[Closed] Dropper post for young'un

Do cheap and cheerful then brand X is the usual answer, do some careful measuring though as they are quite long so you need decent insertion inside the frame.

Cheers, I had thought of length/shortness outside the frame but not inside!

Yeah brand X 105mm dropper is 390mm in length, which is fairly long. Maybe look at some do the xc orientated ones that have less drop and are therefore a bit shorter.

Mrs_oab's weeny Giant won't fit a dropper - not enough insertion available, even for 75mm CX BrandX post...

Funnily enough I went through this to get a dropper for my wifes XS Giant Reign, and the shortest post I could find was the KS Lev, it has 100mm of travel and 175mm of insertion. I've been hanging onto it as it was so expensive new but we dont have a bike to fit it to anymore.

My lads got an xfusion HiLo (nicked from my bike). He did have a tmars one, but wasn't heavy enough to get it down. Also think about the lever for it, small hands might struggle with some levers

Cheers. I upgraded his bike to hydraulic discs which needed separate shifters...he struggles with the throw on the front one.

We got cheap one from Chainreeactionfor my 9 year old, riding an old Epic that doesn’t have internal routing.
If the bike has(or you are willing to drill) internal routing, there are more options, OneUp and PNW tout their super low stack droppers, and they have adjustable travel.
As mentioned above, measure all the different dimensions beforehand, and make sure you can return easily cheaply, if it doesn’t fit.

Does it sound like he has a front derailleur? That will need to go. You can get cheap wide range cassettes from Sunrace these days even for 8 speed, so no kid should have to deal with a front derailleur and shifter anymore.

The one linked here is indestructible, short and cheap. Ticks all the boxes. The Canyon one at the bottom of the thread is also good it it will fit as it's basically the same post.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-cheap-dropper-post/

If it has to be externally routed the Brand X ones are the same and good value.

short and cheap.

They're not that short - it won't fit mrs_oab's bike.

Out of frame is fine, but the frame needs another cm+ of insertion. I'm looking at getting a low stack saddle, see if that makes it workable...

So it's 30.9 with 100mm above the seatpost and 250mm below.

Sounds like the 125mm Brand X would work?

Any recommendations of a cheap starter as mentioned first post?

(bump)

The more I look into this, the worse it looks.

With only 100mm showing at full height, a significant proportion of that (50mm?) seem to be taken up by the parts above the seat tube that don't compress (the collar at the top of the base part and the saddle clamp part at the top).

I don't have access to one to check, or the bike, I'm just working from photos...am I about right?

They’re not that short – it won’t fit mrs_oab’s bike.

Out of frame is fine, but the frame needs another cm+ of insertion. I’m looking at getting a low stack saddle, see if that makes it workable…

What frame is it? My wife has a '15 Liv Intrigue. I got one of the 125mm droppers but like you say, didn't go in far. However, I had the 'shims' from a v1 OneUp that the internet suggested may just work, and what do you know, they do! So it's now on about 90mm of drop, which isn't great, but it's better than nothing.

Interested in what @paladin said there about weight. A friend has just got a dropper RSP plummet? and seemingly isn't heavy enough to drop it properly. We managed to get it moving a bit freer by fettling the barrel adjuster at the lever to be really close to unlocked without having to press the lever. But she still can't get it to full drop. So what are the best light action droppers? Is she going to be forced to go fancy/expensive to get one you can adjust the spring pressure?