I think that’s the point Teamslug, if you got a dropper you might ride faster and scare yourself witless for many more years to come 😉

Seriously though, I’m curious about what type of bikes those ‘for’ and those ‘against’ ride and the type of trails you would ride if you had the choice. I appreciate some of you have more than one bike so it’s not straight forward, we’re all (mostly) tied by time to the trails on our doorstep but ‘what if’?

I would always choose to ride fast, steep, technical and just plain fun trials given the opportunity. As such I have a Five and a dropper so I can throw it about a bit, turn round and ride back up without stopping to faff with the post. I don’t for a minute think that being able to ride those trails with the seat ‘up’ would make me a better rider or, most importantly, the ride more fun. So I’m firmly in the ‘droppers make riding more fun’ camp 😀

In the usual “angry of stw forum” there are a few folk who completely fail to understand the intended context of what is posted and immediately reply by means of an accusatory reactionary insult or by use of selectively using the quote function to repost a few lines out of context regarding what may have been a valid point when read as an entire post.

I’ll refrain from using the quote function to highlight who this is directed at, as otherwise this thread will degenerate into the usual insult lobbing outcome as so many others have, so please take the time to read an entire post and keep it in context.

Using a dropper post at a trail centre is fine – knock yourself out, go ahead if you feel the need, but the point i was trying to make is i see people who have been sold an all singing all dancing mtb with a dropper post fitted as standard, and by-god they are going to make use of it no matter what. If the trail happens to point downhill or there’s a drop off then down it goes as why on earth would it be fitted to the bike otherwise?, why would the vast majority of the mtb publications or online articles constantly mention the necessity to drop your post for descents or technical sections as this will help you get better position on the bike thus garnering you more control….and by the way check out our gazillion dropper seat post reviews in the next issue – out soon….buy now before you crash and hurt yourself….real bad.

I’ll reiterate one of my original points that was the crux of my argument for learning to ride without dropping your post, not “i’m a better rider than you coz i don’t drop my post therefore get off my trail you **** newbie”, but as usual in true STW fashion this point seems to have been overlooked as it’s much more fun to selectively quote out of context.

What happens if your dropper post seizes on the trail?,, do you get off and walk down everything as you’ve never ridden with the saddle up so high and you have no experience of getting over the back of the bike?, or perhaps you approach a technical rocky section at speed, unprepared for whatever reason and cannot reach or fumble for the lever in time before you enter it, do you panic as you consider the fact that “shit…my saddle is high….what do i do now?”, whilst fumbling away for the lever your hand/thumb is not securely holding onto the bars, your mind is in overdrive, almost panicking and has not spotted the natural line through the section nor the exit point where you should be focusing on but rather your thought is “Oh…… shite i’m gonna stack it big here……..”

Perhaps this process does not hold an issue for you or you can subconsciously multi task succesfully (are you male?, yeah…well there you go) 8) .

If i’m riding wild in the hills i may stop and drop my seatpost for descents i have no knowledge of but even then it gets dropped an inch or two at the very most but that does not make me a more skillfull rider than someone who removes their post and drops it in their camalbak (artistic over dramitisation – my post, my rules), it just says i feel confident in my ability to cope with whatever comes my way and surely every mtb rider wishes to have more confidence on the trail?.

Note : Trail, not jump park or downhill track nor pump track nor northshore riding so reign it in boys, step away from the keyboard.

I dunno where i’m going with this now as i’m getting bored and my tea will be getting cold but it’s still brewing in the kitchen so i’ll have to heat it up in the microwave and imho that spoils a cup of tea so i’m gonna have to go to the hassle of wasting another twinnings tea-bag and more electricity by boiling fresh water…..gawd life is so unfair sometimes, I could’ve been sat in my comfy chair reading my David Millar autobiography i bought yesterday but here i am trying to explain as succinctly as possible why i don’t drop my seatpost and why i don’t advise my friends to do it either unless necessary, all the above essay has been a pretty **** pointless exercise don’t ya think?, i mean…… why should i care anymore?, does anyone care?.

One final thing before i toddle off to the kitchen and stare out the window as the rain falls again whilst pondering why i’ve wasted 15mins of my sunday night on folk who’s personal opinion of what i wrote means absofeckinlutey sod all to me?.

To the poster who asked if i choose to ignore the instructor (craig n’ rich – cyclewise – hi peeps, wot do you think of this thread?, pointless eh?), i didn’t choose to ignore them, i consider myself a competent rider therefore i made an informed decision based on my riding experience, others on the course with me followed their advice though.

I doubt very much that Tony is doing it wrong, different style of riding completely and if was privileged enough to get a skills session with him i’d follow his advice to the letter and adapt whatever i was taught into a form and style that worked for myself rather than stick rigidly to what he advised.

Run my own skills courses?…DOH!….why didn’t i think of that?, d’ya mind if i use that idea and run with it? – how much commission would you expect for that very original concept?. Bit sarky so i’ll apologise here n’ now but i get agnsty without my cup of tea.

