Dropper seatpost too high for me.

Buy a shorter Brand X, sell the fox for more than you paid for the Brand X. Keep the extra money to one side (🤣). If you find the Brand X isn't what you want, the prices might have gone back up by then and you will probably get your moeny back!!

I've had a couple of Brand X's and they've been great.

No idea, but is it possible to reduce the extension? Maybe spacers to take it from 150 to 125, similar to what you can do with forks.

Might be worth asking someone like TFTuned.

I’ve no experience of Brand X droppers but I do have a transfer and like most things I’d say you get what you pay for.

Buy fancy new 155mm cranks.

Some posts you can shim, but Idont think the fox is one of them

constant source of annoyance?

I can only imagine it will be this. Sounds really irritating and reduces the functionality of what, even second hand, is a very high value and good quality mountain bike.

Are you particularly long torsoed and short legged for a 6 footer. I'm surprised you are having this issue on a large.

sharkattack

Buy fancy new 155mm cranks.

^^^^ This might seem off the wall... but you'd be amazed how much even 5mm shorter cranks make. ^^^^

tonyd

I’ve no experience of Brand X droppers but I do have a transfer and like most things I’d say you get what you pay for.

I've got both... well I have a not working Fox in the shed... not worth paying to service when it costs more than buying a new brand X that works every bit as well.

Sell the fox- someone with more money than sense will buy it (you’re in the right place)

Buy a cheaper one. OneUp have a 20% off sale right now… they’re good posts, with low ‘stack’ length. You can also adjust the travel.

Lower profile saddle?

buy a 150mm one up, and if needs be can be shortened down to 130mm..possibly has a shorter stack height anyway
either way. its nice to have the seat post slammed to the collar, it makes you at least 7% faster...

I recently frame swapped from a bird aeris 145 to banshee spitfire, and was almost ok on my 180mm oneup but couldnt drop it all the way in the frame.. i either ended up riding on tip toes, or trying to set the post ~20mm shorter.. it got very boring very quikly so shimmed it

Certainly check the crank length, if 175mm then 165mm cranks is easy win. I'd buy a 150mm one-up dropper, the stack height will be a bit lower and then you can them shim the drop to suit.

alan1977

either way. its nice to have the seat post slammed to the collar, it makes you at least 7% faster…

Get your keyboard cleaned ... you obviously pressed 7 twice but only one showed... everyone knows its 77% faster.

I have this problem nearly all the time - I'm 5ft 10 but with the leg length of someone whos 5ft 7.

The critical bike fit criteria then is Reach/ST length ratio - Bikes with a long reach but short seat tube fit well. Scotts are particularly poor in this regard!

You can

- Run a shorter dropper
- Run shorter cranks
- Use a shallower saddle.

With the shorter two you can gain a little, but not 25mm. You need a shorter (or adjustable) dropper.

Replace it with a one-up and you might still get a 150mm one to fit as they have a low overall height. Old fox transfers had a very high overall height by comparison.

In case it helps anyone, I had a dropper inserted as far as it would go in a Gen 3 FlareMAX - it has a kinked seattube - and it was just slightly too high for me. Fitting a Nukeproof Horizon saddle was enough to make it perfect. It's the lowest stack saddle I could find and sold as 'low stack. It's also decently comfortable though being short-nosed looks slightly odd, but who looks at their saddle when they're riding? Obviously not enough to make 25mm difference unless the OP's current saddle is like some sort of elephant-riding seat.

bend the saddle rails down a bit, should take 20mm off

fwiw my seatpost on full extension is road pedalling height. If I'm riding flattish singletrack I have to drop it an inch. I don't find this an issue at all.

its nice to have the seat post slammed to the collar, it makes you at least 7% faster…

see, I disagree.

I think it looks like its been built for a photoshoot, not set up for its owner. Like brake levers right up to the grips.

Of course, the advent of adjustable travel posts means it is more likely to be both these days than a few years ago.

I also think that a bit of mud, a bottle cage, and maybe even a mount for a garmin or light shows you ride the thing, rather than photograph it; so I'll probably get flamed for this opinion.

any chance of a photo of the bike? It does seem a bit odd you're having this issue with your height on a large. I wonder if there's a particularly high stack saddle and long cranks at play.

If your legs are that relatively short then shorter cranks might help you in more way than one.

