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Having my first return to cyb for many years soon. I've ridden afan a fair few times and have only thought a dropper would have been useful in a couple of places (Final Blaze descent over one or two of the boulders) But as cyb has a black trail I thought it might be wise, in my advancing years, to get a dropper. I'm pretty tall which doesn't help with drop offs etc and I'm a bit 'arse up, head down' on the bike. It'll be fitted to a Spark RC and need to be quite a long post.
So advice and recommendations gratefully received.
Oneup is probably the answer since you want a long post- they're good quality, not massively expensive, and they come in some very long sizes.
Brand X are the quality bargain option. TBH I'm not sure there's anything else on the market worth looking at these days? The Bikeyoke Revive is the absolute king of quality, but it's just so damn expensive, I have one but I'd buy a Oneup if I needed another.
CYB is the sort of place where droppers are best imo- it's got so many uppy-downy bits rather than being "This bit is a descent, time to get off and slide your fixed post down" like some places are. TO get the most use out of it, try not to think of it as just a dropper, it's a raiser post on sections where you might otherwise have it down!
Brilliant, thanks @northwind, just the advice I was hoping for!
As an older rider my take on droppers is this: We always used to pride ourselves on a saddle-shaped bruise on our upper ribcage which showed we had been getting over the back on descents. Then we started stopping at the top of a tricky bit to drop the seat a couple of inches. I eventually fitted a dropper post onto my Mk1 Cotic Soul and found that I was having to remind myself to use it.
When I bought a newer geometry Giant Trance a couple of years back I found I was using the dropper multiple times without even thinking about it. It came naturally on that bike, presumably because the "weight all the way back" on a steep-angled bike like the Soul isn't the right way to ride our newer LLS bikes.
On the other hand, one of my riding contemporaries is a traditional high-poster whose bike handling skills and ability to get down tricky drops far exceeds mine recently got himself a new bike. "Did you use the dropper?" I'll ask at the bottom of a fun descent. "No, forgot" is the usual answer.
Do you know how much drop you want?
And if you have a high-ish seat tube? So we know whether you need something with a low stack height in particular.
If not, I'd suggest the Brand X post of your choosing, paired with a Bontrager Line Elite lever.
If you only want 150mm of drop, this is unbeatable...
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/brand-x-ascend-dropper-seatpost-100-125-150-/rp-prod149024?gs=1&sku=sku773210&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&gclid=CjwKCAjwjtOTBhAvEiwASG4bCFRwqGlY6Hyq-x1R5AriV3_WKPXEvHAWmoOqMo01Y0xuljLyaM10aRoC_ugQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
You can sell the lever for £15 or so on ebay BTW.
TO get the most use out of it, try not to think of it as just a dropper, it’s a raiser post on sections where you might otherwise have it down!
this in spades.
Also to add, if you are stood up, the seat should be down.
probably, on an XC style bike like the spark, you could get away with rolling those boulder step downs in the old school behind the saddle technique. But there is so much more untapped potential in using the newly formed void for moving your hips.
No longer are you constrained to just going back and forward.
You can go up and down, which lets you either pump the terrain for more speed, or absorb the bike bouncing under you (depending on the situation, skill and bravery)
And you can go side to side. the bike can lean independently of your torso for corners, and keeping your balance on slower speed moves.
Even on tech climbs, those key moves like the steps on Afans Whites climb I'll drop the saddle, and be able to move my weight forward and back to weight the drive wheel while pedalling, then a quick thrust to get the bike through the obstacle, then back to pedalling to get more power as soon as possible
Another vote for OneUp, the posts are great, easy to fit, easy to give a quick service and if things do go wrong their back up is outstanding.
CYB was actually the location I convinced a very talented mate of mine that dropper posts were essential back in 2012/2013. He was a far, far better rider technically than I could ever hope to be and fitter too. And yet on one long up/down section (think it was Pink Heifer if memory serves) I gave him a decent headstart and caught him by the end of the trail. The look on his face was a picture as he couldn't understand how I'd caught him. The difference? He had his regular post & saddle dropped for the whole trail and I had a dropper.
Genuinely, I would rather ride a rigid bike with a dropper than a full suspension bike without one.
To start with you might find it odd not having the saddle to grip - but once you’re used to it you’ll find you’re putting it up and down multiple times on the trail even for short sections. You can get lower whilst being over the middle of the bike (rather than off the back) so you can find more grip everywhere by proper weighting of both wheels.
At Afan I use my dropper quite a lot (only been there 2 or 3 times though) - at CYB it probably spent a lot of time fully down - only been there once but did the MBR black and Tawr Du and it felt like a challenging day of rocks and drops.
only thought a dropper would have been useful in a couple of places
Yeah I used to think this until I got one. Fact is, bikes handle much better when your centre of gravity is lower - this has long been known, which is why DH bikes etc always have their saddles down. The only reason the rest of us have them up is to pedal. Well now, you can have both.
I'm a die-hard XC rider at heart, and I have only recently put droppers on my bikes, but now any kind of riding heading even slightly down hill and I pop the seat down. I mean I don't NEED to, obviously, but it makes it way more fun. I'm at the point now where if I am riding home on the road and there's a sharp corner or a roundabout, I put the saddle just for that corner because I can carve it better. I just don't even think about it, it's just like changing gear.
Regarding drop, since my bikes are both XC orientated I just have 100 and 120mm droppers on them and that's plenty to make a massive difference. I don't feel the need to get any lower than what that allows.
I'd also suggest Brand X. They Just Work, and the price is reasonable.
You'll need to do a bit of measuring and calculating to decide how long a dropper you can fit. The key measurements are:
- what's your normal saddle height for pedaling?
- how much seat post can you fit in your seat tube? (sometimes things like pivot bolts or bottle bosses get in the way -- figure this out before you buy the dropper)
The goal (if it's not obvious) is to have the full dropper extension put your saddle at pedaling height; and thereafter to get "as much drop as possible". IME you never hanker after less dropper drop, so just max out what the frame/budget will allow. Even though something relatively modest like 100mm drop is useful as @molgrips says, more is better I have found, so I would personally advocate just going as big as you can (my current bike has 200mm, I'd have more if I could fit it in!).
Most droppers have some diagrams showing the length from base to collar, etc, so you can figure out what size you can run in your frame.
Finally, determine whether your frame has routing for an internally-routed dropper (mechanism lives inside the seat-tube). If not, you need to shop for an externally-routed one, unless you are happy drilling the frame(!). Internally routed is neater and keeps the actuator bits somewhat sheltered from muck and tat, so is preferable on the whole.
If you end up going externally-routed, get one that has the actuator at the collar end of the dropper rather than the head. The latter results in a big annoying loop of cable flapping around.
Genuinely, I would rather ride a rigid bike with a dropper than a full suspension bike without one and the seat fixed at pedalling height.
added to the statement, but I agree.
If droppers magically disappeared overnight I'd likely end up just standing up everywhere and have to adjust my ride location and routes to suit/cope.
I personally don't see the point of a seat up modern full suspension - there is just so much wasted capability you are unable to access as your body position is limited.
Rigid+dropper on the other hand, I'd be slower (than my current bike), I'd be beaten up, but I'd enjoy it.
have only thought a dropper would have been useful in a couple of places
Once you get used to a dropper, you'll find you use it constantly unless you're just riding on road.
100% some of the above.
You only reach true dropper post zen when you realise that its a question of 'When should I put my seat up.
At which point you'll wonder why you waited so long.