I have been dropper-curious for a while but the price has put me off. But then I noticed last week that the original Reverbs (the only 34.9mm post I can see on sale) are dirt cheap now that the newer model is coming out. So I bought one (external jobby).

Now I have heard a lot about reliability /unreliability of these posts but am hoping the STW collective can give me some decent advice based on experience on how to keep these things working properly.
For instance, do you see better reliability if you service them regularly or don’t bother?
Do you find Fork juice good to use on them to keep ’em slidey or not?
Does keeping them meticulously clean help? I see some other posts have what looks like old Judy stanchion covers – anyone tried one on a reverb to improve reliability?

Cheers in advance, gurus.

Don’t lift bike by the saddle, unless post is already at full extension.

wot e sed.
reasonably clean, dont lift the bike by a dropped saddle, top up the air to 250psi when required, dont let the post sieze in the frame, after you shorten the hose, bleed the system

Don’t overtighten the seat clamp, use grip paste if needed.

All good, thanks folks. Keep ’em coming

a wipe down after each ride and a squirt with Fork Juice

Always keep mine stored right way up fully extended. Wipe down after each ride, spray with juice lube, lower and extend, wipe off any excess crap on the shaft and spray again. Lasted three and a half years and just had a £65 rebuild as it had started dropping a bit. Feels good as new again now.

Make regular sacrifices to the god of dropper posts. TBH it doesn’t seem like you can do much to influence it, even “don’t lift it by the seat when dropped” doesn’t seem to have much evidence behind it (not saying it’s not true; but I do it all the time and none of mine have broken. Hard to believe the post isn’t designed for it) It’s generally not sealing issues or even usage. I think it’s mostly luck personally.

Dont – worry about it
Do – make sure it goes wrong within the 2 year warranty period so you can get a new one

I just sold two in working order so I could buy two more with fresh warranties!

Always keep mine stored right way up fully extended.

I store mine almost horizontal, fully depressed.

Gets the hosepipe and a wipe when the rest of the bike does.

Going on other’s experiences I agree I’ve been lucky but whatever I’m doing hasn’t harmed it so I’ll keep on doing it! Will be 4 years old in September and has cost me £240 total and been one of the most reliable things on my bike. Jinxed it now though. Never mind, I would love one of the new 170mm drop B1s!

Discounted Reverbs have to be the bargain of the century. If / when they break, you’ll get a newer one for free under warranty. You’d be daft to buy the newer one at an inflated price.

Fishers have just replaced my old style one with a B1 version under warranty.

Don’t buy me
Do learn to ride properly.

😈

Christ, here’s gods gift to bike maintenance.

Where are these bargainous Reverbs? Merlin?

CRC, Merlin are both cheap – CRC has a £10 off clearancevoucher too.

I got mine off ebay new and boxed for £135. Couldn’t resist it, but maybe I should have spent the extra £40-something and got a warranty.

CRC not that cheap unless you want a massive 34.9 one (which is the only one the £10 applies too).

Winstanleys were a good price when I bought recently.

Mine just get’s wiped with a cloth/sponge/whatever, then a spray of fork lube (up-down a few times to disslodge any grit from the seals, wipe off, spray again and smear evenly with a finger, leave).

Haven’t topped up the air since day 1.

Only repair was to replace the hose with the later one (mk1 had a crap plastic strain relief that lasted 5 minutes).

But as noted, probably more down to luck than anything as failures seem to be in the internals, not the seals/bushings.

Don’t worry about it or do anything special or different.
I have one reverb that has been unloved for years and still works like the day I bought it. Its never been serviced or looked after and The bike was left hanging for weeks by the seatpost (Not by me). I have another that would be classed as completely knackered. it was in bits when I got it and I put it back together hoping everything was correct. It drops a bit (not the normal 10mm) and has a tiny bit of side to side play. the top seal looks crushed but none of this is noticeable in use. My last 2 reverbs have both failed after only a few months and have been replaced under warranty. One of the warranty replacements will soon be sent off due to it starting to do the common 10mm drop.
Sram say themselves that lifting the bike by the saddle when the post is compressed wont damage the post.

My conclusion is just use it and abuse it and don’t do anything special.

Unless you get them serviced every few rides it seems to be luck of the draw on whether it’s reliable or not.

My 4th one (of 5) has just started making grinding noises when dropping so is off for warranty replacement. It is 4 months old 🙁

Treated it like a baby. Fork juice after every ride, top seal regularly popped off and cleaned underneath then lubed, no picking up when dropped etc. Has no play, remote works perfectly and has never played up before. Just mid-ride went really stiff to drop then started making metallic grinding noises the next time I dropped it. Goes up fine and does it whether it’s on the bike or off. After the previous 3 all developed the infamous spongy action I’ll be selling the replacement one and getting one of the new Fox ones. At least then any work required will be done by Mojo just down the road.

My 5th one was fine until I got it serviced and it was found to be eating it’s brass bushes (just out of warranty) so is now on the largest size ones but still works. That’ll be replaced with something different when it dies too.

nixie – that was the one I wanted 🙂

i’ve had 4 or 5 now of varying sorts and only the latest one has proven to be reliable. As mentioned above, just use it, clean it and warranty it when it breaks. if it doesn’t, you got a good one!

As others have said ,keep them in up position when not in use and if stored for extended periods depressurising them will help I reckon.Don’t use any solvent based lubes on them like gt85 etc .I just use a wipe of fork oil.
They are very easy to work on and do basic servicing to – hardest part is having 34 mm spanner for undoing top cap and needing the use of bench vice for non stealth versions.

pulling saddle up while post depressed can definitely bugger up the operation, though may not cause permanent damage

I learned the hard way

So if your post sticks down part way through a ride, what is the recommended action if you shouldn’t pull it up?

Well you could pull it up then.

Only time mine stuck down, it wouldn’t pull up again and needed fixing.

If your post sticks down during a ride Tallmart10 it’s more than likely due to the what you haven’t done before the ride,ie basic quick re-bleed/refresh,re pressurise of the hose line .If you have air in there and experience temp changes whilst riding it can cause enough of a volume change in fluid to stop your action of pressing the thumb trigger not being able to be transmitted along the hose to the other end of the hose where it is needed to push down the posts ‘poppet valve’ which then allows the flow of oil in post which in turn allows post to move freely.