[Closed] Dropper post on hardtail

Do it, it make it easier to raise and lower the saddle!!

Why is this even a question? Do it.

I would. Even my rigid xc bike has a dropper, riding without suspension can be fun but riding without a dropper just feels bad. It's a quality-of-ride multiplier basically.

Not everyone is into dropping their post though.

Had one on mine since I got the bike. Just as useful on an HT as a FS if not more so.

I've got one on my rigid singlespeed, and use it all the time. Just get one.

Depends on the hardtail and what you ride on it - if its a climbfest or lots of up and down the saddle on my SS XC bike goes down an inch, if its pretty flat then its way-high for maximum spinnage.

Anything jumpy or bumpy and I'll be on a more suitable bike - usually - have ridden one DH track on that^ bike and I wont be doing that agen 😀

Do it. I would go back to fully rigid and canti brakes before I gave up my droppers.

And consider a Dirt Flap too. Nothing a piece of inner tube and some zip ties cant do, but a quality bit of kit and far neater. And it's called a Dirt Flap which sounds rude.

Why would there be a doubt as to whether to fit one or not?!

Because they're something of a fashion accessory?

As the sage-like northwind points out, if you don't drop it now then is there a need to?

What Diameter?

Rob - having the option to drop it, at will, instead of getting off the bike and fannying about with a qr or allen key though are two very different things.

I was dubious about the benefits until I got one. Wouldnt want to ride without one now.

Having been doing a lot of steep riding, usually as the only person without one, it's really annoying how much slower I feel having to bugger around with my QR!

Especially if the damn post jams up all the time due to rust and grit 🙁

No shit monkeyboy, but the amount of fannying about it actually saves is an expensive luxury - not too dissimilar to having electric vs wind-up windows in your car; costs more, saves you no actual time, possibly encourages laziness, plays to our 1st world expectations and provides something more to go worng.

Yes, I have been drinking 🙂

Rob Hilton - Member

No shit monkeyboy, but the amount of fannying about it actually saves is an expensive luxury

It's not really the fannying about though, it's the not stopping, and the always having the seat at the right height. Nothing else adds flow to a ride like a dropper.

@huffnpuff

Depending on bike and your needs?

Thought I'd miss my reverb when I got my hardtails, but being a 29'er the drop between saddle and bars is much flatter, I can ride down steeps without feeling the need to lower my saddle

Nothing else adds flow to a ride like a dropper

Bullshit. How about skills?

Learn, practice, repeat. The flow you find on a trail comes from your abilities/capabilities. You don't buy it, you carry with you; it comes from within...

Aummmm...

Monkeyboy?!

An expensive luxury . . . That can be had for £29.99 and isn't a piece of junk either. So that argument doesn't really work anymore. And if the post 'goes wrong', then you are no worse off than the people who have a regular seatpost, which is all one needs apparently based on your argument against them.

I'm not arguing against them at all - I have 2 😀

I totally disagree with this though:

"Why is this even a question? Do it."

Is it the be all and end all? A necessity? Hell no! All about circumstance 🙂

They make a lot of sense if you want to add extra enjoyment to your riding experience. On a performance view point all the Enduro racers are running them and they are starting to be tested by XC world cup competitors just a matter of time I think before we will see them used in WC races.

They on hardtails?

Thus far Eastridge is the only UK place I've ridden where one makes real sense, obviously I've not ridden everywhere, but they hardly place in the "makes riding faster or more funsies" stakes compared to real advanced like suspension forks or disc brakes.

Or skillz 😉

Rob Hilton - Member

Bullshit. How about skills?

OK, fair point- best thing you can buy, for your bike, to add flow and improve the ride. Assuming it's not a raleigh activator

it make it easier to raise and lower the saddle

That's one of the reasons i got one. I was skeptical but it does do.

Surely though, one of the skillz you need is to get off the saddle and move around....which is what a dropper allows you to do.

Personally if it's a 'core ht then yes get one, you won't look back.

Has significantly improved my uphillness and downhillness since fitting my first one a month or so ago.

I actually put my progress going uphill down to my reverb.
genius bits of kit.

Building up a ht at the mo that's only going to require a qr seat clamp I reckon at the most so not for me on ht as it's primarily a xc/light trail ht.

This is a fairly pointless discussion to be honest.

