After spending days they into get the barb at post end of my Reverb to stop leaking, I am giving up. I have tried about 15 times – with every approach.
So now it is new dropper post time.
It’s a PP Oka – it is second bike and gets ridden occasionally.
Current CRC offering would be Brand x 150 (not that I really need 150 drop – it’s fairly laid back seat angle), or a Thomson 125.
The reverb has always freaked and wobbled …
I have a brand x on my FlareMax – and it has been faultless … other than a crap lever.
Is the Thompson worth 90 quid more?
Thanks

Nope!

Just go Brand X, 3rd party lever should work if you really dislike it and still be cheaper than the Thompson. I don’t see what you get for spending more on a dropper.

Go Brand X.

Just go Brand X, 3rd party lever should work if you really dislike it and still be cheaper than the Thompson.

This. Best decision I made was binning my Reverbs in favour of Brand X. 3 posts, 3 bikes, faultless with the oldest being 3+ years old.

I’ve had 3 Thomson posts and 4 Brand X.
From a reliability point of view I’d go Brand X.
From a lever quality and action point of view it’s tighter but still edges towards Brand X.
When you consider that a full service on a Thomson post costs £90 plus postage (not user serviceable), I think you can guess what I’d go for….

Brilliant all …
I will go Brand X ( well, I kind of had – up ordered a stealth by mistake!

Brand X and treat yourself to a nice lever – they’re simple enough to last more than one seatpost. Wolf Tooth or PNW loam lever or (looks both good and cheap) the new Bontrager ones.

I’ve two Brand X Ascends that just work, but I recently splashed out on a OneUp post to replace a 30.9 I’d transferred over to a new(er) frame that was 31.6. You get a lot more travel for overall length with the Oneup, and they’re prettier, but I’ve no idea if it’ll last as well as the Brand X ones have done so far.

slight hijack, but can you get these in 27.2 flavour?

I’d go Thomson. Had one years ago that I sold on to a mate then he sold with his bike earlier this year. It was probably 6 or 7 years old and never missed a beat. Still looked like new too. They are just nice things to own too imo, make every other one I’ve had (inc Reverb + Fox Transfer) feel cheap. For £90 over a Brand X I wouldn’t think twice if I had the money.

Thomson droppers are lovely when they’re working, but if the cartridge goes – which it will eventually ime with two different Thomsons – it will cost you nigh on 100 quid to get it fixed / serviced. If I was going to spend that much money on a dropper again I’d be looking at PNW maybe or one of the German Revive droppers that has a quick bleed mechanism and is home serviceable.

I love Thomson’s stuff, but the droppers do sometimes fail and at that point the repair cost is quite hefty.

I love my Thomson, it’s 5 years old, on its fourth cable and never been serviced but is protected my a dirt flap. It has no wobble. It came with the bike so I didn’t choose it.

BUT there was a thread on here recently that there’s no longer a UK distributor or authorised repair centre and if that’s true I wouldn’t buy one now.

What’s the go to lever to replace the crappy brand X one?

BUT there was a thread on here recently that there’s no longer a UK distributor or authorised repair centre and if that’s true I wouldn’t buy one now.

Thomson are at Upgrade now

slight hijack, but can you get these in 27.2 flavour?

Brand X is available in 27.2, but I think is 100mm travel only

I’ll get back in my box – it’s 105mm in 27.2…

ZTTO lever off eBay is very good for the £

I’ll get back in my box – it’s 105mm in 27.2…

thats still ok isnt it? i know absolutely nothing about them, but wouldnt it be a case of anythings better than nothing?

how far do the normal ones drop?

I have a Thomson. Coming up for 6 years old. One service, one cartridge replacement. Ridden in all weathers. I like it. Never failed to work. Partially protected by a Wee Cog saddle bag. Not used a Brand X. but for 90 quid think I’d go with Thomson quality and reliability.

Due to the info here , I have gone Brand x … just like my other Brand x that has had 3 faultless years it will get a ZTTO lever…

Thomson are at Upgrade now

Ace thanks cx_monkey

Could be an option
Cube branded post 31.6mm 125mm drop

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/tranzx-jd-ysp12-internal-remote-dropper-post-cube-edition-978685?currency=3&delivery_country=190

Add a shimano mt500 dropper lever £20 to make postage £4
Under £100

Thing is though that BX droppers well the Ascend II had ridiculous amounts of fore to aft play along with obvs rotational play.

If I had around £180 then PNW which includes their Loam lever would be where my notes flew to.

Or BX matedwith ZTTO lever – what £120!? All in.

Had a ztto lever but replaced with the bonty one which is loads better for about a tenner more

Could be an option
Cube branded post 31.6mm 125mm drop

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/tranzx-jd-ysp12-internal-remote-dropper-post-cube-edition-978685?currency=3&delivery_country=190

Add a shimano mt500 dropper lever £20 to make postage £4
Under £100

Could have been an option but need external routing

Re play – I have found the Brand X heaps better than the two Reverbs I had. Reverbs wobble and creak – even when serviced well ….

Had a Thomson till recently – 5 years and going strong (another dirt flap user here) but the service costs are silly. If you go for the full-on service it’s nearly £140 now. New PNW cascade with lever was the same cost and its a 170 drop.

The oneup components v2 looks like a decent bet if you can find stock in the right size?

For me the low stack means I’ll be able to get a 150mm drop instead of 125 with the brand x that I’ve got on my current bike.

70g lighter than the brand x.

Will I be able to use my brand x lever on the one up?

‘Thing is though that BX droppers well the Ascend II had ridiculous amounts of fore to aft play along with obvs rotational play.’

There’s some play, but its hardly noticeable, and none of the ones I’ve had had any fore/aft play- only rotational.

Have both. Brand X great price, but develop play quickly.

My Thomson been faultless for years, but then it was 3x the price back in the day.

I’ve had a Thomson 125mm/27.2m for a couple of years now, utterly flawless.
I did however baulk slightly at payng £250 for a second-hand seatpost…

Five year old Thomson mentioned up there ^^ has no play. Two year old Kore (megashit) feels like the saddle’s gonna fall off.

Another vote for Brand X here. Mine’s been faultless for a year and infinitely better than the temperamental Giant dropper post that came stock with the bike.

I’m using it with a Wolf Tooth remote which is a lovely bit of kit, but I hear that the Chinese made ZTTO lever on eBay / Aliexpress is a clone of the Woof Tooth so you can potentially save a bit of cash there.

Brand X fitted – and working well
The best bit is that the lever seems to have been improved in terms of quality and robustness. Will be running it until needs show other wise …

Re the weight of the post – hmm – I get 150mm of dropper for 90 quid less (40%) – at 104kg I can live with a 70g penalty

Well the difference is £30 if you don’t need a lever, and for me that means I get an inch more drop and and the 70g weight difference is a bonus.

I’ve got a brand x and its been faultless.