[Closed] Droppers !! What's the best of a bad bunch ?

Specialized Command post, got them in all our bikes. Only had one that needed repair after 5 years of constant use.

Did you warranty the posts? 2 years of rs? What went wrong with the ks? Fixable?

If only there were a mag with an extensive dropper post test in this issue! Oh...wait...

Reverb or BrandX were the picks iirc.

Fox transfer post.

Reverb. Works beautifully. Always available for much less than RRP. Warranty process is fast and painless when you need it.

I'm on my third! By once, replace forever.

Happy with my Stealth reverb, few bleeding issues on fitting aside.

I'm probably going to get a Shimano when they arrive just because the release suits my hand injury a bit more.

Magura? Working fine for me so far.

Reverb has proven unreliable and its possible to be caught out with them limping past the two year mark, plus I really really don't Luke the button.

KS lev has actually proven pretty reliable although after a few years, the sprag bearing has started to mark the stanchion despite religious cleaning and shaft services.

Thomson has proven functionally reliable but has displayed more slop than I would like and has been prone to creaking. Not sure if it was the retailer or the importer, but 8wk turn around is unacceptable to me.

I really want to like the Fox transfer as I hear the doss was pretty reliable. However, saw a chap with a box fresh one in holiday that ended up with more slop in a week than I had on a 3 month old Thomson. I do hope his was just a bad one.

Does seem to be a component that really perplexes manufacturers.

Thomson dropper? Tiny bit of twist in mine from 6 months in but never worsened.

Lev was back to Bike Discount twice in the first year but has been OK since (which means after typing this on the net it will break this weekend.)

Thomson probably has had the least play but given how they brag about the design, it's more than I expect and enough for me to notice it increase with time.

Well that's a shitter - I've just bought the Thomson elite covert; seems lovely at the moment, but having said that I've never had an issue with the reverbs I've had. Beejeezus, I've had a maverick & crank Bros so everything after these feels lovely..!

My ancient KS i950 is still battling on. It's had one fairly major repair but even that was barely as expensive as a Reverb service. The drawback of this anecdote is, there's no way of knowing if it reflects current KSs.

Reverbs are still flaky- the new one has the exact same IFP issue as all previous Reverbs, despite claims of improvements. But otoh they have a kind of killer edge in the 170mm post, that was enough to make me buy one even though I was expecting it to go wrong (it has btw) and even though the lever sucks balls. But when it works it has no peers tbh.

Thomson to the surprise of nobody has recurring, unresolved issues- they did zero UK testing til after the design was finalised, which was helpful when people started having issues because they already knew exactly what was wrong- but not too good as an owner. Aaaand, the Fall Line seems to be seriously picky about adjustment, to the extent of frequently stopping working mid ride until you fanny about with the controls. So that can **** off.

Thomson to the surprise of nobody has recurring, unresolved issues- they did zero UK testing til after the design was finalised, which was helpful when people started having issues because they already knew exactly what was wrong- but not too good as an owner

These threads are never a very positive experience! 😀

Somewhat random point: I was looking the other day at hand-held percussion massagers on Amazon. Across all models at price points between $30 - $195, there are about 16% of reviews which give 1 star and claim that the product failed almost immediately. 16%. Most of the other users who reviewed were happy enough. (I tend to assume that bad experiences translate much more readily into negative reviews). It struck me that this was fairly similar to us lot and dropper posts. Something like 85% (???) of any given model works adequately in use for long enough that the owner moves on to something else without getting angry with it. But if you're one of the people who, through bad luck, above-average use or something else entirely, gets a dud then that really does suck, and the behaviour of the distributor in response to the problem is crucial - if they replace promptly the odds are reasonably good that you'll not get a second lemon and the situation is saved. But the failure rate on all of these things seems to be pretty (too?) high.

KS Lev Integra(internal cable routed)on my RM Altitude, neglected the servicining since Dec '14!!!! Still working as per new....

BigDummy - Member
These threads are never a very positive experience!

Somewhat random point: I was looking the other day at hand-held percussion massagers on Amazon.

