[Closed] Has anyone "gone back" from a dropper post?

Yes and no.

I find that I use it a lot for certain riding - trail centres being the obvious one for me. For much of the local stuff I ride I don't find it much advantage so often take it off the bike.

Took mine off as I didn't use it. Don't notice at all.

If I could jump I might!

If you live anywhere with any kind of decent descents then you'll miss it, i defo missed having one.

Same as Nemesis - I only have one mtb (steel hardtail) at the moment and prefer to swap between my dropper and a Thomson depending on the ride. Part of this is that I only have a cheap dropper (X-fusion HiLo) and it has some movement when riding which I find annoying. Fine for trail centres etc but not for 50 miles on the south downs. Perhaps if I had a reverb that was rock solid it might be different

Took mine off because I didn't use it. Fitted an EC90 so saved a lot of weight. I didn't use the full drop so now I just put the seat up and down manually.

I run one on both my offroad bikes; enduro and xc and wouldn't be without them, I run an old hardtail as my commuter and still miss having a dropper if I ride down the odd set of steps, but I manage just fine

So in answer yes I can live without one, but life's better with a dropper and the more so the gnarlier the riding

I have one shared between 4 bikes and I dont always swap it over.
I would prefer to have one on all bikes but it is not essential and wuite expensive to do this.
I would not be without it though

I have a Reverb on my full sus and have now turned into a mincer extraordinaire if I'm out on one of my other bikes which don't have one. Currently pondering what 27.2 post to fit to my fat bike.

Anyone else hopeless now without one?

Went from reverb to doss as I prefered the known amount of drop on the doss versus the infinite on the reverb - then ditched it all together for an ENVE post - don't miss it, although local stuff is flat the peaks isn't and I still don't miss it there

Took mine off my Ti 29 for a Ti post for weight, comfort and pure vanity.

I've never had one. Mainly because

1. They weigh more
2. They cost more
3. They can spoil a bike's aesthetics
4. They have poor reliability
5. I can drop the post if I need to, don't do it very often.

Even when I built a lightweight rigid titanium XC bike, it had a dropper post- riding with no suspension is fun, riding with no dropper was just irritating. My hybrid doesn't have one though.

Ironically the only rides I wouldn't miss it, are the more severe ones- riding up to bomb down basically, with fewer seatpost height changes. Anything up-and-down I want it.

[i]I've never had one. Mainly because

1. They weigh more
2. They cost more
3. They can spoil a bike's aesthetics
4. They have poor reliability
5. I can drop the post if I need to, don't do it very often.
[/i]

6. I've never had one and therefore don't realise how useful they are...

Ironically the only rides I wouldn't miss it, are the more severe ones- riding up to bomb down basically, with fewer seatpost height changes. Anything up-and-down I want it.

Similar for me: if its a winch & plummet ride, i don't miss a dropper at all and having to stop to drop the saddle manually is a chance to have a quick rest/catch breath. However i do miss having a dropper on xc rides where on the start of a descent i don't want to stop to drop the saddle but know I'll enjoy the descent more with a dropped saddle

I've got two in the shed FS

Stopped using them - use your body instead

I do a lot of long rides with sharp downhills and I don't like stopping,don't have a dropper but i do need one,I demo'd a nomad with a dropper on it and liked it,just can't justify spending the money on a brand new one,but don't wasn't to buy second hand in case if get sold a dud.

I had one, didn't use it much, it kept needing fixed so I sold it. Similar to Northwind, I find the last place I need it is enduro races. One change at top and bottom of stages is fine. I went on a riding holiday and really did need one so bought one, but will sell again probably more back in Scotchland. Just less faff, and I've dropped my saddle for years and years just fine with a qr

(I actually do use mine in most enduro races- maybe only a couple of times in a day actually in the stages, but always at times it makes a big difference. I've rarely done an enduro where it wasn't invaluable.)

I have one. It works well. I only use it at bike park Wales. I drop at start, raise at bottom lol. I could do without it with ease.

Anything up-and-down I want it.

Ooh Matron!

I'd rather give up on suspension.

Not so much "gone back" but I bought a second MTB and thought a pair of Reverbs was a mild extravagance. Managed for about 6 weeks but I've just bought a second one. Mainly because I can't manually lower the seat every time I want to do a sick stunt. It was really impeding my stunting.

They're pretty cheap on Merlin for anyone still on the fence. (OEM £150).

No way. Dropper first on the list now.

I'm considering building a new hard tail up but need a reasonably priced (used) frame ideally a Soul or Slackline but all the used frames are 27.2 and I don't want to build one without a Reverb!

