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MTB yes, gravel bike no. I like having a place to rest my gut when I’m hanging off the back….
Not just me then?
I have a Spesh Command Post which I think is 120mm drop. It's also mechanically activated so seems pretty reliable and easy to repair. No fluids to bleed or leak. And it's lighter than many.
But as most of my riding I would only adjust it once or twice a a 3 hr ride I see no point
It's still easier, but then I have other reasons to have one. I have made some seatposts noticeably narrower in the past by raising them and lowering them manually in muddy conditions.
Could you not put a shim inside to limit the extension? Seems like an easy 3D print job.
Just had a horrific flashback to the old solution for short seat tubes which seemed to solely consist of the Titec Scoper. Droppers definitely have their plus points.
Thanks for the helpful, non combative comments - eyeing up a little dropper related treat for myself to help keep the economy going. Its probably going to be 100mm or 120mm if I can find one - got about 150mm to play with from seat rail to top of seat tube (stupid tall seat tower) 😁
Please feel free to go back to telling people why they're wrong, I have a whiskey on the go and this thread is good entertainment in places. 🤪
Never ridden a bike with a dropper, but this thread has me intrigued. Whats the difference between this and just standing up a little bit ?
Whats the difference between this and just standing up a little bit ?
Find a steep, rough descent and drop your saddle 6" and ride down it as fast as you can. Then raise your saddle back to normal and try riding down it at the same speed. Then find a long road climb and ride up it with your saddle at optimal height. Then try riding up it with your saddle dropped 6".
What you'll find is that being able to have your saddle at different heights is a big advantage on rolling terrain (i.e. where you have short steep climbs followed by rough, steep descents). Yes, I've seen pro XC racers ride down some crazy stuff with their saddles up high, but most of us aren't that good.
Whats the difference between this and just standing up a little bit ?
Standing up raises your centre of gravity. If you want to turn corners, your CoG has to move to the left or right - the lower down it is, the less far it has to move, so the quicker you can change direction, just like how a metronome moves faster when the weight is lower down.
Also, if you are going down something steep then your weight has to be behind a vertical line through the front wheel, otherwise you'll go OTB. Moving your weight back does this, but with the saddle out of the way you can move it much closer towards the rear wheel which, when you are pointing downwards, means your weight is further still from the front wheel.
It might not be immediately obvious when you first do it, but it allows you to move your body around far more in loads of ways, and once you learn how to take advantage of this you can do a lot more, quicker and better, and for most of us this means more fun.
wow i never realised having a dropper and actually using one as its
designed was such a niche market :0)
must admit i had one 4 years ago and never used it, had a few coaching sessions that have massively improved my riding, now i dont think i could ride without one now, even considering one for my gravel bike, when i decide to push its boundaries on routes i ride my mtb, having a lower cog would much aid my comfort, and fear of an otb.
I think it also depends upon the bike. Some bikes just don't feel at all right with the saddle in a fixed position. My Yeti feels fine with a rigid post, decent to pedal on the flat, and not too much of a hindrance in twisty and descendy stuff. My Stache on the other hand, if I place the saddle in a comfortable pedaling position for flat stuff over a distance, it's really in the way in the twisty stuff, if i swap it around so that it's just slightly out of the way for descendy/twisty stuff, it hurts my knees when pedalling for a long period.
I feel no need or desire to have one on a road or gravel bike. That's just dead weight for 99% of the ride.
A game changer bit of kit which i'd put into the same 'game changer' MTB developments as disc brakes, SPDs and suspension forks
Yes, happy to ride without any of them, but Christ they made a difference
Daffy
I think it also depends upon the bike. Some bikes just don’t feel at all right with the saddle in a fixed position.
Steeper seat angles have a big part to play there - it's dropper posts that have enabled modern MTBs to have those angles, if you try to ride a bike with a 79 degree SA with the seat up it's just not comfortable, the saddle is right where you don't want it.
About time I chimed in again having started this... I really didn't think there were many people who weren't aware (or accepting) of the benefits of a dropper post on a mountain bike, I assumed it was pretty universal, like disc brakes and suspension forks.
Anyway, I've just built up a new bike - an On One Scandal, complete with a fixed Thomson post. This you may think goes against my whole argument, but it was a budget build and I thought I'd use the Scandal basically for what I've ended up using my gravel bike for (I didn't expect to have both). With cost, weight, and the style of riding I had in mind, I thought I'd try it without a dropper first.
So on Sunday I did that, a quick 7 mile loop about 50% road, a gravel track climb, a bit of open hill, a hill descent, then some gravel track descending and a few bits of urban singletrack. I want a dropper. I didn't die, or really feel like I was going to, but a fixed post just limits your body positioning so much, I think once you've got one on one bike, you need a dropper on all, for off road riding with any modicum of tech anyway. Bargain 30.9mm available anywhere?
I feel no need or desire to have one on a road or gravel bike. That’s just dead weight for 99% of the ride.
I'd like one on a road bike for long descents. I'd make it much easier to get low and aero. I tried that top-tube sitting thing that the pros do and I nearly had the mother of all spectacular wipeouts at 40mph. My bike's too small and my arse is too big.
I'd liek one on my gravel bike for one tiny section near home where I need to descend a steep offroad slope to link together two paths. I can descend it with saddle full height OK, but I'm right behind the saddle when doing so, and when I reach the bottom of the slope at speed and level out the prospect of saddle-induced genital injury is always there.
And frankly, when there's even a slight risk of genital injury involved, then the OP's post title seems entirely sensible, even for just that 1% of my ride.
I really didn’t think there were many people who weren’t aware (or accepting) of the benefits of a dropper post on a mountain bike, I assumed it was pretty universal, like disc brakes and suspension forks.
Again, don't confuse this place with an accurate demographic of MTBers, I don't ride with anyone who doesn't have a dropper post on their MTB.
I want a dropper. I didn’t die, or really feel like I was going to, but a fixed post just limits your body positioning so much
That was basically my position. After years of only riding off-road (with a dropper) I got a gravel bike last Autumn. I didn't initially have a dropper as everyone said it wasn't necessary. Although I did deliberately spec a bike that gave me the option. First few trips off-road on it and the saddle was just annoying. Didn't crash, or feel like I was going to, but the saddle just got in the way of where I naturally wanted to put my body. I dare say I could learn to work around it, but why when fitting a dropper is so simple?
OK, it adds a bit of weight, but if I cared about dropping weight I wouldn't start with the bike. I guess it is one more thing to go wrong, but I've never had a dropper fail on me yet and given all the other bits that can fail it's hardly a big increase in complexity. The worst that can happen is that I have to ride home with the saddle in a sub-optimal position.