Do they work?

Workmate has just bought/been recommended one for his painful joints.

MrsT has a painful, degenerative arthritis problem, curious to know if these "tools" are worth investing in????

if they replace promptly the odds are reasonably good that you'll not get a second lemon and the situation is saved. But the failure rate on all of these things seems to be pretty (too?) high.

There is a
[img] [/img]
effect going on here, the noisy ones are generally the instant/early failures, the mid life ones post and say something and the wear out failures (2 years +) just accept it and move on a lot more quietly in general.
The people who have stuff that just works rarely comment on it as they tend not to open the what this threads.
(in general I'm out of touch on hub bearings, frame bearings and BB's as I've had great life from all my kit)

Do they work?

I don't know, didn't get round to ordering yet. 🙂

My Fox Transfer post has been faultless. Ok it could do with a reduction in rotational play but I can put up with that as long as it's reliable. The lever has a nice feel and the return speed is easily controlled by the lever. I'll see how it goes through winter and report back.

I'm on my third! By once, replace forever

I never understand this by reverb lovers, I'd rather have a post that worked properly all the time everytime

GD here, ugly as sin, 5 years old serviced twice (10 minute job) no faults at all used at least 3 times a week in all weathers

People often comment about the bracing effect of a fork and how it's not a fair comparison. What we really need is a massive diameter seat tube and drop a lefty leg into it. They seem to work quite well.

This thread completely puts me off getting one if the cost to life expectancy is only 6 months to 2 years!

I used to run USE suspension seat posts which fell apart as soon as they got near mud, even though USE replaced parts the whole experience got a bit tiring so gave up.

Sounds like these are the same....

Just to throw some balance to this as inevitably people will respond if they've had negative experiences with xyz...

I've had a reverb on the last bike for 4 years, never serviced it and it still works fine (it's in my spares box).

Got a ks lev integra on my bike currently and work faultlessly.

This was answered in the first reply. The specialized command post works well and seems reliable. If they did a 27.2 with decent travel I'd have one on every bike.

Thomson is lovely when it's working. Mine has been back under warranty 4 times for the same issue; cartridge starting to sag and not fully extend. For md the turnaround has always been sub 14 days but when a new cartridge fails within 2 weeks & the only fix is to send it back in it gets a little wearing. If you could service/fix it at home it would be amazing but since you can't, mine which is failing for the 5th time in 2 years now will just go in the bin & be replaced with sometelse.

I had a KS950i which i sold to a mate, i bought it USED too... 3 years later it's barely been touched. Another one the same has required no work at all apart from a cable replacement after 1 winter, that's also over 3 years old now too and still cracking on well.

I had a reverb for 1 ride before i sold the bike, but it worked fine 🙂

I've now got an X-fusion Hilo... which is.. Mmmmm errrrm.

My very first silver collar Reverb was warrantied, but that's been it.

Fishers made me a 30.9 150mm drop post that was 2 years old before I sold it, needed a service but that's all.

My Lev Integra is about 12-15 months old now & still fine.

New bike soon so looking at the 170mm Reverb again, but will probably try the Bike Yoke lever instead to make it a bit more user friendly. I am quite tempted to try the new Bike Yoke post, as it's 160mm and has a couple of good design ideas.

I can put up with the reliability for the benefit - it's still a lot of stuff going on in a very small area.

I've got a 2011 Reverb that's still chugging along merrily. Had one full service in that time.

Then of course, there's my GD Turbo, which is a little older than the Reverb and has only been opened and greased because I got curious to see what it looked like inside a couple of years ago (it was clean).

I've had others too, cheaper ones. They're all gone now due to failures and lack of parts to get them working again.

I had a ks one and it was great, the only issue i had was it was cable activated and some grit got into the mechanism that held it open, so it kept dropping. Cleaned that out and made a neat inner tube boot for it and it worked perfectly. All I did was on occasion lube it with the posh fox blue lube.

Crank Brothers have a lot of experience with dropper posts. Their new Highline delivers " industry leading quality and reliability".