If you’d like a free skills course then get in touch, i’ll not promise to turn you into a riding god or big hucker but i will say i’m confident i’ll be able to offer advice that if you follow it and adapt it into your riding style will improve your bike handling skills.

To everyone else….there’s no need to be offensive, it’s not big and it’s not clever.

Sorry, that was rude

there was a guy with us with a dropper and we smoked him

Think I’m just gonna sell mine now.

there was a guy with us with a dropper and we smoked him

that’s a bit harsh.. 😯

It might have ruined/wasted your brew,but well said.

What is the argument?

Your tyre will decouple from the ground above a certain speed if you cannot match the terrain with bike/human suspension and tyre diameter. The choice is how fast do you want to go and in how much control? Everyone is different.

On my bikes that I use for XC and racing I have fixed posts, they can be dropped but I need to get the allen keys for that so generally dont bother.

I have a dropper post on my Blur LT and use it quite a bit whether I am on natural stuff or at a trail centre like Golspie, Inners or Laggan. I am lucky enough to have a spare dropper post for one of my XC bikes and use it every now and again if I am going to be doing a lot of steep descents on longer natural rides but dont want to take the FS.

So, the short answer – yes I drop the post but not very often but thats just me. Its whatever someone enjoys most so they get the best out of their ride 😀

locally there really isn’t the terrain to warrant a dropper post, if i was lucky enough to live somewhere Alpine i’d deffo consider one

Somafunk, just because someone uses a dropper post and/or likes to drop their saddle doesn’t mean that they’re not capable of riding with their seat at full height. Also, writing off opinions on seat dropping because they’re a “different style of riding” is totally missing the point. All the bike handling skills and techniques are fundamentally the same, whether you’re an Olympic XC racer, a Red Bull Rampage freerider or a World Cup DH star – or indeed someone on this forum. It’s all riding bikes offroad and down hills (at least some of the time!)

Dropper post users; they don’t like it up ’em….

bump

All you none dropper post users:

You sound more like roadies than mountain bikers!

Why dont you go and put your lycra on, get on your light weight mincing machines and then go and ride round some muddy fields.

The sport has evolved since the 90s. Or have you never bothered to take a look at whats going on in MBUK?

My advice would be:

Get yourselves to a decent trail centre like Glentress, then you can see what mountain biking is really about. Although before trying to ride there, I’d advise you invest in a 160mm trail bike, a droper post and a Met parachute. Otherwise there’ll definitely be tears before bedtime.

isn’t anyone going to congratulate me on my **** hilarious visual gag ..?
I’m still letting out involuntary giggles 49 minutes later..

Surely I’m not going to have to post it again am I..?

Trail centre?

Oooh you so cool…

times move on

+ people said disk brakes weren’t worth it
+ some people said hydraulic disk brakes weren’t worth it
+ they said front suspension wasnt worth it
+ they said full suspension wasn’t worth it. Rememeber the hard time that proflex had when it first introduced FS mountain bikes here? some may even remember my 5″ travel kit for the proflex – Lots of folks back then in the industry told me that no one would ever buy a 5″ day to day mountain bike

same now for droppers.

The irony is that I’ve seen the OP (Dan) crash over his bars here on our local trails on tricky steep sections…!!

Trail centre?

Oooh you so cool…

The new breed of trail centre rider is cool.

We winch our way up the hills so we can shred the downs in an aggressive manner.

I’d recommend you go on a skills course. You’ll be pumping, jumping and wheelying round your local trails in no time. Maybe then you’ll see why a dropper post is so important.

Erm?…. I think he “may” have been attempting sarcasm – the mbuk mention gave it away for me

I must admit though i prefer riding in lycra, and riding my lightweight sub 20lb scandium mincing machine with 80mm locked out nae travel forks – I’m not keen on muddy fields though?…can i still come and play?.

I noticed it yunki, I declined to comment though as i gave up smoking fags and t’weed 3 weeks ago but i’ve had no withdrawal symptoms as of yet which leads me to believe i must have a few years worth of thc in my system to work through first, and your post has reminded me that there’s nothing cooler than lounging around in wool cycling gear whilst smoking a mahoosive stoogie, chicks dig that shizzle fo sho dawg.

It’s the winching and the shredding that troubles me, I’ve always tried to attack the climbs and send the descents, but I can see where I’m going wrong.

It’s the winching and the shredding that troubles me, I’ve always tried to attack the climbs and send the descents, but I can see where I’m going wrong.

😀

I reckon the proper XC racers will end up using them soon.

i’ve had no withdrawal symptoms as of yet

s’all psychosomatic innit..
a viscous lie perpetrated by the Eton Mafia to ensure that the lower orders keep paying their snout tax..

they put a stop to it all when the baccy smuggling got out of hand, smoking ban in the pubs etc, works out cheaper by saving on NHS costs..
s’all a big con.. embrace your new found lungs, reduced stress and enhanced social status

Yup. Xc racers will be using them pretty soon. (i think).

