Which 180mm dropper?

I’m not really a dropper person, but the new frame will need one due to length, so what would you buy and why?

Cheers

Daffy (reluctant dropperist)

one up v3, being as its one of the best for weight, stack, price and reliability

BikeYoke. Works really well. Resettable on the bike in seconds if it goes spongey, unlike most. Home serviceable with great back-up from nice people. Upgrade bits often backwards compatible too. I have a One Up too, which is a nice post and gives as much travel as humanly possible for the post length,  but the BikeYoke has a reassuring Mercedes-like vibe to it.

As BWD said.

I have several of both BikeYoke and OneUp posts.

They’ve all been very reliable but as with everything eventually need servicing.

This is where the BY wins hands down with every single part being available to buy even down to individual o rings.

I had a slight problem with a first generation BY that I’ve  had for years and emailed BY about it.

Sacki the owner gave me all the info I needed to sort it out and even offered to upgrade it to the latest spec for the price of a service if I couldn’t sort it myself.

He also rang me to check I’d got it working correctly!!

He really does seem to care about keeping his kit running instead of selling you a new one.

For me that is worth the bit extra cash initially.

If you’re not too worried about weight and insertion length (and that is definitely a consideration, by the way) then the Brand X / PNW posts just work reliably. Of all the posts I’ve used over the last ten years, they’ve been the ones that needed the least care. Top of the ‘never again’ list for me was / is the RockShox – the cavitation/squishyness issue was an instant Nope.

That said, I’ve owned three OneUps and they’ve been excellent. The earlier models need a bit of TLC as the sealing isn’t great (we’re talking about setting the post halfway down, undoing the collar and checking for grime, then adding a touch of their service grease and reseating – a five minute job). The V3 has a far better wiper seal, though. I’ve had cause to use their warranty support for a factory fault and it was excellent and fast.

I’ve not owned a BikeYoke, but Stu and BWD make them sound like an excellent option; you can’t buy every spare for the OneUps like that.

Daffy
I’m not really a dropper person,

Daffy (reluctant dropperist)

What?! Why?

Weight weenie, luddite? I don’t understand why anyone would not want to fit one.  What kind of mountainbiking are you doing?

I mostly do XC stuff these days and whilst there are drops and twisty stuff, I’m quite happy to move myself around on the bike like I’ve been doing for 20y.  Weight is also a factor.  A carbon post is 200g a dropper is ~600g.  That’s almost 0.5kg for something that I barely use.

Can only agree with the comments above, if I only had one MTB and I didn’t need to eke out the absolute most drop possible – I’d get a BikeYoke.

The one I had before was a real cut above.

But instead I have OneUps on all my bikes, all slammed in the frames and giving 200mm drop.

Honorable mention to the Crank Brothers Highline post I had a few years ago. That was very well built, if a bit slow in movement. SDG Tellis was nice as well.

If dropper posts somehow ceased to exist I’d just quit mountain biking.

2 One-up V2’s here. Both running perfectly and very easy to service at home. It’s a sub 10 minute job to strip and rebuild.

Came here to basically say “Bike Yoke if you can afford it, One Up if not” but I see that others have very much beaten me to it.

Thing is, because the spares support is there, even a 2nd hand Bike Yoke is a good move so if you can’t stretch to a new one I’d look for a used jobbie before going elsewhere.

Came here to basically say “Bike Yoke if you can afford it, One Up if not” but I see that others have very much beaten me to it.

And I’d add that if anyone’s looking for a cheaper option than a OneUp, then Brand X is the way. Only reason I now have a OneUp on one bike instead of Brand X is due to marginal fitment – I needed the smallest insertion/stack for greatest drop on a frame with limited insertion depth. Brand X will remain on my other bikes til they die.

I’ll jump in to say I am a massive dropper fan.

I even got a 70mm dropper for my lad. A 120mm 27.2 would fit and I’m now considering it.

4 droppers in the house, all great and transform riding for us.

I’ll also just leave this here, but I have a great condition OneUp 31.6mm 180 for sale, after upgrading to a 210 on my main bike.

BikeYoke Revive for me. I have more posts than I have bikes right now. Started with them because they were the most repairable dropper. They can be fully rebuilt and the parts are cheap.

However, turns out they’re also the most reliable droppers I’ve ever used. I even have a 160mm on the gravel bike. I also use my dropper on road sections. The ability to drop the saddle and push the bike over into the corners without having the move forward or backwards to make space is fantastic.

I mostly do XC stuff these days and whilst there are drops and twisty stuff, I’m quite happy to move myself around on the bike like I’ve been doing for 20y.  Weight is also a factor.  A carbon post is 200g a dropper is ~600g.  That’s almost 0.5kg for something that I barely use.

You’ll probably find you use it an awful lot, and while it’s perfectly possible to move yourself around, one thing you won’t be able to replicate without physically dropping your rigid post is getting your centre of gravity nice and low and in the middle of the bike. My riding improved significantly because of droppers, and both our children also noticeably got quicker and more confident as soon as I put 90mm Brand X droppers on their 24″ wheeled bikes and they got used to actuating them. You’ll also find that newer bike geometry really rewards a riding style where your weight is more central on the bike.

But you’ve already decided you need to get one, so that’s all by-the-bye! You might end up getting ones for your other bikes, is all. Best of luck with your purchase – enjoy it.

For those on a budget that want a dropper adjustable between 170-200mm in 5mm increments then the Tranzx + RAD is a great option.

Previously ran Brandx but the + RAD comes with less rotational play out of the box and I’ve been running one for over 2 years in the Peak with no issues.

TranzX +RAD Adjustable Travel Dropper Post – 30.9mm – 170 – 200mm Travel

I have Bikeyoke and Oneup, the Bikeyoke is definitely better but tbf it’s probably not worth the extra money. Bikeyoke are a great company to deal with, I literally lost a piece of mine (no idea how) and as it happened they were all out of office at a bike show, so they pulled a bit out of a stock seatpost at the show and posted it to me that day.

Oneup’s height adjustability is excellent and easy though.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone.  After much toing and froing – I’ve gone for a used BikeYoke Revive 2.0 with the Alpha Trigger for £155.  I almost bought the Oneup V3 based on weight, but another £120 seemed a lot.