Might be worth a try.

These often recurring threads about dropper issues from various manufacturers fill me with caution, a bit like oval shaped seat tubes from a certain company! 😉

Owners often rave about droppers, but why on earth would I want to speed ~£200+ on a bike item that sounds like it is bound to fail within two years? 😆

My KS dropzone lasted 4 years with zero maintenance (although I cleaned it religiously). Going to buy another, about 150 euros from Germany.

I'll just leave this here:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/gravity-dropper-excessive-maintenance

🙂

I've had a second hand Fox DOSS for over a year. There's a little bit of play, but you don't notice it.
Can you service them yourself?

ks lev here.

tbh bits are cheap. you can service it yourself (inc a new cartridge for 60 od quid) so its hardly worth rebuilding the old one.

so for the cost from new a lev dx or a reverb.

rOcKeTdOg - Member

GD here, ugly as sin, 5 years old serviced twice (10 minute job) no faults at all used at least 3 times a week in all weathers

If Gravity Dropper made a post with competitive drop I'd be all over it. Mine was great but 100mm just isn't as good.

n0b0dy0ftheg0at - Member

Owners often rave about droppers, but why on earth would I want to speed ~£200+ on a bike item that sounds like it is bound to fail within two years?

Because when they work, they're totally game changing. My rigid has a dropper, because riding without suspension is fun and challenging and different, but riding without a dropper is just shit.

The drawback of this anecdote is, there's no way of knowing if it reflects current KSs.

I'm on the updated KS Supernatural 150mm dropper and it's great, better than my reverb that died
It's my second after a lever operated one that's still going strong on a mates bike
Another buddy runs the KS Lev and it's been faultless for him too

Only thing i'm wanting is a southpaw style lever, but that's a desireable not a necessity

It always gets mentioned but everyone ignores it - two people so far have said: COMMAND POST! Very early ones occasionally had issues with the collet breaking but that has (AFAIK) not been a problem on the Backlite and later. Can be stripped and serviced in 15mins, cable actuation so no bleed issues. Fit and forget really.

Reverb. Works beautifully. Always available for much less than RRP.

Is that still the case? The current model in stealth seems to be about the most expensive out there.

I've had a Thomson for years with no issues at all. Much nicer bit of kit than my Reverb or the Specialized one.

Is the command post any good? Never see any reviews of them.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/specialized-command-post-ircc-review.html

Happy with my old Hilo still, but I still can't see past gravity dropper for reliability and user maintenance benefits. Whats so terrible about 100-125mm drop then? Is it [i]all about the[/i] 150-170mm drop in the comics these days?
Surely if you need a 7" drop post you simply bought the wrong size frame to start with?

Command post user here. I only wish they did a 27.2mm one so I could have one on my HT as well as the FS. Easily user serviceable and if required full rebuild kits available at reasonable cost (though it still seems a lot for a few o-rings, seals and bushes).

cookeaa - Member

Surely if you need a 7" drop post you simply bought the wrong size frame to start with?

What has one got to do with the other? (other than that you can't fit a decent length post in all frames)

The job is to get the seat out of the way, some do it better than others... but I've never ridden some daft thing and thought "wish the seat was higher"

The 150-170mm is all about how far you can slam the seat when not in use not trying to make a tiny frame fit someone with long legs.

As an aggressive rider with only the one mountain bike I like to run a dropper so I can use it for trail riding or getting some air.

I have a 150mm KS Lev having previously owned a 125mm LEV which had to be raised out of the seat tower.

TBH I think I could do with a 160mm dropper but that's getting silly

KS lev has actually proven pretty reliable although after a few years, the sprag bearing has started to mark the stanchion despite religious cleaning and shaft services.

Mmm. Shaft services... 8)

GD here, ugly as sin, 5 years old serviced twice (10 minute job) no faults at all used at least 3 times a week in all weathers

The better half has my old 27.2 on her bike. It once failed on an incredibly wet Afan ride, but a disassemble, wipe and reassemble saw it working well enough to get back to base. All in all took about five minutes, if that.

