I am now on my second reverb stealth, I sold the 1st one of cheap because I had to get it fixed 3 times in a short period of time and I just got fed up of going backwards and forwards to the lbs, so I let it a few months and really missed It so decided to give it another try, so I bough a new one from the shop about 3 months ago and its now gone wrong for a second time and I sick of it, so I have just put my old post back one and will leave it on

My question is there any thing better out there, I know the reverb is very popular so it must be good for most folks, I ride mainly xc stuff and never do jumps because im just rubbish at the, I weigh 16.8 so not a massive porker

the prob I have now with the post is that it goes down by about an inch when you sit on it, but I have various problems

I was looking at the ks lev post, has any one switched to one of these after having problems with the reverb

cheers

Gravity Dropper

KSi900. Won’t be as plush, or as big a drop… but costs you £80 used and it’s completely superb.

My KSes are both older models, an i900 and an i950, they’ve both been impressively reliable- one needed a tweak from new to get it to work perfectly and a new bushing after a LOT of use, the other had a new gas stick inside after a couple of years which was cheap enough that I don’t care (a full service including that part was still cheaper than a Reverb service). They’ve both been used a lot in all conditions, really impressive.

My Reverb’s not done anything wrong to be fair apart from having a terrible lever, but I kind of wish I’d spent the extra and got a Lev.

As above KSi900 – it just works, always and brilliantly
or for another £20 kSi950 – little more refined – I have 2

do the lev,s have a better reliability record, I do see a lot of post about reverb probs

I have only just started looking at alternative options

Had my Lev 14 months now, no issues.

Yeah I feel your pain – got the Chief in May and the reverb packed up yesterday. I don’t/can’t jump either and am a svelte 13 and a half stone :D.

Not very impressed with the Rockshox parts on this bike as the monarch RT3 rebound dial seized up after 2 rides. The upside is Rose are sending me a Debonair as a replacement 8).

I had the same symptoms – post would sink an inch and when I tried to top the air up it was coming out at 100psi faster than I could get it in.

Posting off to Finlay at Rose today for new seals warranty work. Not good so far. Thing is I had the choice of a KS Lev when configurating the bike but was told to go with Rockshox as more reliable!

Gravity dropper, looks awful, works reliably

CLUNK !

get used to that noise, its the sound of a dropper that just keeps on working

I have a gravity dropper on my second bike as a spare for when the KS (i950/dropzone) needs servicing/ warrantying- they are not so great in a lot of mud/wet ime

its the aggro of having to keep going back to the shop with the thing then having to wait for its return, my bike has been more of the road. than off road since I started with the dam things

I liked my Gravity Dropper, if they did a 150mm one I’d be all over it tbh.

This is quite insightful
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/The-Assembly-of-a-KS-Lev-Seatpost-2012.html

Gives a good indication of where the reliability comes from – very impressed.

I’ve been tempted by a dropper post for some time but for every positive review I’ve read some horror stories about things going wrong.

Reverbs seem to have some reliability issues, but SRAM’s customer service is great for sorting these out on warranty.

KS seem to fare better but when stuff does go wrong I heard their warranty department are a nightmare to deal with.

I had a good chat with one of the lads at Bike Scene when I was last in there and he recommended the Fox dropper, followed by the Specialized Command Post.

In the UK KS are now distributed by Jungle rather than Superstar’s older brother. Think things are better now.
The Fox Doss looks good if you only want the 3 settings, then it’s just a very expensive gravity dropper with a massive lever.

My experience of Jungle for KS warranty and service has been excellent tbh. A wee bit slower on one than the other as they got the jobs a little mixed up but still faster than, say, Fishers.

My experience of Superstar was exactly as shit as you’d expect 😆

Not sure anything else is more reliable.

Rubbish bit of stats, but of some 20 odd maybe people I know riding with dropper posts, most have Reverbs and very few seem to have problems with them. A number of them have other brands and they seem to always have issues. Seats being stuck either up or down mid ride is common.

Reverb do have some issues, more so with older versions, but to me they are the least problematic.

Myself the only issue I’ve had is the need to pump back up to 250psi, but it’s about once a year. Some need it servicing, but a dropper is something that needs servicing from time to time.

Think there is luck involved too – a couple of mates have had Reverbs for over a year with not a problem. which is what surprised me when mine went so quickly.

