[Closed] Just seen Thompson dropper at merlin. Stunning !!!

I've been running one for a few weeks now....

Hmmm.... 😐

I better start saving [s]again[/s] for a Reverb

🙂

It may look pretty, but....

...but what?

Cable is in the wrong place, so I'm out.

Hmmm.... 😐

First rule of dropper posts - don't be the first (1000) to buy one

Apart from that the cable is in the wrong place as said above. Having got the Lev the fixed cable is great.

thomson posts, the cream of the crop!

the cable is always the week spot of any dropper no matter who makes it, cables and dropper posts should never ever collide in the same sentance.
the reverb is the only reliable remotely operated dropper post i've seen.

cruzcampo - Member - Quote
thomson posts, the cream of the crop!

Custom made Norglide bearing bushings custom made Trelleborg O-Rings and seals

b45sher - funny...i ditched a reverb and now have two LEVs..been far better IMO.

b45her - Member

the cable is always the week spot of any dropper no matter who makes it, cables and dropper posts should never ever collide in the same sentance.

I don't understand this at all, what is it about seatposts that you think is incompatible with cables, when they work so well on gears?

I've got 3 cable-operated droppers, fitted with quality cables... they need a little cable tlc from time to time- about once a year, on average. Otherwise, no issues, and infrequent servicing.

I did break a cable mount in the alps, and you know what? If it'd been a reverb, I'd have been screwed. But with the cable operated post, I could still operate it manually. Fixing it used parts available for pennies from every bike shop in the world, to fix equivalent on a reverb would cost somewhere over £40 to fix, with parts you have to special order. That really sounds like progress.

b45her : Coming from a bikeshop perspective where i fit all the dropper posts the reverb is a pain in the arse, on the other hand the KS Lev which i paid full retail or online price (£260) from Germany has been utterly faultless in operation, i could have bought any of the others at trade price but thought "nah....." I'd rather have something that works.

The cable operation on the Thomson works extremely well. It's genuinely pleasing to use. The cable doesn't kink or interfere with the bike or my riding style. If you've got concerns about it then put them aside...unless you object to cable operation in principle. In that case I won't waste my breath.

Early experiences with the post were very good. The finish and external build quality appear to be high. Doubt I've seen higher in fact. The surface finish in the post is extremely durable. When I [i]removed[/i] the post a couple of days ago, it cleaned up to look brand new. That's after 70 or so miles on it...

The cable doesn't kink or interfere with the bike or my riding style. If you've got concerns about it then put them aside...unless you object to cable operation in principle. In that case I won't waste my breath

The surface finish in the post is extremely durable. When I removed the post a couple of days ago, it cleaned up to look brand new. That's after 70 or so miles on it...

i could have bought any of the others at trade price but thought "nah....." I'd rather have something that works.

you had to buy it retail from Germany because the UK distributor dropped them because all the warranties were such a massive pain.

I had ks 950i supernatural with bar remote after about 6 months use it did not last a ride in the mud/rain without not working properly. I have a reverb on for 14 months and not touched it and it still works like new . The cable system on the Thomson does look a lot better than the ks though

Bigrich - I'd take SS's version of events with a very big pinch of salt....

The finish and external build quality appear to be high. Doubt I've seen higher in fact. The surface finish in the post is extremely durable. When I removed the post a couple of days ago, it cleaned up to look brand new. That's after 70 or so miles on it...

So a weekends worth of riding?

My Gravity dropper still looks like new and I bought it in 2005. It's done thousands of miles. Only opened it up once and that was only because I was curious. Still on the original cable as well.

I have the KS Supernatural - best post ever if you dont like cables, Trying to find another for my new build

@mikewsmith i'm meaning Thomson posts in general, more 5* reviews than any other brand, regarded as the best money can buy. I've got a Thomson Elite straight post, still as new as the day I bought after 5 years use, not one scratch.

Replaced it with a Truvativ Elite layback post, and after one ride theres marks from the seatclamp!

I hope the Thomson proves reliable. However I bought another Gravity Dropper for my new bike because they're incredibly reliable and easy/cheap to maintain/repair should anything untoward happen.

I've got a KS dropzone. Where the cable extends is out of the way. Never been an issue. It's been faultless in the 6 months i've had it.

i'm meaning Thomson posts in general, more 5* reviews than any other brand, regarded as the best money can buy

totally irrelevant. They can make a good tube with a clamp on the end, but have no experience with seals, bushes, valves etc. Their dropper may turn out to be the dogs danglies and its been a long time in development but I for one would never buy a first-run product, especially from someone with no history in the field. Rockshox had (relatively minor) issues with their first Reverbs and they had 20+years for fork manufacture to fall back on.

I did break a cable mount in the alps, and you know what? If it'd been a reverb, I'd have been screwed. But with the cable operated post, I could still operate it manually. Fixing it used parts available for pennies from every bike shop in the world, to fix equivalent on a reverb would cost somewhere over £40 to fix, with parts you have to special order. That really sounds like progress.

Unless the internal cable snaps, at which point you're screwed. I have a Lev and I think that it's a good bit of kit but the internal cable is a piece of design that irks me. Especially as mine did snap and no, it isn't just normal cable!