Ugly as sin, limited travel, but my word - easy to look after.

mine snapped, then fell apart into quite a lot of pieces - while it was just sitting on the workbench of disgrace.

(bolts fell out, adhesive failed, springs ejected other parts, etc.)

was actually quite impressive in a way: every now and then there's tech story on the bbc website or somewhere, about how in the future, shape-memory alloys will mean that things like washing machines will be able to self-dissassemble at the end of their lives - making recycling much easier.

never mind 'in the future' my gravity dropper already did that years ago.

if you're after a GravityDropper, just get a Tmars, surely? they really can't be any worse.

ahwiles - Member

if you're after a GravityDropper, just get a Tmars, surely? they really can't be any worse.

My gravity dropper was in good shape when I sold it at 3 years old. My Tmars lasted 6 hours.

if you're after a GravityDropper, just get a Tmars, surely? they really can't be any worse.

They really, really are. The TMars I had felt like it was made of randomly assembled, rusty, old Trabant parts. Having owned both, I'd happily pay full rrp for a new GD over a TMars.

i'm actually impressed that someone has managed to make something even more shonky than a GD...

(which, at full extension, would detach it's own gaitor)

Anybody with real world experience of the Giant Contact SL dropper? It gets decent enough reviews, mainly in relation to the low price point.

My Fox Transfer post has been faultless. Ok it could do with a reduction in rotational play but I can put up with that as long as it's reliable. The lever has a nice feel and the return speed is easily controlled by the lever

Likewise - mine's only had 8 (long) days of riding but it's got some advantages over a reverb -
- good lever feel (though mine got bent in an off and needs replacing, though still functional)
- sideways movement no worse than a reverb in my case. definitely not an issue.
- cable a much better solution than hydro, especially for stealth. If something does go wrong it's quicker and easier to fit and swap out.

My original Hilo continues to go on and on, despite me not having serviced it since I bought it 4 winters ago - this will be its 5th. Its on the HT, so gets the worst of it. I've changed the cable a couple of times, and it losses pressure, but it goes on and on.. My reverb on other bike has cost me over £200 on servicing and its a little newer.

I have had three Reverb's, two HiLo's and a Giant Contact Switch. The only one that has failed is the Giant

Year and a bit now on an RSP Plummet (not the new hydraulic one). I've not done any maintenance on either the post or the cable. Still works the same as when it came out of its box. Ugly - but does the job.

I think we got the first dropper post in the guiding team about 5 years ago. That was a reverb, which I've just sold along with my old hardtail. It was still working pretty well, a little sticky and a little sloppy, but still working. Zero maintenance in that time.

Since then, amongst the guides we've had:

Reverbs: At least 5. Had to bleed one or two and had to do hose replacements/bleeds because of crash damage a couple of times, but no serious issues.

KS Lev Integra: No issues, sold on after a year, still working.

NukeProof Oklo: Let's not go there.

BrandX: Just fitted one of these to Iona's hardtail. Been flawless so far for a few days shredding in Finale Ligure. Too early to say any more than that.

As far as observing clients' bikes goes, we held off buying droppers ourselves because we saw a lot of problems with the early ones, but these days we see very few issues. Maybe one or two stuck-up / stuck-down posts in a season plus a few crash-damage incidents...

Three Reverbs here. All still working fine.
Only issue is a crash damaged lever, fixed for about 7 quid I think (new barb).

Maybe it's the fact that we both weight less than 11 stone, but they're ridden year round and in all conditions, bikes generally get a wash before being put away and I use Fork Juice on the posts every so often.

Si

One older 2011 command post - still working but has had one seal replaced
2015 black lite Comand post perfect and keeps working
And a newer 27.2 carbon command post for the xc bike only 6 months old but no issues so far

Another vote for the specialized command post here.

Have a Thomson which has done 18months so worrie.

Also have a KS Crux-i which has been pretty good but needs a service after 8 months.

