I cant think of a position where I thought a dropper would make a difference over the whole concept of the frame geometry , handlebars, tyres etc being more of a compromise than and extra 2″ of seat clearance.
At that point get yourself on an mtb for the win. Or if you are just using it for 1 steep decent per ride get over it and get on with it.
Yeah, there's that point when you're out exploring a new trail and find that it's steepening up so you just whip your MTB out and leave the gravel bike leaning against a tree. Or alternatively maybe just flick the lever, drop the saddle a few inches and carry on riding, because having a dropper fitted has no impact on anything else on the bike other than adding a little weight, and even if it only gets used every few rides still gets used.
OK, so posting on here earlier gave me the nudge to go and try and fit my dropper onto my gravel bike.
However it seems I've hit a snag, the lever that came with the post seems to be a mountain bike version, which won't fit my (Easton) bars anywhere even to try it out.
Does anyone sell a gear cable joining adapter that my Google-fu is failing to find? As I mentioned, ideally I'd prefer to control it with a de-ratcheted shifter, but that falls down as niether the shifter nor the post have a clamp to grip the cable, they both expect the nipple end of the cable. FWIW, my frame needs full outer cables, there's no stops to join the inner between.
Otherwise it looks like £20-30 for a 31.8mm clamp lever to go next to the stem, which doesn't seem the ideal place for it, or £55-£75(!) for a lever next to the brake lever.
Am I missing a magic other option?
@roach I just ran a bit of clear Gorilla tape over the area on the stanchion that the bag overlapped with to protect it. Still had some dropper function available, but not the full stroke obviously. Whip it off when you’re done and it’s back to normal with full drop.
Another benefit of them is additional comfort over a standard post due to the skinny stanchion.
