I find that if I have my seat at optimum pedalling height and I shift my weight behind the saddle, trying to get back on the saddle causes all kinds of 'issues' with my shorts getting in the way. There's nothing worse than hanging off the back of the bike when the trail flattens out again because you can't get back on properly! Well, there probably is, but you get the point.

Agree with you there Paul, which is why I drop mine quite a lot for techy trails. It's all about being able to move about dynamically – all the time 🙂

I would get one if doing the Mega again, as it was about the only thing my bike lacked this year. Really frustrating to get overtaken by folk, who've just clicked their saddles down at the start of a big descent, having overtaken them on the pedalling section.

And as for this 'get yourself right over the back of the saddle' stuff….that just makes the bike handle like a pig, under-steering badly, totally unweights the front end, hinders braking and balance. Saddle at optimum pedalling height is great for XC, but try to land a decent-sized jump with a seatpost at max extension and you'll not be able to absorb the landing very well (if at all) without being bashed by the saddle.

I'd agree with the people saying to get a remote one though… I just added a remote to my gravity dropper and straight away I'm making far more use of it. It's just massively better. I love having the flexibility of the dropper, it's ace and I think most people would appreciate having one once they've tried it, even the critics and the incurably 1337.

Its a judgement / balance of factors call.

For me the added weight, cost, complexity against stopping a couple of times in a few miles is simply not worth it.

At a trail centre I will drop the seat – and sometimes end up pedalling with the seat too low. However I don't mind stopping now and then. Its often only once or twice per ride I adjust the saddle. Up for the climbs, down low for descents, down a bit for undulating techy bits

We spend fortunes saving a few grammes. then add loads of stuff extra

Depends a lot on your riding… It was Drumlanrig and Glentress black that convinced me to get one, watching ChrisL's in action made me very jealous. If it's your standard "big climb, big descent" trail centre design then it's not so useful, on glentress red I hardly use mine but on a more up-down trail the benefits are much more obvious I think.