Non dropper hardtail – fitting a dropper

Hi folks.

I’ve been very quiet on here due to now owning a toddler, anyway I call on the expertise of all to see if there is a solution to my quandry.

We bought a Whyte 902 HT that’s probably around 7 years old that never came with a dropper. Has internal routing for rear mech and disks and has just been used as a trailer bike.

I’m trying to fit a dropper to it with the aim of my missus using it as a bike to transport little chap on a Thule front bike seat. Issue is she’s only short so needs a dropper to use it properly.

Has anyone got around this before? So I can get another cable into the frame by cutting a hole in the plastic guide on one side near the headtube but can’t see even if I get the cable out the frame, of anywhere the attach the outer to.

I also now have an old external dropper and internal dropper both Brand-X in my Arsenal so have options but do you think I’m best just taking both to a bikeshop and seeing what they can do?

KS do a cheap dropper which just uses an under-the-saddle lever which may be cheaper than the labour to butcher a frame/install internal routing/install bar lever/cables.

Under saddle lever may work assuming non-technical riding so safe to take hands off bars…

I’ve seen them on Amazon.

Thanks Vlad, it’s definitely a suggestion but although she’s a brilliant mountain biker only riding one handed with a 12kg little un in front even briefly isn’t possible really.
He’s a wriggler and a leaner and it would end in disaster 😂

Sounds like you’ve got a Brand X external dropper already – whats wrong with using that and a couple of zip ties to fix the cable to the top tube?

That’s what I was going to say, just use external cable routing.

There isn’t a 902 listed in the brochure / bike specs here
https://whytebikes.com/pages/documents

But assuming it’s the same 9 series frame then the 905/909 came with a dropper fitted as standard so routing one should be pretty straight forward.  If there’s no exit/entry points on the downtube/seattube for the cable to route externally around the BB then it’ll need the chainset/BB removing to loop the cable down and up inside the frame around the BB.

I drilled a frame last year to fit a dropper. It was quite straightforward in the end

So I’m thinking of drilling a hole in my frame…

Since then I’ve also fitted one by drilling into the downtube then routeing the cable internally which has worked fine.

If you have any sort of plastic/rubber cover allowing a cable into your frame, then I’m pretty sure it’ll be modifiable to take a second cable in the same hole.

I run an external dropper on my Mk1 Solaris. Cable is routed along the outside of the top tube, it’s absolutely fine

I’ve no idea about that exact frame but I’ve drilled a couple of frames and not died. (My Hemlock broke every other part but the drilled hole was never an issue 😉 )

Installed an external RSP dropper on my steel Genesis IO frame years ago. Cable tie wrapped the dropper cable to the rear brake hose. Cheap and has been faultless for years.

Having ridden a load of trails with a kid on the front, I don’t miss dropping the saddle at all. Anything that needs the drop isn’t really suitable for riding with him on (for me), so it’s not an issue. Might be worth trying it first to see if the saddles actually a problem

5lab

Having ridden a load of trails with a kid on the front, I don’t miss dropping the saddle at all. Anything that needs the drop isn’t really suitable for riding with him on

Isn’t it more to do with just getting your feet down when stationary with a kid in front?
I had a wee ride on my Inbred and with my saddle at a normal riding height I can’t get my feet down and couldn’t slide off the saddle as the weeride was in the way.
I had to drop the saddle right down when using it which made pedaling hard work, but I never got round to looking for a dropper although I kept meaning to.

Ahh okay, so those are my options then. I think you’re right i think it may be a 905 come to think of it.

I didn’t fancy drilling a hole in the frame and wasn’t sure if zip tying the cable to the frame would be a good idea if the cable ties moved…

I suppose if it is a better option I could get some frame protector tape and cable tie the cable to the top tube but suppose I expected they’d still move around….

It does sound like that is an option a few have done so I will see how I get on with that then I think and thank you all.

I’ve given up trying to get the seat on my capra too as the last time we did a ride as I had to use the narrower bracket as I don’t have the stack height for the standard Thule one his weight leaned so far back into my chest I could barely ride!
So a 2nd hand hardtail is going to be purchased with lots of stack height I think 😂

You can also buy stick on cable clips, no idea if they’re any good though.

