Up next in 10
Drop it like it's hot.
As Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou once proclaimed "you've got to get up to get down". But what did he know about the ins and outs of dropper seatposts? From cult component of the noughties through to the must-have modulator of today, what do we think makes for a good - or bad - dropper post?
The Hite-Rite is often credited as being the original dropper post. But it wasn't really, was it? The Hite-Rite was basically a seatpost QR collar crossed with a whisk. And no, the RockShox Reverb isn't the Daddy of Droppers either (although the Reverb must be credited with their ensuing ubiquity).
The true long-forgotten ancestor of the dropper post as we know it today was the Gravity Dropper.
Ahhh.. the Gravity Dropper. I had one. It wasn't perfect. It only dropped 100mm (if memory serves me right). It had two positions: fully dropped or dropped one inch. It required a bit of kitchen table surgery every few months. The remote lever was absolutely lethal at inflicting injury to your legs during crashes or bail-outs.
But... the Gravity Dropper was well worth persevering with because well, it was a dropper post! I don't really have to explain the benefits to you in 2022AD do I? Dropper posts improve all aspects of mountain biking. All of them.
What makes for a good dropper? What makes for an annoying dropper? How much does a decent one cost? All of these questions are answered in the video below. Plus all kinds of tangential waffling. You're very welcome!
More moreness over at https://singletrackworld.com/2022/09/singletrack-unscripted-talking-about-dropper-posts/
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0:04
[Music]
0:12
hi welcome to single track world I'm
0:14
Hannah this is Benji and uh if you've
0:18
bought a bike that doesn't come with a
0:19
dropper or maybe you're looking at
0:20
upgrading one uh we're going to give you
0:23
some advice as to how you should go
0:25
about buying a dropper because you
0:27
should buy a dropper yeah they're like
0:29
one of the greatest upgrades yeah so
0:32
let's talk about the compatibility
0:35
issues that one might encounter when
0:37
purchasing a dropper Benji what's the
0:40
first thing you need to decide on your
0:43
shopping list
0:44
a seat tube diameter your bike will have
0:47
a very particular
0:49
diameter of the internal seat tube of it
0:52
it's more still be like 27 2 most common
0:56
on mountain bikes these days they're
0:58
gonna be 30.9 or 31 6 so whatever that
1:01
is check it out because if you don't get
1:02
the right one it won't fit it'll either
1:04
won't fit in at all dunk will fit and
1:06
wobble around so not so good okay and
1:10
then the other thing is how much drop to
1:13
get and I would go for as much drop as
1:15
possible okay so I could just stand over
1:19
that bike work out
1:21
how space there is between my bum and
1:23
the top of that and measure it and
1:25
that'll give me what I need does it two
1:27
measurements there's that one that's how
1:28
much it drops which should be all be
1:30
very nice if we could all run 200 mil
1:33
drop posts on our bikes but not very
1:36
many of us can because of this bit here
1:38
that's to accommodate that that has to
1:40
go somewhere when it's dropped and it
1:41
goes in there and that's going to be
1:43
longer than 200 mil
1:45
and not that many bikes have seat tubes
1:48
that are uninterrupted for that amount
1:50
of insertion that isn't going to Clank
1:52
onto a bottle boss or a pivot pin and
1:55
things like so you need to find out yeah
1:56
or a bend on now or everything so you
1:59
find out what the maximum post insertion
2:02
is on your frame
2:04
if you want to be on on the safe side I
2:07
think it'd probably be all right with
2:08
150 ml drop usually fits most things if
2:11
you want to take a gamble right but you
2:13
check it if you can and should you
2:16
always go for the biggest amount of
2:18
drops possible
2:19
yes
2:21
okay why not because you don't have to
2:23
set it there I mean a lot of the time I
2:25
have a 170 or a 180 on my bike and I
2:28
probably run it dropped about 120 mil
2:31
for most the time right because if I
2:34
drop it all
2:35
the way down and find it quite
2:36
uncomfortable to ride along like that
2:37
even going downhill feel like your knees
2:40
are up here like a kind of a what do
2:43
they call PG tips monkey on a bike Okay
2:46
so
2:48
you don't have to use a drop of bits
2:49
there you can drop this wherever you
2:51
want some people think they're binary
2:52
like it's fully up but fully down like
2:53
wherever it however yeah where you want
2:56
it it's infinite drop yeah okay okay
3:00
um and then how do we make it go up and
3:03
down a lever on your handlebars these
3:06
days and vast majority of cable
3:08
activated where there's a like a gear
3:12
router cable and a gear in a cable
