I’ve been searching and have come up with these. If anyone knows of any better prices then please let me know.

Fox DOSS £160
X fusion hilo £160
Rockshox Reverb £180
Tranz x £65

I’m still not convinced that I need one but having tried a friend’s one today it certainly was nice to have. Are any of these ones that I should definitely avoid? To be honest I don’t want to spend a huge amount of I can help it. Also is there any reason I should definitely go for 125mm drop rather than 100mm or vice versa? Thanks

For my money, reverb every time.

Out of that lot, Reverb.

Had a reverb for over 3 years, faultless. Replaced it with a Fox DOSS…broke on its first outing. The Fox is also very clunky and I missed the infinite adjustment of the reverb. Not tried either of the others you mention

Reverb.

So far, everything else I have used felt like a compromise.

Gravity dropper assuming you want it to work in 10 years time.

As for the drop it depends on user choice

I dont see the need for over 100mm but YMMV

Reverb. I’ve had three, one of ’em for four years, no faults yet. (Also had X-Fusion and Thompson, both good but not as good as the Reverb.)

Also: you do need one, you just don’t know it yet.

Satori Pro.

Cheap but good and no damned hydraulics to fail/ bleed. A few people have them on here.
About £72ish with the appropriate shim, I have 2 now. Entirely mechanical, easy to strip down if you needed too.

Not that pretty but I don’t care about that.

Where have you seen the trans x post . Only seen it as oe on bikes but it feels good , and may be worth a punt . My reverb is 2 years old and has been faultless . That would be my choice .

Any more up-to-date feedback on the Thomson btw? It doesn’t seem to be mentioned much.

Reverb fo shizzle.

is there any reason I should definitely go for 125mm drop rather than 100mm or vice versa?

I have the 125mm drop and wouldn’t want any less. If you’re not using a dropper at the moment drop your saddle manually and measure how much lower it’s gone.

Oh, avoid the Tranz X. Pretty sure I looked into thethem and they had bad reviews.

Anyone got real world experience with a KS eThirty Integra? Got 1 coming on my new bike you see…

Any more up-to-date feedback on the Thomson btw? It doesn’t seem to be mentioned much.

I’ve got a 27.2 one at the moment. It’s only done two rides so far though. Feels smooth, goes up, goes down, stops where you leave it, holds a saddle. Can’t comment on durability yet, but feels as good and solid as you’d expect from Thompson. Spendy for what it is, but then choice is more limited in 27.2 if you fancy something other than a GD or HiLo.

100mm is fine for me, but I’m only average height (5’10”), longer limbed riders might well appreciate more travel.

Default answer would be reverb, personally I’m not a fan as I like cable actuation and can’t get on with the reverb button remote. Having had a number of infinite adjust posts (KS, XFusion) I’m now a big fan of the stepped posts like the Fox and Spesh command post, I find having 3 ‘known’ positions much more reliable and I don’t fiddle with the height constantly like I did on the infinite ones.

It’s all very personal though, the reverb is the most common out off he above and lots of people like them so that’s probably your best bet unless you really want to spend less.

I’d always get as much drop as I could fit. you don’t always have to use it all.

Of those I’d get the reverb since they get great used prices so you can chop it in before the warranty runs out and buy another at a pretty low cost and they function much nicer than the cheap posts, if not quite as well as a KS.

You should be able to do better than £180 somewhere.

My Thomson is waiting to go back on after having its 3rd cartridge replaced under warranty.
Lovely when it’s working. Problem with sealed units is you can’t fix them at home.
Got a Reverb on there atm. Not a nice to use as the Thomson but it keeps on going.

I bought my first Reverb 3 yr ago & it’s been fine never had a service. Bought another one 2 yr ago so I didn’t have to swap between bikes & it lasted 6 months before it started drop half inch when you sat on it. My LBS (Garage Bikes) kindly sent it back to Fishers for me, 2 weeks later i had a brand new replacement. I always spray Fork Juice/slicone lube on the stanchion so the mud doesn’t stick to it.

Whether you go for 100 or 125mm depends how much seatpost you normally have showing at full pedalling height, if 150mm or more then you might as well get the 125mm. You don’t have to drop it all the way with a Reverb, I find just dropping it an inch or 2 makes a big difference to my riding.

Hmmm seems like the reverb is the best bet then. For info I found the Tranz x one on bikediscount.de for 100 euros. If I could find any reviews of it I might go for it but there don’t seem to be any. The ones I have found are for a tranz x suspension post and unfortunately they’re not very good so it doesn’t fill me with confidence.

I’d have the reverb from that list but tbf I’ve been happier with my 2 KSs than my 2 Reverbs. TBH a big part of that is the cables, there’s issues you can have with a Reverb that’ll disable it completely where the equivalent cable issue lets you manually actuate it.

The KS ones just seem so expensive though. I like the idea of mechanical simplicity but can’t really see why they cost so much.

