[Closed] Dropper post with lever under saddle. Any good ?

I've got a cheap KS 100mm drop, in 27.2mm on my rigid singlespeed.
Someone will be along to say they're pointless. But in my opinion, for normal riding it's great.
Just enough drop for the sort of riding I do on it

Yep - works for me. Also on a 27.2 seat post. It’s better than not having a dropper post and takes approx 10 seconds to get used to.

i had one ages ago, but would say no.
Far easier with bat controls, do you really want to take your hands off the bars just as you reach a tricky point and want to drop the saddle a bit?

Not having a remote defeats the point, IMO.

For me, it was a way of showing me how good dropper posts could be, if they had a proper lever.

If I ever put one on my gravel bike it’ll be this style.

Cheers guys. I’ve got a dodgy left thumb so was thinking I could use my palm on the saddle lever ? Does that make sense ?

I've got a dodgy thumb too. I set my dropper up on the right. There are a few remotes that work ok this way. Much better than a lever on the saddle

I had one. As said above, scrabbling around under the saddle as the trail gets tricky gets old fairly quickly.

Then it broke. Replaced it with a remote activates one. It's still in a drawer somewhere

Far easier with bat controls, do you really want to take your hands off the bars just as you reach a tricky point and want to drop the saddle a bit?

I've always been a bit confused by this argument. No, I don't want to be taking my hands off the bars, but equally, I don't want to be pushing my weight down against the saddle.

If I've gotten to a tricky bit, and I've not already dropped my saddle, it generally stays up.

Now remotes are good, they are better than no remote, but I remember the first time I tried a reverb remote thinking who the **** designed the ergonomics on this.

I've a 100mm drop, 27.2dia one that I occasionally swap between my rigid singlespeed and cross/gravel/commute bike as required.

It is a bit less convenient to use than the bar mounted ones on other bikes, but 27.2 options are limited, and the ease of quickly swapping between bikes makes it worth having. On these two bikes I see the alternative as not having dropper, therefore the under seat lever is better than nothing.

Now remotes are good, they are better than no remote, but I remember the first time I tried a reverb remote thinking who the **** designed the ergonomics on this.

This +1

A better question might be "which remote has the lightest action?" I've also got knackered thumbs and find the brand-x dropper with ZTTO remote and nice cables to be pretty good. The big paddle also means you're not having to press it with the tip of your thumb so there's better leverage.

Although to be fair they messed up but it wasn't ergonomics, it was released in the days when 2x drive chains were still the default so had to be above the bar. And it did work better there. It was only because everyone was buying right hand levers then flipping them under the left that it was quite as rubbish as it was. They should have made wide range cassettes first, or integrated it with their front shifter (could have used a variation on the roadie doubletap mechanism, click for down, press for up, press when already in top for the dropper).

I think as I got used to the reverb I'd get used to a saddle lever too. You just drop it all the way and leave it there the whole descent. Whereas some people like to raise it up as soon as the trail flattens out slightly so they can sit and pedal.

Could make a pull lever from a small brake lever or old gear shifter. So use fingers rather than thumb.

I still stand by an under seat dropper lever being fine.
Sure if you're racing, want to be king/queen of Strava or can't ride one handed, then bar lever is a must.

I still stand by an under seat dropper lever being fine.
Sure if you’re racing, want to be king/queen of Strava or can’t ride one handed, then bar lever is a must.

Just go back to a QR and be done with it

I see many of these have the lever at the front. Must look to some like you're constantly fiddling with yourself 😯

Or offer a solution to someone with dodgy thumbs.

Must be a way to make a trigger dropper lever. Might have a tinker myself, as my thumbs are getting a bit battle worn.

jam-bo
If I ever put one on my gravel bike it’ll be this style.

I started with a cheap KS like that for my gravel bike to see if it was a worthwhile idea.
Definitely & worth upgrading to a PNW remote version. External routing means it's easy to swap for a rigid post for bike packing duties.

I've got an old gravity dropper with the pull pin on the front, that's a little fiddly especially if you want to use the intermediate position.

However, a crotch grab lever under the nose of the saddle works great especially if the dropper is an infinite position one rather than 2 or 3 specific positions.
I can very easily swap it between bikes, on the gravel bike I'll give it a quick tap and drop the saddle an inch when riding offroad, on the MTB I'll use it before entering techy downhill stuff.

I don't need extra cables, I don't need a bar remote cluttering up the bars, it doesn't need a special drop bar remote (if you are going to mount it by the stem that's no better than a non-remote, and I don't need to push outer cable into the frame as I withdraw the post. (Wife just got an internal dropper with a drop bar remote, what a faff to get the saddle out, I imagine it would be easy to break the remote by straining the inner cable)

The old rase dropper posts have a finger actuated remote. You might find other brands from before the days of 1x with a similar setup?

They sucked compared to ones with a remote. Only time they were practical was on a DH bike in Morzine.

Had both, would never go back to taking my hand off the bars, i'm not a regular racer or Strava queen I'd just rather not stack it on a techy section because i've got to take on hand off to fiddle about under my seat.

I don’t want to be pushing my weight down against the saddle.

Not really an issue in my experience, a split second to lower your but is second nature, its just part of riding, riding one handed down a rock garden isn't.

I had one on a XC bike that had no internal routing and it was OK but I wouldn’t ride a trail bike without a remote dropper. For the OP - what about a wireless dropper? Very spendy but potentially better for a dodgy left thumb.

If you have thumb problems you could modify and old XTR shifter into a dropper remote. They’re pretty cheap to buy nowadays and usually have a really light action compared to regular remotes.

