Review: Funn UpDown Dropper Post

In Issue #109 of Singletrack Magazine, we put 10 different height-adjustable seatposts through the grinder as part of our Dropper Post Group Test.

With possibly the best name of any dropper post going, the new UpDown from Funn Components is the company’s first-ever dropper post and it’s claimed to be strong, durable and user friendly.

The UpDown dropper does indeed look tough with its all-black finish. It features a neat AL7075 alloy construction and a CNC machined remote. The post head uses a twin-bolt design, with one bolt locking down the saddle rails and the other managing tilt adjustment. Bear in mind that you’ll have to reef these bolts down tightly. A hard compression on my first ride with the UpDown resulted in an unnerving ‘crack’ from the post head, and an unfortunate saddle angle that we shall never speak of again…

Funn offers the UpDown post in both 30.9mm and 31.6mm diameters, but it only comes in this externally routed option with 125mm of travel. At 696 grams including housing and the remote, the UpDown is one of the heaviest droppers we tested in our group test.

Inside the UpDown is a gas-charged air spring cartridge that isn’t dissimilar from what you’d find in an office chair. Funn claims the UpDown is user serviceable, but what it means by that is if the internal mechanism fails you just pull out the cartridge and replace it with a new one.

In use, however, the UpDown post has been reliable. There is some rotational wiggle, but it isn’t particularly noticeable when riding, and it hasn’t deteriorated throughout the test period. The action overall is smooth enough, but the pre-set return speed could be faster, as it’s a touch on the slow side and isn’t adjustable. Unlike options from KS and RockShox however, there is no hydraulic damper inside the UpDown’s sealed cartridge. This means that you can lift up the saddle while the post is compressed, and the post won’t budge.

The four-way remote is compact, and takes up little space on the bars. During the test period, I fitted the UpDown to a trail bike with a 1x set-up, and a hardtail with a 2x set-up. On both bikes, the remote was easy to fit around shifters and brake levers, and was easy to use.

Some riders will dismiss the UpDown due to its lack of internal cable routing, but I found that by using the included plastic cable guides in the box, managing the loop of compressed cable was never an issue. Cable attachment is also refreshingly simple. For those wanting the clean look of internal routing, Funn will have a stealth version of the UpDown dropper post coming soon.

Overall

Personally I’d like to see some greater adjustability for the UpDown dropper post, and especially at this price point where the competition is pretty tough. Of course some may overlook the UpDown for its lack of options, but when it comes down to it, if you don’t mind the external routing, you’ll get a smooth, easy to set up and highly reliable dropper.

Review Info