I had ks 950i supernatural with bar remote after about 6 months use it did not last a ride in the mud/rain without not working properly.

Never had any problem with mine. I do strip it down for a clean and lube every few months though.

I did break a cable mount in the alps, and you know what? If it'd been a reverb, I'd have been screwed. But with the cable operated post, I could still operate it manually. Fixing it used parts available for pennies from every bike shop in the world, to fix equivalent on a reverb would cost somewhere over £40 to fix, with parts you have to special order. That really sounds like progress.

Do you have hydraulic discs? If so, please consider your point above to be fully pointless. 🙂

but you need a bleed kit for the Reverb - My hope brakes don't need a bleed kit.

Not being funny but do people use their droppers much in the Alps? My experience there is that days are typically made up of massive climbs (seat right up) and massive descents (seat right down) so not much call for an on-the-fly adjustment, unlike UK trail riding (apart from Lakes etc) where it tends to be undulating, with quick and frequent changes in incline. I'm fitting my new dropper to my UK trail bike - not bothering on the bigger Alps bike where it's less likely to be useful, more likely to get smashed to bits.

totally irrelevant. They can make a good tube with a clamp on the end, but have no experience with seals, bushes, valves etc.

This might indeed be the case in fact.

So a weekends worth of riding?

Ooh, get you.

Is it now next year for the 27.2mm version?

you had to buy it retail from Germany because the UK distributor dropped them because all the warranties were such a massive pain.

Bigrich - I'd take SS's version of events with a very big pinch of salt....

haven't KS been picked up by Jungle/Stif?

Not being funny but do people use their droppers much in the Alps?

Yes, quite a lot.

but you need a bleed kit for the Reverb - My hope brakes don't need a bleed kit.

You hardly ever have to use it tbh, and when you do it's way easier than any brake I've bled.

[quote=cruzcampo ]@mikewsmith i'm meaning Thomson posts in general, more 5* reviews than any other brand, regarded as the best money can buy. I've got a Thomson Elite straight post, still as new as the day I bought after 5 years use, not one scratch.
Replaced it with a Truvativ Elite layback post, and after one ride theres marks from the seatclamp!

Yep and as I checked the only other moving part they have ever made was a seat clamp.

the reverb is the only reliable remotely operated dropper post i've seen.

Are people not having problems & losing their posts for weeks with warranty work anymore?

I have two reverbs and they work perfectly with zero maintenance other than the obligatory squirt with fork juice. I just wished they'd make the remote levers more crash friendly- there must be a way of making the levers less fragile / vulnerable, or at least make the breakable parts more affordable... or maybe I should crash less often

If people were losing their Reverbs for weeks I'd be looking towards the shop rather than the importer - Fishers tend to be very quick at turning things around

I just wished they'd make the remote levers more crash friendly- there must be a way of making the levers less fragile / vulnerable

Are you using it under the bar or above?

Had numerous heavy crashes and haven't broken it since I moved mine under.

I had a first gen reverb which was tempramental. My newer one has been faultless. I'm not a big fan of RS/SRAM/etc (stemming from abysmal Avid brakes) but I'd buy another without hesitation.
MOst modern droppers are good, just remember MTB rule#4; never buy crank bros.

Are you using it under the bar or above?

One bike on top, one bike under. Both have been damaged during a crash

So a weekends worth of riding?
Ooh, get you.

regardless of whether you think that's willy waving or not the point is valid, 70 odd miles is not much of a test, that is only 1 or 2 rides to some people, and gives no idea of actual longevity or reliability, all it really does is confirm that that one example didn't explode straight out of the box...

regardless of whether you think that's willy waving or not the point is valid, 70 odd miles is not much of a test, that is only 1 or 2 rides to some people, and gives no idea of actual longevity or reliability, all it really does is confirm that that one example didn't explode straight out of the box...

Sigh. 😐

Have I, for one moment, given any indication as to the current operational state of my Thomson dropper? Have I yet mentioned that I've had multiple problems with it in the space of 70 short miles, rendering it inoperable?

No.

mangatank - Member
I've been running one for a few weeks now....

Hmmm.... 😐

Have I yet mentioned that I've had multiple problems with it in the space of 70 short miles, rendering it inoperable?

So are you going to tell us what's happened?

Nope. Not until it's all sorted out. Suffice to say that it's been....interesting, and not confined to mechanical issues.

More next week.

interesting, and not confined to mechanical issues.

I'm going to guess it was haunted.

[i]I'm going to guess it was haunted. [/i]

I'm going for having it surgically removed after the return spring proved to be a little too powerful.

I'm going for having it surgically removed after the return spring proved to be a little too powerful.

😆

Not quite, though I knew someone in the 90s who suffered a sudden and painful non-dropper seatpost/saddle/orifice interface. That definitely did require surgical intervention. 😯

Suffice to say that it's been....interesting, and not confined to mechanical issues.

CaptainFlashheart - Member

Do you have hydraulic discs? If so, please consider your point above to be fully pointless.

