[Closed] Dropper post musings - Reverb

I don't understand it either, reverbs I've had in the past, and new ones on mates bikes, were/are more than a little unreliable.

My biggest gripe: who wants a ****ing seat post that you can't lift the bike up by the saddle. and they are massively expensive!

Isn't MBR renowned for industry pleasing review guff?

Brand X or One Up every time.

(though, TBF, water in the cable housing and an icy morning has caused problems with a brand x on a mates bike, so nothing is totally immune...)

I think it was MBUK in the late 90s who did a review that put the Pace suspension fork ahead of the Marzocchi Bomber. That was pretty much when I stopped buying magazines or trusting reviews.

Everyone is looking to sell something - maybe it's bike products, maybe it's magazines.

I Have had a KS Lev, Reverb and a Bike Yoke. From my experience I'd only buy or recommend the Bike Yoke.

Have had 2 Reverbs, externally routed one was spot on from new, never needed to bleed, or anything else. Stealth one had to go back for new internals after a few months use, but was sorted after that. It had a slow response, so I did that upside-down thing recommended by STWHannah and it's been fine since.
My son has just swapped the external Reverb for a Bonty cable one and does nothing but moan he wants the reverb back 😀

General consensus is: don't trust mbr reviews! I actually do trust some of their reviews on accessories, but I do feel there is a bias towards certain bike manufacturers (Whyte, Orange for example).

In terms of the droppers, my next will be bikeyoke or Fox Transfer. Or of course KS Lev. Don't reinvent the dropper.

I’ve had 4 reverbs, one needed a service I thought went back after 2 years sorted under warranty. The oldest is 6 years old had a service last year never had an issue.

Had one KS Lev, which is finnicky on cable tension but ok, and a giant connect which was cheap but not great.

I’d pick a reverb every time.

I've got a Reverb on my "proper" bike and apart from a brief stint of it not returning it's been faultless. I was at Comrie, by the time I'd got to the shop to ask them to check the pressure/maybe bleed it it had fixed itself.

Miss5556 also has one and it's started to do the slightly springy at the top thing.

My Brand X on my other bike is still excellent, but it does have more side to side play (did from day 1) and is a bit slower than the Reverb, but for £100 can't really fault it.

I've had 3 Reverbs & apart from a service & bleed, they've been fine.

Me and my friend had a Reverb each, well used in all conditions for 2 years and never had any problems

Both had KS Lev Integra's before that and both had issues within weeks, Bike's distro replaced them with the Reverbs for free

Also have had a couple of Brand X's, good but a bit too slow to return for my liking

Currently have a Specialized WU post, been replaced on warranty twice now but i like its return speed and the tilt function so don't really want to replace it

Have a brand new Marzocchi Transfer post (exactly the same as a Fox Transfer post but with black sanction) still in the box ready to be fitted if the Wu post dies again

Because they're basing their review on riding it for one day rather than trying to ride it for 6 months solid, when most issues will occur. I'd only trust a long term review for a seatpost, not a one dayer.

Reverb came out top. I don’t get it. All I ever read is complaints in forums about their (lack of) reliability.

And there's your problem. Every side has two stories and if you only ever hear from one side you don't get an accurate impression of reality. I've had no issues with reverbs...they've been brilliant, similar experiences with riding mates who have Reverbs. You have to accept they are a serviceable item and expect to service them every year to 18 months...i tended to wait until mine started to show signs of needing servicing, which usually showed itself in the fact it squatted down a bit once you sat on it, and that tended to happen pretty much every 18 months...you could set your watch by it. But like anything, depends on how you use it.

Currently running a Brand X which I bought and installed in a car part when my 'in need of a service' Reverb at the time completely failed on me before I started the ride and the Brand X was the cheapest the bike shop had which I could install in the car park quickly. And to be fair so far it's just as good as the reverb. Not had to service it yet but so far so good.

However big fail with the brand X in that the length adjustment side of the actuator cable is at the reverb end rather than the lever end which makes installation unnecessarily complex and hard...I usually go for externally routed things anyway but he brand X is a stealth dropper.

Who wants an expensive post that needs servicing every year and can randomly fail even when new as I have observed over the past few years in my cycling group even recently? You would have to be bonkers or very lucky. They don't all fail but represent probably more than 90% of the failures I see, and that's not on forums.
There really is no need to choose one unless they come as standard on your bike unfortunately.

I've had 4, internal and external routings, no real bother, and I never lifted my bike by the saddle anyway, mibbe I was just lucky.

KS Lev integra has been good too, needs a service now, but it's 2.5 years old. I'll probably clean it up, flog it and buy a one up as I really wanna try a big 200mm dropper.

Who wants an expensive post that needs servicing every year and can randomly fail

They don’t randomly fail. They’re a mechanical device so it’s life is derived from the duty it’s put under. There is a huge variety of duty across the users so you will see a large variability in life achieved. Also see threads on ‘I get crap life from bb’s’, ‘I chew through brake pads at a fast rate’, ‘my suspension needs servicing every 6 months’ and ‘my frame bearings need changing every 6 months’ and the list goes on. so reverbs are hardly bucking the trend.

The idea other brands of dropper don’t need servicing or go wrong is wrong. They all do eventually, well the hydraulic locking ones at least. They have seals that wear so exposed to the same deterioration mechanisms. KS Levs are hardly fit and forget for life from what i’ve Seen from others experiences and neither are Thompson and i’m Sure my brand x will need attention at some point. Every dropper i’ve Heard of needs some attention eventually. Nothing lasts forever and if it does it won’t be as nice to use or will be a heavy chunk of a thing.

Reverb is expensive. So what. So are carbon wheels and they break as often as alloy wheels as well as carbon frames etc. A lot of other components are expensive. My reverbs have come on bikes and when I bought a dropper I got a brand x which so far is on par with a reverb so would buy again, so you pays your money and Make your choice.

If we had the real data at hand instead of internet ramblings, i’d Expect reverbs to come out no better or worse than other comparable droppers.

I have found them to be great.

I have had a KS Lev, Raceface dropper and a T-mars, they all had far worse issues than the Reverbs have ever presented.

I have had 4 Reverbs, they have been changed for different frames or lengths but never for reliability.

The latest 170mm with the new style remote is a dream.

Service them once a year similar to my suspension and they are good as gold.

I'm still running my original external reverb I must have bought in about 2013 or longer ago.

It's had a service and runs well.

I've got two reverbs on two other bikes. All been spot on so far over 2-3 years use with no servicing.

Reverbs have to be the number one post out there, hence the higher amount of negative stuff said about them. Folks love to moan but tend not to post positive reviews so readily.

I've certainly seen a lot of threads on here about problems with other brands and seen it in my riding group too.

Fair points and without stats, no one knows. It's entirely possible that Reverb posts around me have failed far far more often than all other brands put together was just a coincidence, albeit a long running one. In doubt though I'll carry on using other brands that are far cheaper and do not require maintenance for years.