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KS eTen (fwiw)
Not sure whether this is a coincidence or not, but dropper was working fine until I needed to turn the bike over for some unrelated reason (replacing brake pads) then it got stuck down.
Note: when I flipped the bike back, the dropper was extended. And when I flipped the bike the right way up and went for a test ride, I dropped the post and it will no longer raise. The cable has a lot of slack so not sure whether the cable has somehow disconnected itself from the release mechanism at the base of the post.
Anyway, there isn't enough slack in the cable to pull the post out of the seat tube, so what next??
Sounds like the cable has come off and maybe snagged somewhere. I would disconnect the cable at the lever end and feed it in while pulling the seatpost out so you can see what’s going on.
there isn’t enough slack in the cable to pull the post out of the seat tube,
Not enough slack? You have removed the dropper lever from the bars haven’t you?
Not enough slack? You have removed the dropper lever from the bars haven’t you?
Not yet...the remote is mounted inside the drops on my gravel bike so it's under the bar tape (therefore a pain in the arse to remove without pulling the bar tape off).
Arse ...looks like that's the next step ...
If it won't come out because of the lack of cable slack, then it's not dropped the cable. Unless this design physically attaches the outer to the post.
I realised that having to unwrap the bar tape is a fundamental issue with gravel droppers when I installed mine a couple of weeks ago. 😔
Would taking the stem off the steerer give you enough cable to feed in to get the post out?
Easier to take bars off maybe, if you loosen face plate and rotate bars you might get enough slack.
That's a good suggestion, almost certainly would on my Boardman which is externally routed until it enters the bottom of the seat tube. 👍
akira
Full Member
Easier to take bars off maybe, if you loosen face plate and rotate bars you might get enough slack.
Good idea. Will try that first...
What a pain in the arse this has turned out to be...it turns out that whoever built the bike cut the front brake hose so short that I had to drop the forks out to get the stem off the steerer so free up some more slack in the dropper cable🤷
Anyway, this is what I found....
So...is this just a poor design? The "toggle" doesn't sit securely in the release mechanism and it's very easy to get dislodged.
I've pulled the dropper for now and replaced it with a regular seatpost but not sure whether I can "fix" the poor design to make it more secure.
Do other droppers use better cable attachment points and could I swap this part out?
This is a cheap KS eTen dropper but it's the only one I can find which has layback (and as I've got a very long spine, I need the extra room...)
Ideas??
(sorry for multiple posts but I can't attach more than one photo per post, and even that took several attempts as STW doesn't not provide any indication that the photo has been uploaded)
Looks a bit ordinary - I can't tell if the second ring has sheared or it's supposed to only have one. If so it clearly isn't enough. If not, you should be able to get that part. There's an ebay KS parts seller IIRC if you can't source anywhere else.
EDIT - second look that seems to be the design doesn't it. Nicely arranged to fall out when you're trying to set it up 🙁
I'm tempted to just use an old-fashioned seatpost QR (assuming I can find one for 27.2mm seatposts...) like we did BITD...
You can buy that bit from KS.
Its not expensive
Looks like one half of the actuator lever arm has snapped off - at least KS are good with spares (IME).
Perhaps when moving the bike around, turning it upside down, the remote lever was caught and put a large load through the remote lever and pulled the cable, snapping the actuator lever.
I had one of the older Magura electronic dropper posts. It was a joy not having to deal with this nonsense.
Unfortunately it turns out that they don't survive immersion so now I'm back to a cable 🙁
agree with Kahurangi, my xfusion on has a similar arrangement but it's a hook on one side and a loop on the other - looks like your hook has snapped off
Yeah, that's broken. You can confirm it by holding the bike upside down and seeing what drops out...
Hmmm, their exploded diagram seems to suggest it might not be broke (though it might be worn...). Anyway, still a pretty shitty design so I'm not sure I'd actually want to replace it with the same
If anything the diagram confirms that its broken
It's 100% broken. The 'hook' part of the retainer is missing. It's fairly common with KS posts, but as mentioned, parts are pretty cheap and easy to replace.