new one, for the sake of £40 and 2 years peace of mind.

Reverbs are good unless you are going to ride them in a country that’s potentially wet, muddy or gritty. So if you live in California it’ll be great, if you live in th UK take into consideration how many rides you’ll be without it while it’s being repaired or serviced. Personally I like to ride more so reverb would be the last place I looked.

I bought my Reverb nearly 2 years from Germany. It’s still 99% as good as it was out the box after 2 years of use and zero maintenance. Weirdly, the ones I’ve heard people have problems with have been the UK sourced ones.

its all a bit of a gamble,
my ks was a pita from new
but since jungle serviced it its been very reliable

mates reverb slowly crept down, but servicong costs were nearly 100 quid

so he just bought a new one for 160

ime your dropper will go wrong at somepoint

so personaly id buy a reverb and then a s/h gravity dropper or a forca etc for when the reverb is getting fixed

(my GD lives on my hardtail its easy to service and great to have as a backup)

How much did jungle charge for the service?

Always gone for KS i900 or KS i950 (lever operated). The i950s are better but they all just work – and continue working for ever (in my experience). I clean and grease them now again but very rarely and its and easy job. The only reason I got rid of the i900 is because I changed tube size.

If I needed another one it would be the same again – but I don’t know which will fail first – me or my seatpost. If its me I wish for them to be buried with me so I can use them in the afterlife.

…Oh and they are hydraulic not mechanical as someone said

Buy an ancient used Gravity Dropper and they’ll still look after you, everything is home serviceable and all the parts are cheap. I’ve got a Classic on the hardtail which has had pretty heavy use for three years until the full-sus arrived and a Turbo LP on that, both bought new. Light, simple, very reliable and field serviceable. It says a lot about mountain biker’s obsession with aesthetic over function that most droppers nowadays aren’t GDs…

Bought my reverb from Germany just over a year ago and it had a slow air leak right out of the box, which took a month or so to locate. It’s just gone back again under warranty as it’s started to bounce and lose some height (1″) when sat on. When these work they are the mutz.

mine was under warranty hora

tbh, when the warranty runs out I think I might just sell it!

I’ve had 2 KSs for years, other than routine servicing the older one’s had a new bushing- which cost about £3- and the newer one did need a replacement oil stick but that was a nice simple warranty job via Jungle. Cannot fault them.

Just branched out into a Reverb Stealth and tbh, regretting it a bit- it’s nicely made but the bulky lever is poor- stiff, and impossible to get it where I want which was never a problem with KS or my Gravity Dropper. Wish I’d got a Lev. Hydraulics aren’t adding anything but trouble IMO.

I think the big drawback of the reverb isn’t so much reliability, it’s the ridiculous price of parts. Break a remote- and they’re not tough- and you’ll regret it. But the flipside of that, is that it makes no difference if you have a warranty. Other than that quite a few Reverbs for sale are probably being ditched as they’re getting beyind economic repair?

Thomson… Wouldn’t pay that much for a post with the cable at the wrong end. I’m sure it’s a great product otherwise.

And if you had the choice – £190 reverb or £245 Thomson?

imo the Thomson post is something special. Thomson have taken a simple design and refined it to aircraft standards. The operation, fittings and fasteners are all superb. Like great brakes or tactile shifters it’s the kind of thing one uses just for the hell of it, it’s quite addictive.

Also makes a subdued Star Trek door opening sound when it goes up

I’ve had my reverb for a couple of years now and it’s been great. Up until a couple of weeks ago all it required was one bleed in that time. A couple of weeks ago I had a ridiculously dirty ride at Cannock and the day after it had given up on the whole uppy-downy thing. I stripped it (dead easy), cleaned and greased it and it was back to being fine. Since then I’ve stripped it again but this time serviced it with the £7 kit and its now super slick!

I’ve got a x fusion hilo and upgrade were very reasonable on repair costs particularly given that I’d bought it second hand. So I wouldn’t have any concerns warranty wise with xfusion.

Just branched out into a Reverb Stealth and tbh, regretting it a bit- it’s nicely made but the bulky lever is poor- stiff, and impossible to get it where I want which was never a problem with KS or my Gravity Dropper. Wish I’d got a Lev. Hydraulics aren’t adding anything but trouble IMO.

I know we’re all different, but I couldnt get on with the KS lever at all, and the aforementioned warranty cases of the only other people I know IRL who use them are constantly moaning about the sh*t lever on the Lev, they have modified them to use an old Joplin remote to make it better. You can’t put it at a sensible angle, unless you have freakishly long thumbs, or want a massive loop of cable flapping around on top of the bars. Move it the other way, it fouls the brake lever.