Mines up and down like a yo yo nearly every decent I want the saddle down without this it's difficult to move freely...there's a reason DH riders and DJ riders have their seat slammed!

I use mine a lot so no.

I don't use mine as much as when I first got one, this actually makes it more valuable. I only drop it when I need it for as long as I need it now. It's still great, I ride more with the saddle up as I can drop it for the bit of the trail I want not just the section etc.

No...1/2lb additional weight over a standard alu post for some serious advantages make it a no brainer IMO

Spoilt the ride on my Niner. Felt too stiff.
Plus it was such a faff to use.

Occasionally guide on the hardtail when either I feel like it or my big bike is broken.

I don't miss the travel. I don't miss the monster tires. I don't miss the massive brakes. I miss the dropper post.

takisawa2 - Member

Plus it was such a faff to use.

I can only assume you have no fingers and are posting this with your nose.

bonesetter - Member

I've got two in the shed FS

Stopped using them - use your body instead

what make and size are they, what sort of price you looking.

thanks chris.

iv got one on my full sus just need to buy one for the HT,
would not be with out one now i spent years thinking they were just over priced bling but after riding and using one for 2 years i can see why people like them.

Been using one since the original Gravity Dropper came out. Wouldn't consider a fixed post ever again. It was a real game changer for me on gnarly steep single track. They were a novelty back then, but I'm not surprised droppers are now pretty much standard issue on serious trail bikes.

Think it depends on a few factors, mainly how much steep descending you are into and how tall you are or more specifically how long your legs are. I'm quite tall (6' 1") and have long legs, so my optimum seat height for pedalling is much higher than I would prefer even on relatively tame descents. On steep descents it's dangerously high. So without a dropper I would be forced to manually drop the seat quite often. My new bike came with the Specialized 3 position dropper, which works perfectly for me.

Worth mentioning that I find droppers really good even on moderate downhills when you are charging through a series of tight turns. It's like having a 5" lower BB without smacking the pedals.

Burn the heretic!!! 😈

I get the feeling lots of people bought them because they were the thing to have, rather than actually needing them.

As mentioned above, I rarely use my hardtail for anything other than local rides or rides where it's pretty much up or down and that's because it lacks a dropper. It's the one thing I miss over my big bike.

I wouldn't consider not having one now. Absolutely brilliant invention.

Lol@Nothwind!!!

I took mine off as it wasn't getting used.
I got mine with a bike I bought so didn't choose it per se.
Mind you, I was never one for fiddling with the seatpost anyway when others were stopping to drop them because of a descent, I'd be half way down and having to wait for them at that bottom.
I don't miss it.
If you're a seat-post tinkerer then you might

i no longer have a dropper post, because i broke it.

want a new one, too skint.

hang on, i'll rearrange that into a haiku...

i no longer have,

a dropper post, because i,

broke it, in the spring.

If any of you are selling these no longer needed droppers, in 27.2, I'm interested 🙂

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tmars-272-dropper-post-brand-new-and-camelbak-bite-valve-cover

Nope, and wouldn't ever go back to without one.

Anyone else hopeless now without one?

Droppers are great for trail centres or for racing around up/down hitting everything at full speed without pausing, the more social ride up regroup at top ride down regroup a QR is fine, hike up plummet down as others said droppers are less useful (and all that extra weight you have to carry up too!) as I have to stop and lower my dropper post anyway cos on proper steep stuff I want my [i]saddle[/i] slammed.

so:
heavy
reportedly unreliable* - certainly more to potentially go wrong
expensive
bloody brilliant functionally

*mine's doing ok so far but I'm mollycoddling it a bit.

Well I came in here to subtly spam my dropper I'd just listed in the classifieds to find a stranger had already done it for me. ^^^^^^^

I can't live without mine on my AM/Enduro/etc bike. I need one on my HT too, but as I've broken my elbow it can wait a while so I'm flogging it unused! Once I'm back on the bike it'll be roadie first, HT mincing for a while before I do anything steep downhill. Or jumpy. Or fun.

I used one for ages, then it died. It took me ages to get a replacement sorted (ended up with free new one although out of warranty). But by then I'd ridden loads without one and realised that although I liked them, I didn't like them enough!

Twice I got that new post ready to fit, but once you take the nice light post off and hold it in one hand and the dropper in the other the weight difference really strikes home. That, combined with the reliability issues, meant I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's still in the box if anyone's interested - brand new 30.9 Hilo 😉

I'm never in that much of a rush that I don't feel I can't take the time to lossen a QR and drop the saddle, which I do quite a bit.