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I’m “dropper nervous” and skint, so I’m not looking at outlaying a big wedge on something that will spend a good portion of its life being fixed under warranty.
The Giant looks OK but I’d like a warm hand of reassurance before I blow a big chunk of my Scalextric budget.
1. Has it been reliable?
2. Was it simple enough to set up? I’ll be going for external routing and shimming up to 31.6mm
3. Can the remote be mounted for left hand operation?
4. Is it 2 or 3 position?
5. Would you recommend one?
Mine came with my Trance frame that I bought in 2015, it's been faultless, haven't had to take it apart or service it yet...if it isn't broken and all that....
It's pretty short only having 100mm of drop but the newer ones offer 125mm and 150mm I believe?...the positions thing you asked about is new to me, mine can be stopped anywhere in its travel, it's an air spring setup not fixed mechanical points.
I'd happily have another if/when this dies but I can also happily recommend the cheap mechanical posts on eBay from Tmars and the like, I had one of those on an old hardtail for years with no problems....never seen the point of spending huge sums on offerings from Fox and RS when cheap dropper posts have given me years of excellent service.
I have one on my 2015 Anthem SX and it has been fine. Mine is internal routing and they can be swopped over from internal to external in a few minutes. Lever can go either side and it has infinite adjustment. I have a Reverb on other bike and wouldn't say that I find either better than the other.
the positions thing you asked about is new to me,
OK. I thought it might be like the older Fox DOSS that was up, down and middle.
Reliability?
The early versions had issues with water ingress into the release mechanism which meant quite a few went off for warranty work. All the first series ones I know about went back at least once after about a year or 18 months use including mine but Giant were very good at replacement even beyond the 2 year warranty. Having said that, google Reverb problems and you will find they are equally problematic if you don't get a good one
The later ones are much better from what I understand especially when used in stealth mode as the release mechanism is at the bottom and so any water falls past.
When they are working they are great although the lever mechanism allows water to get in the cable outer so I swapped it for a KS one.
The lever can be used either side
They are infinitely variable between the stops
It was very simple to set up, and I used a USE shim in a frame with no issues
Would I recommend one? Yes, provided you check it regulalrly for water ingress. They are lightish, rigid, work smoothly and are easy to set up.
I bought a Giant Contact SL Switch Dropper Seatpost 150mm back in august as i wanted the extra drop over my 125mm gravity dropper
While it was working it was great - no creaking from seat clamp, lever worked well, but after a 3 week bike trip to Colorado the internal cartridge has started to fail to lock out the post, and it drops by an inch when i sit on it. It does this even without the cable attached so its nothing to do with sticky cables etc
I've just emailed the peeps i bought it from to get it sorted out - hopefully I will be able to get a new cartridge soon
But till then the 8 year old gravity dropper post has gone back on the bike, why cant someone make a post as reliable as a gravity dropper but with more travel and a better seat clamp...
I have had the 150mm drop one for about 3 weeks, works well enough however there is some fading on the body already which if it gets worse means it will go back. It is a little bit rattley too with a fair bit of play in the head. Only cost 130 though from Winstanleys so reasonably happy for the price.
I've seen the Winstanley's one. Is it 2014 or 2016 spec?
I've got the 2016 125mm version routed internally. It's had a wee bit of play from new. This is my first dropper and it's not had a lot of use but seems fine for the money (120 from Winstanleys).
I ran one for over 2 years on my Reign,it did have the odd issue,dropping,not returning but a new cable inner,outer and that was sorted,the piston did come loose eventually but i unscrewed the base plate,tightened the up after regressing and it worked again,or simplicity i would buy one agin no bother,i only went for the reverb because i got a belter of a deal on a new,warrantied job for just over 100 quid,
my mate had the Spesh one on his bike and only done 3 positions and when it came up fully,you had to make sure our knackers were out the way,or bye bye fatherhood