3:15
and it goes attaches here and you press
3:18
a little lever on the handlebars
3:20
is it going to work yeah there we go and
3:23
then to compress it you sit on it it
3:25
won't compress
3:26
this will be optimistic this when you
3:28
press it down
3:30
there we go work stand test and there
3:34
you go goes up and down like that and it
3:37
stays there now I noticed that
3:39
the cable is
3:41
a side of the frame isn't it yes this is
3:43
an old uh bike still completely radical
3:47
uh it's like 2014 I think it is
3:50
um and you can this is externally rooted
3:52
because it is my son's dropper post it's
3:57
come off a bike at a 2017 seat post and
4:01
no rooting for it so I kept hold of the
4:02
post and put on this new bike
4:04
and it does have to fix things to run it
4:06
outside you can actually run it
4:07
internally if you had one like that
4:09
but you'll know that's the thing to look
4:11
for is whether your frame has
4:14
they call it stealth sometimes whether
4:16
it's rooted internally so it goes in the
4:18
seat tube and up in our sight or it's an
4:22
externally rooted one
4:24
um well that can be fiddly yeah there's
4:28
another bit of fiddle isn't there that
4:29
you've got to attach the remote to okay
4:33
yeah
4:36
we'll go in the bit you'll never see
4:38
again once you've installed it very
4:40
often is the bit that hides inside your
4:42
bike and that it's good to have the
4:44
nipple end of the gear Cable in that bit
4:45
coming all the way through the bike and
4:47
then having the strandy end going
4:49
through the uh the lever up here it's
4:51
easier to pull through and if it does
4:53
stretch you'll go baggy or something
4:54
over time it's easier to undo the little
4:56
crimp crimp nut pull it through and
4:59
tying it up it also means that when
5:01
you're cutting it all down to size you
5:02
get to like build it all yes before you
5:05
snip it don't you whereas the ones that
5:07
all the gubbins is in here you've got to
5:10
do a bit of a guesstimate haven't you
5:11
there is a science to it yep it's it
5:14
like trigonometry yes I want to do it
5:17
unless you really yeah yeah
5:19
okay so something that does away with
5:27
um really expensive
5:32
that's probably the only negative to
5:33
them really they are good
5:35
it's another thing to keep charged up
5:38
and they don't obviously don't work at
5:40
all if the battery runs out so there is
5:42
that aspect to them so the artists fit
5:43
and forget as you might think
5:46
um but yeah the quite addictive once you
5:48
use them but they are
5:50
a lot of money aren't they are they five
5:52
times as much or something compared to
5:54
an entry level kind of cable and
5:56
actuated posts now one of the one that
5:58
varies quite a lot on uh the
6:01
drop post with the price is whether they
6:04
include the remote yeah or what the
6:06
remote is like so what should we be
6:08
looking for in a remote well double
6:10
check it's got one because
6:12
um that could be quite frustrating if it
6:14
arrives the day before you're going away
6:16
or going on a ride even on Saturday or
6:18
Sunday flipping remote so check there's
6:20
one in there you can get fancy ones like
6:23
60 70 quid ones this is a pnw one lone
6:27
lever is it called or something which is
6:30
especially lovely yeah
6:32
the
6:35
price scale I found just going to the
6:38
bike shop and getting
6:41
something like either an M part or a
6:43
giant kind of labeled one of those
6:45
perfectly good as well they're about 20
6:47
quid I think they
6:50
have a nice
6:54
thumb
6:56
it's a good bit of sort of buttery
6:57
engagement and it's not something that
7:00
kind of pokes into your thumb pad or the
7:03
old school over the top of the bar oh
7:06
the other ones to avoid actually want to
7:07
look out for you know if it comes with a
7:10
lever but don't get the ones that run
7:12
parallel to the grip like the old school
7:14
ones that are like plunges like vertical
7:16
plunger ones those just um get really
7:19
baggy very quick and aren't very
7:22
accurate you can't get much of a feel
7:24
get ones that are mounted horizontally
7:26
like a gear shifter paddle definitely
7:28
yeah okay because it does make a big
7:31
difference doesn't it yeah ironically
7:33
probably the more expensive the poles
7:35
the like the more likely it won't have a
7:37
remote in there because they assume
7:38
you've already got one where you want to
7:40
take your choice of a few so it's like
7:42
the entry level post probably will have
7:45
a lever in there okay
7:48
troubleshoot
7:54
squishy sometimes that you sort of sit
7:56
on it and it sinks uh what what can we
7:59
do then if you get a that's the uh oh
8:03
that's kind of the hydraulically
8:05
RockShox ones aren't they like the
8:07
reverbs they get a bit spongy or some of
8:08
the bike yolk
8:10
