was thinking of getting one of these saddle dropping seatposts. Are they any good? I have a 5 spot, like to ride downhill as quickly as I can, and wondered if these are really worth the money. I don’t drop my saddle for downhills at the minute as i cannot be arsed and it never feels right when i put it back up, but often feel the saddle gets in the way on the steep stuff.

My seat tube ID is 27.2 and I noticed the joplins on CRC only seem to come in bigger sizes.
Not worried about varied height adjustment, just want something that gets out the way for the down and comes back to the correct height ready for the climbs.

gravity dropper iirc is the only model currently available for that size seatpost
Search the forum it is a regular question (no offence)

The 27.2mm Joplin is out any day now.

yes they have been saying so for ages unless you know more
OP have a GD and a joplin
to just drop GD better but more clunky
infinite adjust great on Joplin
More play on joplin but easy to service/fix (have a pdf if you get one so e-mail me)

From what I’ve read the GD is the only model that actually works for more than 2 rides.

Id ignore the hearsay. My Joplin works fine though does need servicing and has rotational play.

Whether it’s worth it is a personal thing, it is to me but I’d prefer to pay for stuff like this than fancy chainsets etc

I used the Maverick post on my first Megavalanche two years ago. It gave more problems than anything else on the bike, my dad had to keep on rebuilding it and adding more pressure. When it worked it was ok. It was stolen with my Mega and DH bikes after the Urban Downhill in Edinburgh, one component I was pleased to have stolen !

I’m now using a GD Turbo and it’s great. Nico Vouilloz and Julian Camellini had them on my first Mega and I was impressed with the speed they moved at. I thought this could be a problem, but it’s not. I thought just having two positions would be limiting, but it’s actually better, I only need two. I just leave the post on my Nomad and have used it on the Mega, Kielder Enduro, XC, street, dirt jumping and messing about ! The post is strong. The only problems I’ve had is the rubber bellows seeming to contract, exposing the sliding post, and the collar slightly unscrewing which means the post won’t stay down. I’ll see if I can get the bellows replaced and the collar just needs a little turn while riding to get it adjusted correctly. As it’s 27.2 it also fits my 224 for a mid-DH/Mega set up for the Mega Qualifier, something we discovered by accident on the Mega last year when I decided to ride my 224 instead of the Nomad on the Qualifier as there wasn’t much uphill. I used the Nomad on the Megavalanche itself though.

I haven’t tried the Joplin and other Maverick-like posts, but I couldn’t ask for anything more of the GD post.

joplins\mavericks suck harder than a whore in a credit crunch

get the gravity dropper.

I emailed Crank Brothers last month to ask about the 27.2mm. They said that new product launches were suspended until at least next year due to the current economic climate. so no 27.2mm until next summer then.

not a great loss IMHO

I’ve had a Crank Brothers Joplin since Christmas and it still works fine. It’s never been serviced, I’ve just sprayed the, ahem, shaft with a little GT85 every now and then.

As for is it worth it – simple rule. Drop your saddle for decending and simply add 20% to your speed. It’s that simple. No matter how fast you can ride with your saddle up, you will be faster with it down and out of the way.

The reason for this is very simple – weight distribution. You absolutely cannot get the right weight distribution for descending fast when you’re sat down on a saddle at full pedal height. Sitting down while descending is more or less used for resting. In order to ride down hill fast, you need to move your weight around the bike in order to optimise it for grip. You also want to lower your centre of gravity to increase grip and cornering.

Start by simply dropping your saddle on a regular ride and feel the difference it makes – just don’t sit down the whole way down!

“From what I’ve read the GD is the only model that actually works for more than 2 rides. “

My Kindshock/Purerace/Superstar i900r has lasted much longer than 2 rides with no trouble and no play and 5″ drop

Not available in 27.2mm though

Can’t remember the make but someone makes a 9″ drop one ..

I heard there is one coming out from Superstar components, at £50?

Say no more…