They do what you think they do. If you are moving your seat a lot [steep terrain], then you'll find you have a lot more 'flow' to your rides, if you don't care about the delay, or don't move your seat then it's less/not an issue.

Just check the one you want allows you to move the seat as far as you need [sufficient 'throw' vs the distance you normally drop the seat], then calculate whether you think it's worth it for you to spend the £.

Where do you guys ride that you find a dropper is needed?

Calderdale.

It's not needed, but it would be a whole lot nicer if I had one.

onewheelgood - Member

Where do you guys ride that you find a dropper is needed?

Absolutely nowhere. Where is it great? Pretty much everywhere else.

I got one and was a bit disappointed TBH. It goes up and down and all that but with all the hoohaa about them I just want to do something....else? Maybe if when you dropped it said 'Skillz set to SikkCOn1' or put it back up and it give you little 'allez allez' it would be better? And some sound effects or something?

Where do I ride?

The Dales
South Pennines
The Lakes
Scotland
The Peak
Wales
The Alps

(In roughly that order of frequency)

I'm on a 29er but have shortish legs so really useful for me.

Sound effect? Maybe the sound the doors make on the Starship Enterprise? 8)

You mean the doors in Futurama 😉

@the stabiliser

en you dropped it said 'Skillz set to SikkCOn1' or put it back up and it give you little 'allez allez'

😆

I've not owned one, but used one once or twice.. and couldn't really see the point TBH. I'm sure if I owned one, the servicing-cleaning-faff, maintenance, weight, cost, extra thing to go wrong, would probably outweigh any minor benefits.

I never drop my saddle - and find that when having used a dropper, having the saddle out of the way when going over fast stuff is actually a little disconcerting. Somehow, I've grown used to the saddle as another contact point for some subliminal chassis feedback. I think.

I never bother with really steep stuff anyways, as it just ain't my bag.

So I'm yet to be sold on the idea, TBH.

Despite being an old fart I've only been riding off road seriously for three years, so droppers have always been part of the arsenal and I couldn't imagine riding off road for any length of time without one. Whether that be on a full suss, hardtail or, heaven forfend, a rigid bike. Well I could, I've tried it, just to make sure I can and if I set the saddle about an inch below optimal climbing height I can get by with just dropping it for extended descents. But it's just that, getting by and not something I'd do out of choice. If nothing else, my old knees start to grumble if I do long climbs with the seat a bit too low.

You don't have to be somewhere steep or gnarly to make use of them, half the joy is getting the saddle out of the way for corners on flat trails then popping it back up for pedalling.

Don't see how you can get your body in the best position for cornering and descending with a saddle up your arse....

ha agree total fad

i went out with a MTB group year or so ago - they were all on 2-3k+ bikes and we approached this downhill bridleway and and they all stopped to "Drop" their droppers and i was like WTF - what are you doing

ridden it for years and never bothered - made me laugh they all stopped and did it like sheep

A whole group that are all using some kind of mythical dropper post that requires you to stop to use it? Do you live some kind of weird parallel universe?!

I ride just as steep and technical stuff on a rigid bike as I do on anything else, so a dropper post is just as useful. Yes, I used to ride a lot of the same stuff before dropper posts existed but now we have them, why not use them? Like disc brakes really.
Anyway, I've just come back from the pub and now I'm off to bed - I'm supposed to be riding tomorrow......

kid you not it happened - i nearly rear ended them and they were still slow on the down hill so dropping really improved things for them

Yep, seen plenty of people stop to activate their 'dropper' post.....I've currently got the Decathlon/Btwin £30 one on my HT, seems great but on the first ride I forgot it was there half the time which shows I didn't really need one and it is just a luxury, nice but a luxury nonetheless.

I had a Gravity Droppper which was about £150 on the big bike and that was used most rides but it went with the nature of the bike.
I was without a dropper for about a year and all I did was drop the saddle about an inch below optimum for pedalling....and that was it, steep rough stuff I just went up on the pedals and moved back....if it required more than that I'd usually stop to scope it out anyway and while looking to see if it was rideable I'd manually drop the seatpost with the QR clamp.

My only bike is a hardtail, and it has a dropper.

Didn't think I "needed" it, and of course I don't. But I really like steep stuff, and really dislike stopping to faff. So it's been pretty good.

🙂

Really good for steep, technical riding where a lower CoG and ability to move the bike out of your bodies way is great. Also good if sessioning drops and jumps.