[Closed] Droppers....

I’m no fan of the Reverb, but must admit their new remote is excellent (if massive) if you’re Reverb isn’t damaged a service and a new remote might be a good shout?

I've had a KS Dropzone for about 3.5 years and it hasn't given me an ounce of trouble beyond needing to tighten the cable a couple of times. If I ever stop dithering and buy a frame to build up it will be having a KS dropper.

So far, I've tried: -

KS Lev no issues are reasonably easy to home service.

Reverb easy to service with a couple of specific tools. some spares seem over priced. They still seem to struggle with their ifp design.

Thomson lovely to use but no as reliable as I'd like and no hope of spares or home service.

Revive not had it long enough but it seems well made, easy to service and spares are cheap and readily available so that's my favourite so far.

Either that, or one that's so cheap it's disposable.

I've given up trying to buy a reliable one, now I'm looking for an easily fixable one.

After years on Reverbs I’ve just gone for a KS Lev 175. I’ve not had a chance to use it yet though, as it’s still in its box waiting to go on my new Aeris AM9 frame when it arrives, but I’m hoping it will be a good’un.

3 KS in our house, including an original i900 that’s had a warranty bearing job, an air shaft and a very rare home service, TBH it survives on neglect.  It’s out lasted 3 bikes.  Also got a lev 27.2 that’s ok apart from cable issues if I don’t lube it after a wet ride.

Might be worth having the reverb looked at first, is it still in warranty? Mine had the IFP replaced and seems much better.

Just to balance this out. I had a KS Lev that was warranty repaired three times in 6 months. It went another 6 trouble free before I sold it. And the bike. So they aren't immune to problems. Each time it was a saggy pogo like your Reverb. The stock remote on the KS was crap, so I converted a front Shimano trigger shifter to the task.

My Reverb has been trouble free for the 4 months I've had it and I don't mind the lever - it's the only style mounted below the bar rather than above.

I've had....

Reverb x2 (one external, one internal)

Ks ETen and lev

Xfusion hi-lo

Thomson

& Easton

All have either broken, started to sag into travel or just not performed/required regular attention.

I've had two brand x posts, one 120mm drop the other the newer 150mm drop. Both have performed without fault and are half the cost of most of my previous posts. They also come with a 2 year warranty if things do go wrong. Other than being 100g heavier than 'premium' posts you cant fault them. If you upgrade the cable leaver to a wolftooth, Easton/raceface or bontrager then it's a comparable action / feel to posts costing 3x as much.

As above, it's hard to see past a Brand X, it costs as much as the others do to service, has a two year warranty, swap the lever over if you like.

I think it shows the power of SRAM in the industry & media that they've had a dropper with a shite lever position for so long & still it's considered the benchmark. It's an over engineered system, keep the hydraulics in the post, use a cable to activate it via a shifter type lever. Sorted.

In our house we've had 3 Reverbs, 1 Magura Vyron, 1 x Bikeyoke Revive and a Specialized Command Post.

The Reverbs and the Magura have all been faultless. Bikeyoke went back under warranty after a couple of months and the Command Post would go slow at the hint of bad weather!

Only one of the Reverbs has had a service so far and that feels brand new. When mine is due a service, I'll look into a new remote too as that's the only think I dislike about it.

Two Thomson’s: great action, lovely build quality but rubbish lever and the new one had to go back to CRC after two months. They are very long as well compared to a KS. 2nd hand one has been flawless

Reverb: Had loads but replaced them all over time. With internal routing, not sure hydraulic actuation is worth it. Had a mate who serviced them so that saved loads of cash. But they needed servicing a lot

KS Lev: 18 months of abuse, absolutely no issues.

I liked the RF dropper on the Cotic Demo. Think that’s licensed technology from someone else tho.

Another vote for KS here. I've got three LEVs ranging in age from about four years to a bit over a month. All have been largely ignored by me and have worked faultlessly in all conditions. The oldest one began to return quite slowly recently, but a clean out buy my local shop sorted that.

I realise that it isn't exactly scientific methodology but the quantity of non working Reverbs that I seem to come across while out riding has put me off them.

I have a reverb, bit spongy, never really liked the lever. Sags a bit as well.

They sag when they leak oil.  Just top it up, surely?

Very impressed by my Bikeyoke revive 185mm. Very good build quality and feels as good as anything else. I prefer cable actuation for reliability and the revive function is simple genius. The post rarely develops play but if it does (for example if stored upside down) an Allen key and 5 seconds gets rid of it.

My only tiny gripe is the seat clamp bolts need tightening more than I would expect so may need to use loctite or grease or swap them.

My only big gripe is the insane price!

TF as service center in U.K. is a big win too.

My previous KS LEV integras gave me almost no trouble either.

I must be the only person who actually likes (or at the least, doesn't really care about) the Reverb remote?? 😉

You press it, the seat drops.  Job done surely?