um ones
8:12
um the backyard ones have its own air
8:15
purge blade valve thing valve yeah and
8:19
you'll probably know more than I will
8:20
about getting
8:22
the other one really good YouTube hack
8:25
video which you should
8:26
there should be a link somewhere it's
8:28
totally a hack like it's magic it
8:30
involves realigning the chakras of your
8:32
bike
8:33
um but you should watch the Youtube
8:34
video because you turn your bike upside
8:36
down and you do some I think chance and
8:38
then uh your bike works again but most
8:40
of the time
8:41
um you get a bit of play in post and
8:43
things like that and I can't show on
8:45
that because it's clamped but there's a
8:46
bit of rattle it doesn't matter Wiggles
8:47
side to side this there's kind of not
8:50
very much you can do about that no and
8:52
then the other thing that can happen is
8:53
it can feel a bit stiff like it can be
8:55
really hard to get it to go down because
8:58
of where it is because it's our product
8:59
it is it just gets left and taken for
9:01
granted and it gets all the stuff thrown
9:03
off the back wheel into it and it gets
9:05
pushed in and sucked up and down through
9:07
that a bit so don't just leave it as it
9:10
gets worse and worse and not sure and
9:12
notchier this color on top
9:14
you just don't do it there's no air
9:16
pressure in there or anything like that
9:17
it's just a dirt seal
9:19
vast majority of posts like that so just
9:22
clear out any kind of goop that's in
9:24
there grits and things make sure it's
9:25
not running dry and put some
9:29
suspension grease in there so they call
9:32
it honey and things like that what do
9:34
they call them butter SRAM butter
9:38
um slick honey whatever it's not the
9:40
same greases you put on your bottom
9:41
bracket though no because it'll just be
9:43
turned into an emulsified kind of sticky
9:45
mess
9:46
um just keep doing that every now and
9:47
then probably only once a year really
9:48
but I know people you've had to buy a
9:50
whole new post once it's gone a bit
9:52
notchy
9:53
um because they've not done yeah don't
9:56
ignore it starts to get sticky have a
9:59
look it's very simple because you might
10:00
think Adam won't do that would be I'm
10:02
really tight from the factory so they
10:03
get like a rubber glove to get a bit
10:05
more purchase or a pipe strap kind of
10:08
thing and just undo it it's fine it's
10:10
really simple and clean and re-loop
10:12
though is that you haven't moved your
10:14
post into such a way that you've cut it
10:17
up the cable yeah sometimes especially
10:19
if you like lend it to a mate and they
10:21
put the seat all the way down or all the
10:22
way up yeah that's usually if they ask
10:23
if that's gone not cheap it's to do with
10:25
cleaning out the collar if it's just
10:26
it's keep creeping down or isn't holding
10:29
in place it's because the cabling isn't
10:31
in right going through your frame
10:32
sometimes before it's gone baggy on the
10:34
thing yeah that's because you've got it
10:36
in a tangled too yeah so and then the
10:38
other one is tightening your seatpost
10:41
clamp too tight so that you're squashing
10:43
it you're strangling it yeah
10:45
don't do that either no okay
10:48
um so any other maintenance that we need
10:49
to do apart from putting a bit of
10:51
buttery stuff in there no most most
10:54
posts are kind of um cartridge base so
10:57
unfortunately once they've popped or
10:59
they stop working you just buy a new
11:02
cartridge and put that inside it okay
11:03
maybe a bit of a bike shop job that one
11:05
yeah unless you're handy yeah definitely
11:08
yeah cool
11:09
okay so do you have a favorite dropper
11:13
post that somebody buying maybe their
11:15
first dropper post or just a good one
11:17
where should they go yeah I think in
11:19
this instance probably my favorite drop
11:22
of post is one of the cheapest ones
11:23
which is the Brand X Ascend or Ascend
11:27
Excel when you get in the 170 dropper
11:29
length or above
11:31
um it comes with a remote
11:34
fit and forget really Grease the thing
11:36
every now and then it's really well
11:37
sealed
11:39
um it's probably
11:40
five grams heavier than one that costs
11:43
three times as much right
11:45
and uh yeah so for most Mortals unless
11:47
you're a weight weenie just doesn't mean
11:49
regardless the price that's one of the
11:50
best ones anywhere I think cool okay
11:54
recommendation for you there I think
11:56
right well if you don't want to just buy
11:59
the one that Benji says or you want to
12:01
find out why he thinks that was so good
12:03
then there you go we've told you all the
12:06
features that you could be looking for
12:07
in a dropper post
12:09
you do want one go get one
12:11
bye bye
12:14
[Music]
12:15
[Applause]
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