Have about 10 hours on a new Brand-X one which I'm very impressed with. If it's reliable (it does have a two year warranty) then it'll be my default choice.

My Gravity Dropper posts just kept working - and when my older GD Classic occasionally got awkward it was very quick to service. It shows how well it lasted without attention because it corroded into place in my old steel hardtail and got broken trying to remove it!

I only replaced my Turbo LP because I wanted more drop, going to a 170mm Reverb. The remote on the Reverb isn't as ergonomic as the GD's but as I have rather long legs the extra drop is nice. If you want a very reliable 30.9mm post with 125mm drop my Turbo LP needs a new home - I even have spare bushes and boots for it as I was expecting to keep it for years and years and a spare remote from when my older GD was an over bar lever which I switched to an under bar (other side flipped).

They're a serviceable item!
I've had a few reverbs and not had an issue with any (I did avoid the 1st gen though). But I give them a bleed every now and again, it takes 20 minutes tops. No reason not to really, same as brakes.
In operation, the only think I find slightly frustrating is they are slooooooooow when it's cold. I'd like to give a transfer a go, but unless I can get one for a reasonable price, I'll be sticking with what I have.

The Thomson isn't a serviceable item. I'd love to be able to strip and lube that

WATT?
You can't service it? how not? special tools or gas charged? Eff that.

Anybody with real world experience of the Giant Contact SL dropper? It gets decent enough reviews, mainly in relation to the low price point.

I've got the 150mm version the cartridge failed after 3 months of use (It had gone through 3 weeks of riding above 10000ft - which may have been a factor)

Took 2 weeks to get the cartridge replaced

But other than that it goes up and down nicely, the remote lever work well, and the seat clamp works well. I'm running it in stealth mode but it can be non stealth as well. Its not the lightest of dropper posts - but for the price its worth it. Its a pretty simple design - basically if anything goes wrong with cartridge that gets pulled out and you plug in another one

I bought it as i needed the extra 25mm of drop over my old gravity dropper post , which was still going strong after 6 years of use..

 

My 2yr and 2month old Thomson (2yr warranty) has lost 10mm of its extension, needs a new cartridge. Rather than pay the £100?!?! Service charge I've bought a brandx dropper for the same cost (British cycling 10% crc discount).....
It also has a 2yr warranty, only weighs 35g more.
I'll see how this 140rrp post compares to the 400rrp Thomson after the winter....

I have the new improved Reverb dropper. It broke at 13months.

Warranty replaced. Not a chance I'd buy a used Reverb dropper.

I've got a 9point8 Fall Line. I read all the reviews and user feedback and decided I'd spend the premium (£350) for something that sounded in principle to be a better and more reliable design. The mechanism is very unique, not involving hydraulics or high pressure air seals. Just a cable actuated brake and low pressure (20psi) air chamber.

It was a little faff to set up. Also, there's a point about mid way through the travel that the post can slip when it gets cold outside, so I do have to position it at that point and then press the lever for 5 seconds to let it adjust if I go out on a cold day.

Not had a huge amount of use yet to properly test it (6 months), but so far I'm happy.

The Brand X was the bargain surprise in the mag group test.

I only replaced my Turbo LP because I wanted more drop, going to a 170mm Reverb. The remote on the Reverb isn't as ergonomic as the GD's but as I have rather long legs the extra drop is nice. If you want a very reliable 30.9mm post with 125mm drop my Turbo LP needs a new home - I even have spare bushes and boots for it as I was expecting to keep it for years and years and a spare remote from when my older GD was an over bar lever which I switched to an under bar (other side flipped).

What sort of price are you thinking @chiefgrooveguru?

Another vote for Gravity dropper.

If it has the drop you are after, you don't mind the aesthetics, or the agricultural nature of the thing, I think it's a winner.

I also like that it's made by a small company in a shed somewhere in Montana.

Ugly but my Satora Pro, same as the Raleigh branded one, has proven really reliable.

Just bought a Band X for the other bike and it seems pretty good so far but a Winter of mud is the true test.... together with my weight at the moment!