(yes i've broken one in a crash ( which also broke my wrist at the same time ;-(  ), but a few sec of googling got me a replacement plunger for £7.99, and it took about 10 min to replace and rebleed)

They sag when they leak oil

I think it is when air has leaked past the IFP which means a fairly involved amount of dismantling and reassembly

I must be the only person who actually likes (or at the least, doesn’t really care about) the Reverb remote??

You aren't alone though I do prefer the new 1X remote.  My Reverbs have been very reliable and I'd sooner perform a remote bleed than faff around with some of the cable set ups when it comes time to replace a cable/swap to another frame.  The hydraulic line appears to be much more tolerant of tight routing too

I must be the only person who actually likes (or at the least, doesn’t really care about) the Reverb remote??

I had two, they’re okay, but ergonomically appalling. It’s pretty telling that most people (well people I know in real life anyway) run a RH button upside down on the left).

The new lever is excellent, but it’s expensice and IMHO way, way too complex for the sake of maintaining the “only hydraulic dropper on the market” tag when a cable is cheaper and lighter.

Like most above, I owned probably too many of them (I can’t think of another MTB part that fails as often as droppers do) and the Reverb remote is the worst for me, but my left wrist is plated and it an uncomfortable thing for me. The X-Fusion cable ‘prsss any direction you like’ remote was probably the best.

A saggy Reverb doesn't need a service, just a reset- basically a service but without replacing parts. It's non-trivial to do but it's no harder than a fork service and the guidance is good. And they tend to fail soft so they're annoying but not disastrous. I never liked the old lever but the new ones are decent.

Both my bikes have Bikeyoke 185mms on now though. They're better- better lever, longer nicer action, no hydraulic bullshit. But they should be, they cost a fortune. I still reckon the Reverb's a really good offering. I'm a total convert to longer drop, 150mm is adequate but 185mm is excellent.

I had older KSs- i900 and i950- and they were proper troopers, basic servicing was simple and big servicing was inexpensive.

I've always run the Reverb RH lever ass-about-face on the LH side, so perhaps that's why i don't mind it?? 😉

I must admit Northwind, when I had mine, it felt really nice to use. I was just disappointed when it died and the replacement didn't feel as smooth.

Instead of one of the new reverb remotes, I'd be tempted by one of the cable conversions. The reverb in my Hightower is a 170mm and it's pretty much the perfect height now.

I’ve had: -

- Crank Bros Joplin.  Worked fine for 3 years but needed a full service and I replaced it instead for a KS Lev with 50mm more drop

- KS Lev.  Was fine only needed 1 full service in 3 years and is still running faultlessly on someone else’s bike

- X-Fusion HiLo.  3 years of use but blew seals twice and I have replaced

- KS eTen.  Replacing the HiLo.  Only used for a couple of rides and it seems fine.

- Specialized Control Post IRCC.  Had for two years and had been faultless.  A really good, solid post.  Probably the best so far.

BRAND X XL and have a Reverb sticker custom made to go over the logo, using some of all that time and money saved. 👍

I must be the only person who actually likes (or at the least, doesn’t really care about) the Reverb remote??

You press it, the seat drops.  Job done surely?

The Reverb lever doesn't bother me either - all of mine have been RH ones run on the LH side under the bars. They seem fine ergonomically to me and still play nicely with my Guides. I've had numerous Reverbs and aside from one have all been flawless - the top collar came loose on one and some grit got inside and scored the stanchion. It still worked fine. None of mine ever got any attention beyond basic cleaning when the biek was cleaned and all worked fine.

I don't understand the hatred for the hydraulic system either - it's easy enough to bleed and looks like a lot less faff then some of the cable systems, some of which are very sensitive to cable tension etc.

X-Fusion Hilo SL- Seals started to go after about 18 months so recently changed them for £20. Started to leak oil and sag.  Fork oil was £8 for 500ml.

Good service video and instructions and very easy to work on. Works better than new now.

I believe the new X-fusion Manic has a replaceable cartridge instead.

I'd consider adding the crank bros highline to your shortlist. I got an early test one (125mm before the 160 was released) and it remains perfect and untouched after 2 years heavy use with no maintenance. Best remote I've used too. Testing a Manitou Jack at the moment which feels solid so far, but the remote is pretty dire (crash vulnerable, unergonomic), would recommend swapping it for an aftermarket one (eg wolftooth or CB highline).

Had a few Reverbs, one was replaced twice under warranty and the second one on other bike was also replaced, after a few rides, and I sold the replacement one. Have Fox Transfers with Wolftooth LA remotes on both bikes and really rate them. Oldest one just a year old now and off to Silverfish for a service today.

I have a reverb B2 (right lever on left under bars) on one bike and the Fox / Wolf Tooth on the other.

The action of the fox is infinitely nicer than the reverb. I'll definitely pay the extra for another fox to replace the reverb when it dies.

When they state the overall length on a website for a dropper do they mean with the post fully extended? I just measured my frame to see what length I could fit in and it's only 270mm. I need a dropper with 150mm travel and think I may struggle