Wolf Tooth Resolve Dropper Post review

The Wolf Tooth Resolve Dropper does away with the usual IFP arrangement, that can leak air into oil, and promises to never get squishy.

• Price: £380.00
• From: Saddleback
• Tested by: Ross for 12 months

Wolf Tooth have been making dropper levers for a good while, but always to pair with other brands’ posts. Towards the end of last year though that changed with the introduction of the Resolve dropper post. 

Designed completely from the ground up, the Resolve features their own brand new proprietary technology, along with some pretty impressive stats to make it a serious contender in the crowded dropper post market. The stack height on the clamp is nice and low 32mm making it the lowest on the market, and the weight for the 200mm is 559g again putting it up there with the best numbers currently available.

Available in 30.9mm and 31.6mm diameters, and 125mm, 160mm and 200mm drops (although travel can be adjusted) the big talking point of the Resolve is its unique self bleeding cartridge. The Resolve uses a cable actuated hydraulic cartridge for the travel, and one of the issues of a hydraulic cartridge is that they can draw in air, causing the ‘squish’ when fully extended that most people will be familiar with. 

Each time the post is cycled, the Resolve cartridge purges air from the chamber meaning that there should never be any air to build up to cause squish and sag, meaning (in theory) that it should never have to be replaced. The Resolve also features an external air filter at the bottom of the post to ensure that no dirt or dust enters the chamber. 

Performance

When we first fitted the post there was an inch or so of ‘squish’ when it was at full extension. After increasing the air pressure, which didn’t fix it, we contacted Saddleback (the UK distributor) who informed us that there had been an issue with some early test samples being sent out without enough oil in the system which caused this issue (this was sorted for the full production models). We were sent some oil and service kit which gave us a chance to go through the service and travel adjust process. 

Compared to some other posts on the market, taking the Resolve apart and servicing it is a bit more involved, and requires some specific tools. One – a star socket – is supplied with the post, but Wolftooth also specify using a certain set of Knipex piers for part of the process. You can use a standard adjustable for this but it will potentially mark the lower part of the cradle. I didn’t have the Knipex pliers and so used a wrench and it did slightly mark it. Once I had followed the instructions and topped the cylinder up to the correct level of oil, and reassembled everything, the problem with the ‘squish’ was gone.

The clamp design works well and is easy to fit the saddle and adjust the angle. The clamp uses 4mm hex bolts that are easily accessed and there are gradient marks on the lower clamp to help get things set up. The overall machining and quality of the post, like the levers Wolf Tooth produces, is top notch with a great finish and attention to detail.

Using one of Wolf Tooths own ReMote dropper levers, the action is nice and light and smooth, and has been that way for the full test period. No notchiness or stiffness and the lever has remained tight and rattle free for the duration. 

The action of the post itself is nice and smooth. After over 12 months of use through all seasons and weather conditions, with a good few crashes on it as well, there is no play in the post and it still runs nice and smoothly. 

After the initial issue with ‘bounce’ was sorted the post remained pretty much trouble free for a good period of time. That’s not to say it’s perfect though, and there are a couple of slight issues. The first one is that the post has 1mm – 2mm of movement at the top of the post when at full extension and I’ve decided to just live with this rather than taking the whole thing apart again. This has been there for a while now and hasn’t got any worse so the self purging cartridge seems to be doing what it needs and I just need to give it a quick service.

The other issue I had was with the post not fully returning, and seeming a little ‘sticky’. This first showed itself when moving the post from bike to another and initially seemed to be easily solved through with a little extra tension on the cable and a little less tightness on the seat post clamp. The problem returned though and initially was a bit sporadic. I’ve been out for a full ride and not had any issues and then had another ride where I’ve been having to pull the seatpost up to get it to full height on most uses. I checked the air pressure and this had dropped down to around 150psi, so I topped this back up to the max pressure (260psi) and also gave the shaft a really good clean. After doing this the pst seemed to work much better again and was returning on each cycle. The next step will be a full strip down and clean / service. 

Overall

The Resolve post has worked well across the 11 months it’s been in service, up until the last month or so. The build quality and finish are really good and it has generally worked well (apart from the initial issue). It is a big chunk of money though in what is an ever increasing and crowded market, with a few other offerings performing similarly well but at a much lower price. 

Check it out here

Review Info

Brand:	Wolf Tooth
Product:	Resolve Dropper Post
From:	Saddleback
Price:	£380.00
Tested:	by Ross for 12 months

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