I also think that a bit of mud, a bottle cage, and maybe even a mount for a garmin or light shows you ride the thing, rather than photograph it; so I’ll probably get flamed for this opinion.

I employ a stylist to make sure my bikes look just right in pics on social even down to what sort of mount is fitted and at what angle and using mud to match the local trails rather than just any old crap. An artful cosmetic scratch or two or a Photoshopped dent go a long way to establishing authenticity too. So many riders are just lazy when it comes to this sort of thing.

Btw, bottle cages divide opinion. Some think them a bit dated, others that it shows real world use. My take is that you need to choose the cage carefully and style it to match the bike. Nowt worse than titanium wire on a carbon frame for example.

Same solution as for a lazy/small/ unfit child....

Bit of string. ( obviously this won't be bling/complex/overengineered enough for STW, but it works.

I have this situation, like @5lab I find full extension fine for road riding but want it 25mm down for flat single-track (which is all we really have locally), but I do find it annoying. 3 years in I'm only just starting to get the hang of actually using a dropper, getting past 25+ years of not having our needing one, and now maybe setting that inch down position is getting easier/more intuitive.

I’d get yourself a Oneup dropper post - it has probably the lowest stack height per mm of drop - plus you can fine tune the length of drop by 20mm using simple brass inserts that come with the dropper.

@thegeneralist I did consider the courier fixie hipster anti saddle theft trick of a loop of old chain

I have a similar problem as OP on 2 bikes both XL I'm 6'3" or 1.91M but only have 33" inside leg so a L frame feels bunched up for my upper body but with both 150 droppers pushed right into the frame its just too high at full extension. not a problem at the moment as I'm not allowed to ride for health reasons.

Get a new Brand x dropper or a OneUp if you need a shorter insert length.

Tie a bit of thin rope from the saddle rail to the top tube that stops it going higher than you want.

Swap you a 125 mm reverb for your 150 dropper?

Buy a Brand X 125mm dropper and sell the Fox. You'll make money and have a bike that fits.
Win-win.

Another one for the string option here

If/When you come to changing it, post up the process. I've also a Genius Eride and was thinking of losing the dropper(Sorry XL 170mm) but given the motor and cable routing, its not something i'd happily want to get into without instruction.

PS. If the string option is too cheapskate then Vecnum Nivo is an option at the other end of the scale. The travel on them is adjustable

Scott’s seat tubes have always been long!

I like to size up my bikes so at 5’ 10” ride a large but usually have to replace the 170mm dropper that comes with the large sizes for a 150mm dropper. However I prefer this as I like the reach of the large!

Just replace the dropper for the next one down, travel wise.

I'll sell you a USE 125mm dropper for the same price as a BrandX/TransX.

Got a OneUp 210mm shimmed to 190mm on the last bike that previously had a Transfer 150mm. Both slammed.

Thanks for all the helpful comments and offers 😄
I'm not massively out of proportion - longer torso and my 501s are 30" leg. I'm old enough to remember the string trick, did think about a Hite-Rite.
I don't want to swap - the bike is a 2021 model, well looked after and upgraded but the post is a bit slow to return so it's bound to need a service soon. The USE is supposed to be a bit long, so I'll pass.
I used to ride with J-Claw off here - one of the founders of OneUp so I'm drawn to that, but as a long time cheapskate I'll probably get a BrandX and fit it carefully so if it doesn't give me the fit I need I can send it back.
My Charge Spoon is fairly low profile and I don't think the shorter crank idea is for me.

“ I don’t think the shorter crank idea is for me.”

If 30” leg jeans fit then it almost certainly is! (Speaking as someone who buys 34” leg jeans and runs 165mm cranks on both bikes).

Adding to string tip: tie it to seatpost collar bolt and add rubber band to keep slack from the string controlled.

Shorter cranks make a surprising difference, and IME are much kinder on the knees. I have a 29" inside leg and use 170mm cranks, tempted with 165 next time. Not sure that would get the OP what he needs though?

Update: splendid ride today, I didn't find the extra height a problem today, quite ok with dropping it down to a good riding height for the flat stuff. My legs aren't that stubby, I found my 30" 501s are the same length as my 32" ones from a couple of years back. They must have changed their patterns. And I checked the cranks - they're 165.