My KS Lev failed twice in a year. Now running a Thomson and it just seems much better out of the box. No movement at all and the cable sag, when the seat is down, isn’t an issue

another thing to think about is servicing cost, my mates reverb failed out of warranty, was only 60 quid more to buy a new one on sale than get it fixed

gravity dropper will rebuild your entire post for 25 quid incl. postage ime or you can get the parts for not much and do it yourself , mine is 4 years old and still wOrks as new, CLUNK

i still prefer the action, extra travel and infinite adjust of the KS but buying a s/h GD and getting it serviced is a great way to get long term reliability in a market where that is hard to find

My Thomson is lovely, but it’s currently entering its fourth week of being lovely with i-ride on warranty.

🙂

pretty much anything is more reliable than a Reverb Stealth. utter Rubbish as far as i am concerned

I’m gonna regret saying this, but my reverb has been superb for the last 2 and a half years. No issues at all, it just works.

Thinking about sending it off for a service, but worried it’ll come back pants.

Ah, this old discussion.

It just seems that there are some of the same model that are more reliable than others.

My Reverb is over 2 years old and has been completely faultless despite riding it throughout winter and lavishing zero maintenance on it.

A mates KS Lev was ok for about 3 months before it went back to be fixed.

If I need to get another dropper then I wouldn’t think twice – I’d get another Reverb.

OP – that helps you in no way whatsoever. Sorry!

If your looking for a cheap replacement i have a brand new stealth 125mm drop, 30.9 dia without a remote im happy to offload

I have a Reverb on both my bikes and have only had one minor problem which Fishers fixed for free and it was out of the warranty period. The bushes do wear and regular replacement is advised. Other than that they have worked perfectly for me and I’d have no hesitation in recommending one.

Only one caveat; neither are the stealth model.

CLUNK

I imagine the reason why you see/hear of a larger proportion of Reverb issues is because they no doubt sell/spec OE more posts than the entire rest of the dropper post market put together, multiple times over.

I’ve had one Reverb issue in 3 different posts since they have come out, which Fishers fixed in 48hrs. I had a KS post that crapped itself in 2 months, got repaired, and crapped itself again, got repaired, then sold.

If it’s simple & reliable I imagine the Gravity Dropper would be your best choice, as its just a spring in a tube. However, even those have their moments.

Hob Nob – Member

I imagine the reason why you see/hear of a larger proportion of Reverb issues is because they no doubt sell/spec OE more posts than the entire rest of the dropper post market put together, multiple times over.

That’s true more recently but KS have had a lot of posts out in the wild, for a lot longer than Rockshox- very few Reverbs’ll have had the use my older KS has had. There’s stacks of very new OE Reverbs but the proof of the pudding’s in longer life I reckon.

My Thomson is ace and highly recommended.

You weigh 16.8? Stone? If that’s the case, it’s not exactly svelt. But posts should accommodate the burly riders

We have been using Specialized Command posts on all seven bikes for quite some time now with no problems in all conditions. Abigales is a stealth in her Enduro. If you keep an eye out on ebay there are some bargains to be had. I won a new stealth one this week for £123. In the three weeks we had in the Alps this year there were loads of problems with Reverbs, more than I have ever seen on previous years.

Love my KS drop zone remotes 100-140 squid new …. Got one for commuter loved it’s so much bought one for fun bike.

Reverb just ended up a pain when it started to play up.

Said it before on here, always surprised you don’t here more about the Command post. I’ve got two, the oldest I’ve had about 4 years, been serviced by Specialized twice but it’s never totally failed on me. You can strip one down in 5 mins for a clean and regrease, and when you see the internals you realise there really isn’t much to go wrong.

Only downside is a piece inside that locks the post in position (collet?) starts to crack after about a year, but even then the post still works, only noticed when i’ve stripped myself for a service. Get used weekly in all conditions.

Another shout out for the Command Post here. Had mine for 2 years now, and it’s going great. The collet broke a couple of months back, but that was a £25 part I replaced myself.

The only drawback is the actual seat clamp (single bolt needing to be cranked up super tight), but I think they’ve changed the design now

Is people’s impression that the Stealth is considerably less reliable than the standard Reverb?

OP, by any chance do you lift the bike with the saddle down?

Got two reverb non stealth, both fine. Ones 3 years old returned to fisher by lbs for service cost £15. Can’t complain. 73kg rider