[Closed] Integrated dropper...

Looks interesting but how would it work with the more modern bikes and their raked back short seat stays (like the Trek Slash)?

Its something id expect canondale to release for their bikes,

anyway its a great idea, nice to see some innovation thats not just a slightly wider hub or an extra large sprocket 😉

Saw this on some photos of the new Litevilles at Eurobike.

Could be very interesting. And no doubt...very expensive.

it just seems like a crazy idea to me.

a lot of frame engineering for a frame specific seatpost

I love this but then I'm a fan of the whole Syntace / Liteville / Nicolai kind of thing.

a lot of frame engineering for a frame specific seatpost

I like the idea of it, droppers never seemed like a completely finished product to me - stealth ones are better than the really early days when you had to zip tie the remote hose to the top-tube or use a lever under the seat. Stealths a faf if you need to remove it for any reason.

By the looks of it it's just a couple of welded bosses with a hole through?

yeah

i reckon its retrofittable with a drill and a few nuts too 😀

Its a good idea, fasten the post at its bottom. Its not built into the frame though thankfully, but the frame built for the design as its basically the guts of a dropper, without the outer sleeve.

Problem being its their own design, and probably patented. Doubt very much you will see this on anything other than small boutique brands. Expect Trek, Specialized etc. to now come up with their own approach over the next few years so no obvious standard can be followed and let us fit your own choice of dropper to their frame.

So does this mean when the internals fail (and they will at some point) the entire frame becomes useless until they are fixed? That would put me off completely.

yeah, that's not great.

So does this mean when the internals fail (and they will at some point) the entire frame becomes useless until they are fixed? That would put me off completely.

Best way to think of it is as another seat tube diameter, but a specific one for droppers only.

but I'd need to replace with another post exacly the same? Ie no using any other dropper post, or god forbid, a normal post in an emergency.

Seems like a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist. It may save half a pound or so, but is weight a real concern on any bike this would be fitted to?

Stato, one of the 'benefits' is that the design does away with the seat clamp, so if you need to remove the internals, unless you have a spare ready; your bike has no seat post and you can't use any old seat post as a temporary replacement.

lets hope the internals are robust

This is a great idea. I don't see why you couldn't use a normal seat post in its place when you have to - Liteville's have a 34.9 seat post as standard and I'd be surprised if they've changed that. Ah, but how does it clamp without a slot in the top of the seat tube?

Load of negative nannies you lot.

if it goes wrong, stick a shim and a normal post in it, though there is far less to go wrong than on a normal dropper.

Stato, one of the 'benefits' is that the design does away with the seat clamp, so if you need to remove the internals, unless you have a spare ready; your bike has no seat post and you can't use any old seat post as a temporary replacement.

Well yes, that's kind of the point of it being integrated, to remove the problem of the seat clamp causing binding (apparently, ive not had that issue).

So yes you would need a spare on hand, same issue for your shock, fork, XD freehub and £200 cassette, bearings etc. Its not really an issue if you consider it in the context of a modern enduro bike.

Liteville's have a 34.9 seat post as standard and I'd be surprised if they've changed that. Ah, but how does it clamp without a slot in the top of the seat tube?

Keep up at the back, this is a dropper only frame 😆

if it goes wrong, stick a shim and a normal post in it,

it's got no seat clamp...

We have bikes that need custom length shocks (Specialized/Trek)
We have bikes that need specific stems (Giant)
We have bikes that need custom bearing sizes, and get charged £££££ for them!
We have bikes that need offset rear wheels with special hubs(Specialized again)
We have bikes that need £200+ 12 speed cassettes AND mechs

All added to bikes to make them either slightly better or for no apparent benefit, yet they exist in their hundreds or thousands. And yet none of these are resolvable in your LBS on a Friday evening before you go riding for the weekend. So why are you all soiling your pants at the thought of one more thing, that will most likely improve quality and reliability and be lighter than something you already use.

The industry is ****ing crazy, and a good reason I'm not buying another mtb in a hurry. Drop £3k on a bike and then 3 years later struggle to get spares, oh yipee.

I accept road bikes still have some of these issues, but nothing like the farce mtbs have become.

yeah I see your point Stato, I wasn't getting frothy about it, just pointing out the obvious downside.

Exactly what are these spares you can't get after 3 years?

Systems are great I can't wait till bikes are sold as systems rather than loads of people's shitty standards that are borderline capable of useable tacked together pick a manufacturer use the product. Deal with one source like your motorbike

That will be the next phase in mtb evolution to tie people in

Systems are great I can't wait till bikes are sold as systems

As a bike mechanic, I can honestly say I feel sad about this potential future. I'm only young, and yet I feel a strong sense of loss, as cycling becomes more technological, corporate, and electrical. Maybe it's inevitable. But I'm a punk, so I don't believe that: I believe we can choose how the world is. I don't know.

The Litevilles run a 34.9mm post anyway, so I would imagine you can retrofit a reverb and normal clamp

Having had a succession of unreliable dropper posts, integrating them into the frame seems a really dumb idea!!
What do you do when (not if) it fails? At the moment it just swap it for a non dropper post and keep using the bike whilst it's fixed. Obviously, if the post is integrated, when it fails it's no bike for a couple of weeks, and when the parts are no longer available?
I'm out.

If that could be retrofitted to a Liteville 301 then I reckon that I'd get one. I like the fact that you can lift the bike by the saddle too - sometng I like about Gravity Dropper posts.

mickmcd - Member
Systems are great I can't wait till bikes are sold as systems rather than loads of people's shitty standards that are borderline capable of useable tacked together pick a manufacturer use the product. Deal with one source like your motorbike

I want my bike my way, not theirs

Andy R - Member
If that could be retrofitted to a Liteville 301 then I reckon that I'd get one. I like the fact that you can lift the bike by the saddle too - sometng I like about Gravity Dropper posts.

Doesn't look like it'll be retrofittable, unfortunately - and, equally unfortunately, I don't think that I can run to a new 301 Mk14 frame.