Long term views on KS eTen?

Anyone used one of these droppers?

*watches intently as considering getting one too*

If its like the drop zone then it’s quite good, work stripping and regreasing now and again if you ride in wet conditions a lot, but that’s pretty straight forward

What’s more important is that you make a little boot from an old bit of innerutbe to cover the actuator arm where the remote attaches , or mud will get flung up from the back wheel get under the saddle and make it Jan up, once you’ve done that it’s pretty reliable

The standard remote is OK, buy the southpaw is much nicer (probably the best dropper remote there is)

I was ‘ fortunate’ enough to win one in a ” share and like’ FB ‘ thing from MBR early last year.
Having a Giant Contact Seitch one on my own trail bike, I fitted it to my g/f’s Trance.
As a means of dropping the saddle and being able to remotely set the saddle at whatever height is required in the moment, it’s perfectly good.
There are points I’m not happy about though :
External cabling is easily knocked about when loading the bike into or from the van.
The cable operated lever at the seatpost end is very susceptible to grit ingress and can jam.
The tiny, grub screw adjusted, nipple at the seatpost end is made from dairylea. There is a very fine line here, between seatpost dropping under weight, when it’s not supposed to and not dropping at all, when bar lever is operated ( and g/f only weighs 55 kg).
In order to prevent the seatpost itself from slipping in the frame ( and Giant are notorious for being reamed at 30.8, not 30.9) it’s necessary to tighten the seatpost clamp to a point which makes the dropper stantion move quite slowly.
Once set up and working , kept clean and checked before riding, it does what it’s meant to do.

You got any pics of this guard thingy Kimbers?

This problem has been plaguing me forever.

I’ll try and dig one out

I use a bit of carbon grip paste to stop it slipping without keeping the seatclamp too tight (it says to in the manual)

Like Kimbers, I have made an inner tube guard for both this seatpost and the one on my own bike.
I’ll try and put pic up later, but simply:
Piece of old inner tube, same length as from saddle rail to just below seatpost collar, cut lengthways , pierce two holes at one end and zip tie to saddle rails, two holes at other end and zip tie round seat tube just under collar. Keeps 90 % of crap off seatpost operating lever and stantion, save loads of maintenance. It simply folds a bit when post drops and goes back into place once post raised again.

This is the one for my Contact Switch, but principle is the same on the eTen. It ain’t pretty, but save loads of cleaning and lubing.

Will this still be an issue for the remote-less models I wonder. I’ll keep an eye for the pics and can always sort one if needed.

The cable operated lever at the seatpost end is very susceptible to grit ingress and can jam.
The tiny, grub screw adjusted, nipple at the seatpost end is made from dairylea. There is a very fine line here, between seatpost dropping under weight, when it’s not supposed to and not dropping at all, when bar lever is operated ( and g/f only weighs 55 kg).

This basically is why I had mine for 1 ride at BPW and sent it back to the supplier as ‘not fit for purpose’

It was only on the bike for 1 run… the rest of the time it ended up in the boot of the car and I fitted a standard seatpost.

IMO… a bit rubbish.

I would have done the same, except that ours was basically a ‘freebie’ so, I persevered.
The grub screw got replaced by a screw from an old shifter. It seemed to take ages to find the ‘sweetspot’ , then went through it all again, once the cable had stretched a bit.

I had one and it worked well once set up. I used a brake cable noodle over the lever and cable and dirt ingress was never an issue and it looked 100 times better than using an old inner tube. Only criticism is that compared to a reverb and gravity droppers the return is very slow.

The innerutbe is only needed over the head of the seat post really and you can’t see that as its under the saddle

Sort of like this, tho mine is different

http://s290.photobucket.com/user/gotosgpls/media/0a2d3a2c.jpg.html

In order to prevent the seatpost itself from slipping in the frame ( and Giant are notorious for being reamed at 30.8, not 30.9) it’s necessary to tighten the seatpost clamp to a point which makes the dropper stantion move quite slowly.

Never heard that said before and anyway 30.8 is smaller than 30.9 so you would struggle to get the post into the seat tube rather than it being a loose fit .

Steady Neil, you’re in danger of letting facts get in the way of conjecture that doesn’t make sense there.

I’ve used mine all winter in all conditions and it’s been fine, but un-trendily I use a mud guard. The cable grub screw is small but works ok and I need to adjust it once to get the post moving quickly again. Not the greatest dropper but for the money I have found it to be fine

is smaller than 30.9 so you would struggle to get the post into the seat tube rather than it being a loose fit .

Yes I know, although the post still seemed a squeeze , tightening well was the only option, or, so it seemed. Might try the carbon paste idea though.
My points of reference, by the way, are a 2007 Trance frame, which a mate had that was an utter bastard to get a 30.9 post into easily , and a same year, xtc hardtail, I built up for another friend, the frame came to me with a Giant branded post, marked up as 30.8 , other 30.9 posts in that were a very tight fit. Guy at one of our ( quite well respected) bike shops told me about it too.
Genuinely think that more recent models are at a ‘ proper’ 30.9 as 2008, 2012 and 2015 Giant bikes I’ve worked on were fine.
I stand to be corrected.

Just got an internally routed eten from bike discount.

After setting it all up, post wouldn’t drop on the first press of the lever. Second press it dropped, but would not return. Removed the post to find oil leaking from the bottom. 🙁