Since I got a dropper post a massive 3% of my riding has been at trail centres…

You guys are scaring me now, earlier this year I got chance of a very expensive bike very cheap but I daren’t go out on it ‘cos I’ll get mentioned on here ” saw that w*nker jamesco yissday on his new bike an he slowed me right down – he cant ride it properly an he’ll never know how – the old mincer!”

davidtaylforth – Member
and a Met parachute

This is the essential part of riding somewhere as gnarly as Glentress.

Glasgowdan

No offence meant but I’ve seen you ride a mountain bike and you’re not qualified to come on here giving your advice on how to ride techy trails without a dropper post when you can’t actually put it into practice.

People, please don’t take anything this man says as good advice, he once put a 500lb spring on a heckler to turn it into a ‘hardcore hardtail’, I poop you not. That’s why he had to take a break from mtb, he went off a drop, bottomed out the suspension then the rebound catapulted him into outer space where he came up with his theory on dropper posts.

Again, no offence intended Dan.

😯

The irony is that I’ve seen the OP (Dan) crash over his bars here on our local trails on tricky steep sections…!!

My riding buddy never drops his saddle and claims that he didn’t like it when he’s tried it.
He also faceplants over the bars reguarly 😀

This thread has taken a turn for the better. David taylforth can always be relied on for some premium trolling, and the first hand accounts of the OP are gold. 😆

David taylforth can always be relied on for some premium trolling, and the first hand accounts of the OP are gold

+1, I chuckled at both.

they are good, but I tend to ride my mtb without unless I’m going on big days out. dont like the weight and the added wires and fuss. plus I’m a XC chap 😉

Quick question. How is a dropper post a skill compensator? The only thing it does is replace the need want to stop and lower your saddle. So the skill that it would be compensating for is the ability to use a qr lever or an allen key.

I can’t believe we have 7 pages of arguing about if somebody wants to put their saddle down for a descent or up for a climb. Actually I can, this is STW.

Surely it is more efficient when climbing seated to have your saddle higher I think everyone can just about agree on that. And when descending a bumpy hill it is best to be stood up is it not? It is up to the rider to decide if they want to drop the saddle for this or not, not for the big hitters to tell him what to do.

its a form of weakness

I_Ache – Member

I can’t believe we have 7 pages of arguing about if somebody wants to put their saddle down for a descent or up for a climb. Actually I can, this is STW.

Surely it is more efficient when climbing seated to have your saddle higher I think everyone can just about agree on that. And when descending a bumpy hill it is best to be stood up is it not? It is up to the rider to decide if they want to drop the saddle for this or not, not for the big hitters to tell him what to do.

+1 so lets hope we don’t need another 7 pages!!

although i use a dropper post (have had issues with reliability so have come and gone on them), i must say i do actually think its a form of cheating so to speak…

if a bloke and myself were to ride the same techy section against eachother and he got down it with his saddle up his arse, and i got down it with my dropper post down, i’d say hats off to the bloke as hes got more skill than me.

thats about as easy as i can sum it up. i do think its easier/better dropping your post, but on some sections that are super techy peak stuff i would NOT like to have my saddle up arse, and thats where my point above comes in, if they can ride it the same as i can with the post down then they clearly have better technical ability than me…

that said most of the stuff we ride is techy and i dont know one person i ride with that doesnt drop their post (even if QR)…

i’ve ridden trail centres long before i had a dropper (ie, cannock, llandegla, coedy brenin) and i kept it the same height all the way around the black sections…

but on some stuff in the peak, where they are a technical slow challenging section (often off piste etc) i must say ive always ridden with my post down…having a dropper means i probably do it a bit more often, and i couldnt go back now ive got a decent reliable one…

i do think those xc racers who have the seats right up there arse are ultimately highly skilled, as not only are some sections techy, but also the speed at which they do it, takes some massive gonads that.

Oscillate Wildly – Member

if a bloke and myself were to ride the same techy section against eachother and he got down it with his saddle up his arse, and i got down it with my dropper post down, i’d say hats off to the bloke as hes got more skill than me.

Bit like suspension?

We’re going to need some sort of universally agreed spreadsheet to calculate all the relevant skill-massaging factors. How do we rate my Carrera? It’s a £300 halfords bike with rigid forks, but has a gravity dropper fitted. I’m going to go out on a limb and rate that as a -7

I’m sure I could get down a lot of trails with my saddle up that I usually ride with my saddle down. However I am certain that I would be a lot slower with the saddle up.

Its riding the same section at the same speed that would decide who has more skill. I can’t see anybody being able to ride Fort Bill at the same speed on the same bike once with saddle up and once with it down. Hell forget Fort Bill, I bet its not even possible on False Teeth at CyB.

The thing that everyone seems to be missing is that it’s much more fun to ride with your saddle not smacking you in the arse/balls.

The thing that everyone seems to be missing is that it’s much more fun to ride with your saddle not smacking you in the arse/balls.

ftfy 😉