The Reverb is easy, right hand lever, flip it and assuming you run your brakes at a normal angle, the button is pretty much where you want it.

Still, you could have bought the Lev Integra, that basically got panned by everyone, because it didn’t actually work! At least they have since had to redesign the whole cable attachment point on the bottom of the post, so it does 🙂

My i950-r is my first dropper and it’s still going, it’s been on 4 different mountain bikes now, I bought it new in 2009. I’ve serviced it twice, the stanchion has a couple of marks, but other than that it’s bombproof, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one again.

Also makes a subdued Star Trek door opening sound when it goes up

Oh hello 🙂

Hob Nob – Member

The Reverb is easy, right hand lever, flip it and assuming you run your brakes at a normal angle, the button is pretty much where you want it.

This’d totally work if I didn’t also have to fit a brake, but as it is, the Reverb is either much too far to the left, or to the right. The KS gives you far more choice of positions.

Hob Nob – Member

I know we’re all different, but I couldnt get on with the KS lever at all,

+1

Have a Lev on the hardtail and a Reverbon the main bike, hate the KS Lever, it’s just nowhere near where you want it. RH Reverb under the bars is spot on.

Which reminds me – must go find that new Southpaw lever

This’d totally work if I didn’t also have to fit a brake, but as it is, the Reverb is either much too far to the left, or to the right. The KS gives you far more choice of positions.

Inbetween the brake lever and the grip, seems to be fine on every bike I’ve tried? Even with short, stubby brakes such as Shimano., that said with the Formulas I had before I had masses of space between the level and grip to move it about on.

The obvious caveat being your run a relatively ‘normal’ setup, one finger braking, brake levers fairly inboard etc. it’s a bit more of a challenge if you have to fit a shifter there too.

Hob Nob – Member

Inbetween the brake lever and the grip, seems to be fine on every bike I’ve tried?

It fits there, it just puts the lever too far over and out because of the way it sticks out to the left of the bracket, and backwards out of the bar. Tempted to see if I can shorten the button a bit, it seems to have more throw than it needs and that puts it a long way back.

Think it says all you need to know about the Rockshox ergonomics, that everyone fits it upside down and back to front 😉

everyone fits it upside down and back to front

except me… I fit mine on the right and over the bars. 😛

Tip: Shimano shifter mounts (9 spd slx and xt at least) can be reversed to allow shifter clamp to sit inboard of XT brakes, which gives at least an inch of free space after brake and before the grips, in which the reverb clamp will fit nicely.

I bought a KS off pinkbike for £50, it felt abit ‘rough’ so I unscrewed the collar, cleaned- stuck in a smear of grease and…..smooth, very very smooth.

Maybe the old chap selling it thought it was due an expensive service hence.. £50?! 🙂

hate the KS Lever, it’s just nowhere near where you want it

Is for me – under the seat, out of the way, No faff

My thomson loosened and developed play which scored the stanchion (or whatrver the dropper equivalent is) after a couple of rides. Seems to have been a known issue that can be solved yourself but due to damage they replaced mine. Has been flawless for 6 months now. Awesome post and just like regular thomson posts, it just has an air of quality about it that nothing else does.

hate the KS Lever, it’s just nowhere near where you want it

I found that too until I swapped it for this

which absolutely brilliant and the best dropper actuator I have used but obviously only any good for a 1X setup.
As for the KS Lev Integra, I got one to replace old faithful (gravity dropper) and apart from a minor niggle with the original cable/seatpost actuator (which KS upgraded to a brilliant new design for free) it has been flawless. It feels great and seems very reliable and is cable actuated so very easy to maintain.

So how does one know whether a KS900i is serviceable or whether the hydraulics are shot?

Happy to spend £50 on a s/h one and replace seals, oil etc and regrease but not if it’s dead

Although I’m still tempted by a Thomson

tmb467 – Member

So how does one know whether a KS900i is serviceable or whether the hydraulics are shot?

Don’t know… But, parts seem well priced, mine that broke needed the main hydraulic doofer replaced and even with a full service that was still pretty reasonably priced- I forget exactly, but £70-ish I think? So I reckon as long as the chassis’s sound, there’s a good chance it’s fixable, they don’t seem to be the sort of kit that you have to throw away because one bit’s broken.

Ah – been reading that it’s a bin job if that’s knacked, but if you can buy a replacement then that’s a lot better

Looks like I’ve got one (maybe) so a bit cheaper than a Thomson

A month in (ridden for 25 miles at least every day) and my HiLo was a bit erratic returning to altitude but it was a piece of cake to strip down and clean.
A point in its favour in my mind.