I'm looking for a decent yet not too expensive dropper post for my gravel bike conversion I'm building. It has a 27.2mm seat tube and I was hoping to get one with the lever under the seat. I've found one made by Fishlor on Amazon, but I've never heard of them.
I've got a KS E-Ten crotch grab dropper on mine, its a bit porky but does the job without adding more cables. £80ish?
(just watch the height of the post, on the gravel bike you may find its down to the collar, I normally 'blip' about 10mm off the fully extended height as its a nadge too high)
Gravel riding already feels sketchy enough at times without then having to reach under the saddle! I'd just be getting one with a remote
Brand X do a 27.2 version. No idea why you would want the lever under the saddle, but you could probably mount the normal handlebar lever down there and run a really short cable if it meant that much to you.
Cannondale specced the TransX on the Topstone. They do a lever one, not sure if you can get em over here
http://www.tranzx.com/product/10dropperpost/ysp01v.html
Shimano I do one through their Pro discover range.
I had a KS to see if a dropper was a good idea (yes).
Upgraded to a PNW with custom bar mount for the lever, because the crotch grab sucked.
Should have gone for the Brand X, which is the same thing but comes with a better lever at half the price.
I like the crotch grab style, you don't need to operate it every 5 minutes, a lot of the time I just drop it an inch going offroad and raise it back for road work. I prefer being in the drops on tougher/bumpier/steeper stuff anyway so would still need to let go of the bars to drop the post.
Plus, extra cables under the bar tape is a pain and don't think you can use an internally routed post with cables under the tape as there is no slack to get the post out.
don’t think you can use an internally routed post with cables under the tape as there is no slack to get the post out.
Use an inline adjuster then you can just undo the inner cable and “split” the outer to remove the post. Works fine if the cable clamps at the lever rather than the post end.
crotch dropper for the win
don’t think you can use an internally routed post with cables under the tape as there is no slack to get the post out.
Brand X do an external 27.2 post.
My experience with dropper posts (going back to the first GravityDroppers 15 years ago) is that one you get used to them, you use them much more than you imagined you would. I think the crotch grab would get frustrating very quickly.
I still use a gravity dropper non-remote from years back, it is more fiddly especially if you like to use a mid position as you hunt around to get the pin located. But the crotch grab is just a quick flick so I think its a trade off depending on your needs. I need to remove the post to get the bike in my campervan and don't like loads of cables all over my bike so it suits me.
Wasnt there a way to mod gravity droppers with extra positions just by drilling extra holes?
Then fit a collar arround the post to limit the travel to that height and make it easier to find the position.
I got one of these;
Had to make a big hole in my new bike to make it work though. A nice chap on here has an excellent guide to DIY.
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Nice, although you could have used the bottle cage hole right next to your hole and left the drill out of it.
I put one of these on my Salsa El-Mariachi last year. It's survived the very wet and muddy winter without any issues so far.
I'm currently looking for something very similar... I run a 1X setup on drop bars and I'm thinking about getting one of these but trying to ulilise the left hand shift lever to actuate the dropper somehow. Might take a bit of work but would look very neat if I could pull it off i think!
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/brand-x-ascend-cx-85mm-105mm-dropper-seatpost/rp-prod159175
trying to ulilise the left hand shift lever to actuate the dropper somehow
Why not use the lever that is supplied with the post?
Because that’s more clutter on already relatively narrow bars (440mm drops). I only have about an inch of exposed bar either side of the stem before it turns into bar tape.
And who doesn’t like a bodging project!?
Ahh, missed the bit about the drop bars. Now it makes sense.
you could have used the bottle cage hole right next to your hole and left the drill out of it.
But then I wouldn't have a bottle cage. Because bike packing.
I like that idea marcmcq90.
Hope you get enough cable pull to activate the post.
OP - I have an old original Gravity Dropper that's 27.2mm with a remote lever. Maybe try to hunt one down. There were a number of activating options.
I dont think that you need to use it on a gravel bike as much as on an mtb so under the seat would probably be fine.
Deffo remote on the mtb though as I use it lots.
thisisnotaspoon
Wasnt there a way to mod gravity droppers with extra positions just by drilling extra holes?
Gravity Droppers do not need extra holes
I use an XLC 27.2 dropper from one of the german sites (can't remember if it was rose bikes, bike discount or bike24). Lever under the saddle. No problems so far. Finish feels nicer than expected.
Just checked my order history and it was this:
https://r2-bike.com/XLC-Sattelstuetze-Vario-SP-T09-272-mm-100-mm-Hub-50-95-kg
98euro
you could have used the bottle cage hole right next to your hole and left the drill out of it.
But then I wouldn’t have a bottle cage. Because bike packing.
Ah, fair enough. Still a nice job anyway.
I can't see how you'd use a threaded bottle cage bolt hole to get a dropper cable out of the seat tube, at least not without kinking the cable. I tried to use the hole for a DI2 battery on my bike which is bigger and that was too tight as well, it would have needed turning into a slot.
I've done it on a steel 27.2 seat tubed Kona and it works fine, just have to shave back the outer for the first few cm. Pull it through then trim off the shaved section of outer.
I'm in the market for a gravel bike with 27.2, my research has led me to the 1x SRAM lever mod, just take a few bits out and you can use the left shift lever as a dropper remote, should be tidy. Doesn't help if you're Shimano mind.
There was a Tranzx on eBay the other day, taken off a new bike
I have a KS ETen 27.2 on my stooge, with the saddle lever
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233245489436
works great!
@merak not yet but looks straight forward, all you're doing is removing the indexing mechanism leaving the cable to pull. The only challenge is that you'll need the cable to insert from the lever end, so you'll need a dropper like a KS.
Thread resurrection - did this thing ever get released? Anyone tried it?
You can mod a SRAM left hand lever to act as a dropper lever pretty easily, it does mean finding a space lefthand hydro lever though.
@honourablegeorge I bought a Koryak lever from Bike24 it was 50 EUR! There are a couple of other drop bar levers available but they are even more expensive! Not fitted yet but planning on using with a Brand X post.
I had been using a X-Fusion HiLo with under seat lever which was fine but the HiLo isn't a reliable post. I probably would have bought another under seat lever post except I already had spare Brand X.