M-Part Self-adhesive cable guides

You can also buy stick on cable clips, no idea if they’re any good though.

Also ones that fit on with cable ties and are ime, more secure than the adhesive ones. I used to have some very fetching skull-shaped ones on my Voodoo, though I can’t remember why…

Something like these would do it, add a strip of helicopter tape under the zip-ties to protect the paint maybe:
https://www.tartybikes.co.uk//rim_brake_spares/mpart_stickon_cable_guides/c5p10896.html

I’ve done it a couple of ways previously

on one bike i was able to take it into the frame near the brakes/gears and around the BB and up for an internal option

on my nippers bike i did the same, but out an exit at the BB, around the bb, then drilled a small hole in the seat tube and back in

and the latest improvised dropper is cable tied along the top tube as best i can and loop up to the external dropper…

These are the skull-shaped ones btw. I don’t recommend them, even if you can source them in the UK. Way too sticky outy, but quite cool in a gothic horror sort of way

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203692297084

my old 575 with external routing. I’d imagine a hardtail would be neater. The Hope seatclamp with cable guide is worth getting. I used one of the sticky cable-tie pads under the toptube (can just about see the front one in the pic) it came off in the end, cos it’s in the line of sweat (obviously a lady wouldn’t have this problem 😉 )  That other guide below the seatclamp one looks useful too, no idea where I got that!

Honestly, just drill the frame. It’s not as traumatic as you’re probably imagining. Place a bit of masking tape to stop the bit slipping, drill a guide hole, use a 7mm/8mm drill and get a grommet to fit. There’s way more choice of dropper posts, and you don’t have to muck about with zip-ties or  stick on guides that will eventually just fall off, and it’s just way neater.

Plus the whole thing will take 20 mins, and its worth oh, at least a thousand man points.

I’ve used an external dropper before with the cable tie’d to the bottle cage and then to the nearest other cable, gear or brake. You can also get seat clamps that have a little guide fitted to them.

how old is the kid? the weeride is a lot more flexible (and easier to fit) compared to the thule one

I’ve drilled a frame before, and it’s less horrible than I expected. Try and keep at least an inch away from welds, round the edges of the slot you cut off to remove stress risers and so on. You can buy frame grommets for cables and make a cutting pattern from them quite easily. I pulled the cranks and BB and took the wheels off to give me an easier time for drilling stuff. Remember to clear any swarf out, although it’s less of an issue if some is left behind in an alloy frame. As a precaution (it was an aluminum Scandal Mk2) I put a bit of clear nail varnish on the bare alloy to slow oxidisation down a bit. It’s more critical you do that with a steel frame.

However.

If you are juggling a toddler and have an external seat post and aren’t looking for a super-shiny ride with everything tucked away neatly, I think it’d be far easier to stick the external post you already have in and call done with it. It’ll save you a ton of time and faff, and get you the same result. You can use the time you saved to a: play with the nipper or b: enjoy a hot cup of tea while sat down in the sunshine – and both of those are more valuable than a dropper 🙂

I can believe no one suggested the wireless dropper posts

I’ve got an external routed Dropper on my FS bike and an under the nose of the saddle job on my Rigid MTB, both are solutions that I prefer to drilling more holes for cables in a frame.

Note: If you do want to use the dropper regularly for trail riding an under the saddle option is definitely the less good choice, a last second crotch grabs as you approach a tricky feature is a bad thing.

As it sounds more like this is to make a height adjustment to cover two different users for more of a utility application with one bike then the under the saddle lever might actually suit in this instance.

Or you could go for a downtube lever:

Wow so much to read when I can thank you all!
love the skull cable tie idea and she will too!

weeride is a no-go as can’t get it mounted securely on any bikes we have and trust me we’ve tried! All to do with the lack of head tube height that it usually secures to

a last second crotch grabs as you approach a tricky feature is a bad thing.

Remind me some time to tell you all the story of how I met my wife.

😂 we don’t need to worry about quick dropper lowering scenarios due to dropoffs etc as he’ll be in front so likely upto blue trail only