No, and no- if I break my seatpost, it doesn't matter what sort of brakes I have, funnily enough.

mangatank - Member

Suffice to say that it's been....interesting, and not confined to mechanical issues.

Worms?

Sigh.

Have I, for one moment, given any indication as to the current operational state of my Thomson dropper? Have I yet mentioned that I've had multiple problems with it in the space of 70 short miles, rendering it inoperable?

No.

Er no, quite the opposite in fact...

Early experiences with the post were very good. The finish and external build quality appear to be high. Doubt I've seen higher in fact. The surface finish in the post is extremely durable. When I removed the post a couple of days ago, it cleaned up to look brand new. That's after 70 or so miles on it...

You seem to have said, it looks nice, I've used it briefly, it still looks nice...

if it is:

A> still perfect, then it needs more time and more examples to see if that is the norm.

B> exploded to death, then we need more examples and more time to see if that is an endemic problem or an unfortunate early life failure on the bathtub curve.

My point was that after 70 miles whether it was working perfectly and looks like new, or has exploded into a million tiny rusty pieces, the product is still too new to make any useful judgements about longevity or reliability.

It wasn't a dig at anyone, certainly not you, it was more an observation that until they've been in the wild for a bit they are still very much an unknown.

I'm going to guess it was haunted.

Genuine LOL.

I'll put my money on the owner discovering that it was actually made out of 80% dark chocolate during a particularly warm ride.

Worms?

This! This is what happened!

It's not worms.

I did a little searching this afternoon about the problems I've had (there. I've said it!), and Thomson have actually flagged one of them on their support page.

The first issue is that in some posts from the earliest production run, the bushing cover securing the extending part of the post, had threads contaminated by oil. This could lead to the bushing loosening and causing excessive play to develop in the post. This is what happened to mine, probably within 40 miles. Except with mine, the bushing cover became almost completely unscrewed during a long bumpy descent. Something of a surprise. I cleaned the threads and applied a little loctite, but this didn't completely solve the looseness.

The other issue may or may not even be a problem: When the seatpost returned to full extension, it made a fairly loud 'thunk!'. This doesn't have any effect on the operation of the post, but there are reviews out there where the [i]silent[/i] operation of the post is highlighted. So, [i]is[/i] this a problem? Who knows, because nobody connected with Thomson has replied to any of my queries about it. The first email went off three weeks ago.

So yeah, early adoption and all that. This sort of thing doesn't bother me too much. If you've got a dropper post, you've definitely got a spare seatpost. It's the other stuff that's the confusing part. That I can't really get into until it's resolved.

Should this stop you buying the post? Well, it's not a great start that's for sure, and so far I can't comment on Thomson's warranty process in the UK, but this is just [i]my[/i] post. When it worked (and it never actually stopped working), it was a great bit of kit.

Someone mentioned cream?

Is this the bit you meant on the Thomson site?

9. If your post is moving front to back the upper bushing holder may be loose. Grab the bushing holder, it’s the black ring at the top of the lower tube, if you can turn it by hand it is too loose. Don’t ride, call us, we will talk you through it. This only might affect posts shipped in May through early July.

As someone up the thread said. V1 of any dropper post is going to be hit and miss. They seem to be reacting well from reading that blog though. Fingers crossed. I'd love a 27.2 one for my IF.

GD collars loosen all the time, allowing play and stopping the pin aligning perfectly. I consider this a trivial inconvenience as it is a 2 second fix so if thats the worst thing thats happened to your Thomson...

If you've got a dropper post, you've definitely got a spare seatpost

Snapped my seatpost 6 weeks ago, 20 mins into a ride @ CyB - did the rest of the Dragon's Back standing (grrrr!)

Hadn't been able to find a suitable Ti post (preferable) for less than a ton (& what if I snapped that as well!), so splashed out on a "game changing" reverb.

It's still in the box as I've used that bike for nothing but uplifts since.

Shrewd investment

Just had my LEV back from jungle within a week as it developed a bit of play and stichion. Replaced the seat clamp and full service under warranty. V good service IMO and really helpful via email.

I consider this a trivial inconvenience as it is a 2 second fix so if thats the worst thing thats happened to your Thomson...

Love the tone adopted there :D, but quite right in fact. A bit of a clean, a dab of loctite and a quick twist with a strap wrench and that should sort it. So why would I send it back under warranty? I didn't actually request a warranty repair or exchange in fact. I asked about the best way Thomson would advise about fixing the issue, and queried the noisy travel return.

I actually don't know what issue the warranty is attempting to cover! 😯

Busted a KS Cobra twice, last time fatal. On my second Joplin 4, the first being a replacement for a Joplin 3 which died. All slow warranty work. Mates have had issues with Reverbs and switched to Levs. I couldn't find any Levs when the Cobra died so bought. Thomson. 100 miles in and all good so far in sand, mud and rain. Early days. Only issues are the cable is too short, only just fitted my BLT2, and the outer cable is too thick to go in Shimano end caps - I cut it to use the Blur's extra cable stops. After all the cr*p from the others I have high expectations for the Thomson and it is beautifully made.