Or just go AXS and have a button to push

I come from a time when we all used to stop at the top of a tricky descent and drop our saddles with the QR and stop again at the bottom to raise them.
And stop again 10 seconds later to get them to the right height.
Which means I'm not just old school but proper old and my dropper us mostly used to get the saddle out of the way when swinging my leg over the back. If the under saddle activator couldn't used with one hand while pressing down it would be pretty useless to me.

my dropper us mostly used to get the saddle out of the way when swinging my leg over the back. If the under saddle activator couldn’t used with one hand while pressing down it would be pretty useless to me

Yeah a very useful thing. Especially returning after injury.

If only one thumb is bad, KS do a lever which replaces the grip lock on. Should be able to use that on the RHS instead

I come from a time when we all used to stop at the top of a tricky descent and drop our saddles with the QR and stop again at the bottom to raise them.
And stop again 10 seconds later to get them to the right height.

maybe it just need rebranding like gravel bikes were.

turbo release?

you could modify and old XTR shifter

I use a sunrace SLM10 thumb shifter, but it achieves the same ends. With a Thomson dropper you can set position of the shifter so that return to full height is really slow - utterly pointless but looks cool.

I come from a time when we all used to stop at the top of a tricky descent and drop our saddles with the QR and stop again at the bottom to raise them.

I had a hite rite on my bike. Seemed like a good idea but I wasn't heavy enough to actually compress it! Still not 🙂

I've just ordered my first ever dropper post, bit of a compromise as the only option I can fit in the frame is a 27.2 105mm and use a shim. From 30 years with the seat up I'm sure it'll be an improvement and it's all wheels on the ground xc riding.

Back in the day when internally routed dropper posts didn't exist I had both a KS and X-Fusion one with an under saddle lever. Both were decent, overall the KS one was better - the only real downside is when you're heading down a fast steep section straight into a steepish climb. Managing to change gear while using your other hand to raise the saddle certainly took some getting used to. Nowerdays I just run an internally routed one, can't see myself going back to a lever.

I come from a time when we all used to stop at the top of a tricky descent and drop our saddles with the QR and stop again at the bottom to raise them.
And stop again 10 seconds later to get them to the right height.

For me the main advantage of my first dropper was it'd put the seat back to the correct height. It wasn't difficult to lower some seat post/bike combinations whilst riding along with a quick release but I certainly couldn't get it back up again.

There’s some really good points there guys. Think I will try a few and see how it goes. I’ve got a couple of left shifters in my odds box (doesn’t everyone nowadays ?)
I’ve got the cable Devine Bike Yoke so might try with that. Bit of a pain and fiddly but if it works it’ll be worth it.
Bigjohn I come from a time when no one THOUGHT about dropping the saddle !

jam-bo
Full Member

Now remotes are good, they are better than no remote, but I remember the first time I tried a reverb remote thinking who the **** designed the ergonomics on this.

A triumph of design, literally worked better upside down and on the opposite side from where it was designed to go.

But then, they still sold more of them than any of the better options, and then managed to sell people upraded levers, so maybe they got it right after all.

Arthritis in my left thumb also, I opted for

Or just go AXS and have a button to push

and it is ideal, infact I have them on both MTBs. Expensive option though.

Having a wobble just before a gnarly bit trying to grab an old under saddle lever was called 'doing a Michael' in my old riding group.

Not really an issue in my experience, a split second to lower your but is second nature, its just part of riding

I dunno. It's weird to me. You're not just lowering your bottom, you're reducing your weight on the pedals and limiting the amount you can shift your balance through your feet.

This thread takes me back to my Maverick Speedball…

I dunno. It’s weird to me. You’re not just lowering your bottom, you’re reducing your weight on the pedals and limiting the amount you can shift your balance through your feet.

Maybe you can demonstrate how you ride some of the steep stuff round here with your seat up to me?
You ain't going to shift your balance anywhere with the seat up.

As said above dropper with the Michael Jackson dick grab lever were great when that's all you could get but only half did the job that droppers were intended for.

Maybe you can demonstrate how you ride some of the steep stuff round here with your seat up to me?
You ain’t going to shift your balance anywhere with the seat up.

Try reading the thread.

It's not a not-dropping-seat thing. It's wondering how much betterer a remote really is over a under-seat lever.

Try reading the thread.

As stated.
Half as good.

It’s not a not-dropping-seat thing.

It is if the choice is leaving the saddle up or taking your hands off the bar when the terrain gets tricky

You said this:

If I’ve gotten to a tricky bit, and I’ve not already dropped my saddle, it generally stays up.

You said this:

Yes. I did. But that wasn't a dropper vs not-dropper point.

If things suddenly got a lot more technical than I was expecting, then I'm generally not in a position to drop my seat, no matter if it's a remote or not (I only have a remote lever, I've never tried an under-seat lever). Maybe it's better/easier on a moderner geometry bike, but I'd generally want to keep my weight through my feet.

All I'm saying is that, when I normally want to drop my saddle before I hit the gnarly stuff, I'm not sure that a under saddle lever would be massively inferior.

I'd much rather move my thumb and my ass than try and either do the dick grabber move or ride with the seat up when I'm dropping into even an easy trail.
No idea how you could possibly weight the bike to any usefulness with a seat in the way.
Thank **** we don't have to try riding steep stuff with a seat in the chest and a tyre in the arse any more.

All I’m saying is that, when I normally want to drop my saddle before I hit the gnarly stuff, I’m not sure that a under saddle lever would be massively inferior.

Next time you operate your dropper, grab the saddle with your other hand, see how it goes.