The Satori is the first and only dropper I’ve used.

To be honest I bought it on a whim to see what all the fuss is about. I’m also near 15 stone geared up so didn’t really want a hydraulic post as I just couldn’t see it lasting. They seem to be hit and miss even for light riders.

Being cable operated you can even use a left hand shifter if running 1×11 or whatever to control it.

I’m using my now redundant left hand GX gripshift to operate it. Works great. Trigger shifters work great too, this applies to any cable operated dropper admittedly.:D

Anyway, based on reliability and cost there is nothing to touch it, believe me,I looked. Can also be found badged as an RSP dropper, heck is even available in 2 or 3 colours from memory.

Good luck with whatever you go for, droppers are great. After the first ride I was completely sold. Ok, you don’t “need” one but once you have one fitted it’s amazing how much you find yourself using it.

The satori looks promising actually. Not the best looking but hey of it works well and is reliable then it looks good value to me.

One of the things about expensive droppers that puts me off is the feeling that the next wave of production in a year or so is going to improve reliability and value for money massively so I wouldn’t want to feel like I’d wasted a lot of money just now if something considerably better comes along soon. All speculative of course.

Are Gravity Dropper still going?

My reverb has been faultless, the X-fusion I had was pretty finicky to set up (air pressure) and had to go back for a rebuild after 8 months or so.

How about a KS Lev Integra? Are they any good as I’ve seen a good deal on one locally.

my stealth reverb shat itself after 6 months – had it replaced under warranty without any question. couple of mates with LEV’s, all been fine

I’d always get as much drop as I could fit. you don’t always have to use it all.

This.

I’ve a 150mm dropper on my FS, and as I’m quite ‘leggy’ I could actually get a 200mm one on – measure up and see.

And I’ve had a Reverb Stealth for a year now, no problems and it works great plus a XFusion HiLo on my HT – again works fine but only using it with the underseat handle as it gets swapped around.

Had one of the first Reverbs in the country and it failed quite significantly within a few weeks. Was swapped out under warranty with turn around of less than a week and since then I’ve had no problems at all with it.

I’ve since bought a second one for another bike and both are working superbly after a few years of abuse.

Out of that list the Reverb, though the remotes are probably the worst of the bunch (prone to being damaged, very fragile and not particularly ergonomic) the posts them selves are pretty reliable and work smoothly.

I’ve also a KS LEV, though not quite as maintenance free as the Reverb mine has been faultless (after an initial problem that a quick rebuild fixed). The Southpaw lever is also far far superior to the plunger on the Reverb though being cable operated occasionally needs a bit of tlc.

If you don’t want stealth then the LEV is also a bit neater than Reverb with the cable going into the lower collar.

Another vote for the Reverb here too.

I’ve had two without any issues. The first one was sold after two years due to me going N-1 and was working fine. The second one which I still have is a year olf and still smooth etc. Booth got used through some grim conditions.

I don’t understand the fear of them being hydraulic given that most people use hydraulic disc brakes these days. They’re a piece of cake to bleed too.

Avoid the Hi-lo fusion – mine has just let me down for the last time

I’ve had a reverb for longer, used it more and it’s been a lot less hassle

Just to comment on the Tranzx…. I bought one for the Mrs’ bike and it is great. Cable operated, nice and simple and well built if a little heavy. I’d say it is a great budget choice for someone who doesn’t ride that much, it’s no reverb but a good option.

I’ve got a Thomson that I bought on eBay. It’s started to sag a few millimetres when fully extended. If left upside down it drops several centimetres. If lowered any amount it’s rock solid though. I should probably send it to be repaired but bit worried about cost.

If you’re looking for a cable dropper then the giant contact switch is in your price range. Has an original one for three years, change the cable once a year and it’s never failed.

New one can be set internal or external cable as well.

Chris

I’ve plumped for a KS Lev Integra for £140. It’s a little more than I ever thought I’d spend on a seatpost but Santa was good to me so I’ve a bit of Christmas cash to spend on it.

The internal routing and cable operation swung it for me. Although clearly everyone loves the reverb some comments on the delicate switch and the fact that it’s hydraulic put me off. Hopefully the Lev won’t disappoint.

Avoid the Hi-lo fusion – mine has just let me down for the last time

christhetall, and anyone else – if you have a broken 27.2 dropper, I’ll have it!

Where is the Lev available for £140?

The Lev Integra that I bought was a second hand unused one from ebay that came straight off a new bike. It looks like a good deal but time will tell. Will hopefully receive it this week. Looking forward to getting out on it at the weekend come rain or shine (lets face it – rain).

FAO molgrips – I want to see if the guys who serviced it are interested in doing a post mortem – I’d quite like to know what has happened. I’ve got a theory, but I know very about the internals.

Having said that, the chances are that I’d still bin it, so if you had a use for it I’ll be happy to let you have it. You anywhere near Sheffield ?