[Closed] KS Lev Integra 150mm - any good?

I have one, that's replaced an old Reverb.

Seems ok so far - it was sticky, and wouldn't rise to start with. Basically it didn't have any grease under the collar so was told it was probably that caused it being lazy, so I stuck a load in there and cycled it a few times, which seems to have sorted it.

I use mine with the Southpaw lever, the standard lock-on lever is literally dog sh*t. If that was still the only option I wouldn't have bought the post, terrible ergonomics, as bad as running the Reverb lever on top of the bars.

No idea on reliability yet, but my Reverb was nearly 2.5 years old and had one service in about 10000kn on the bike, so it's probably got a tough act to follow 🙂

I have one, faultless for 2 years with one home strip and regrease in that time. Works best for me with southpaw lever. Just keeps working when everyone elses reverbs break.

Along next will be a reverb owner saying levs are crap. That's droppers for you!

Run one for nearly two years and ran a Reverb for just over a year. Overall I like the LEV, but there have been a few small slippages in recent rides - drops of 5-10mm while pedalling.

The interwebz said it was a cartridge issue so I sent it back to Jungle for warranty who could find nothing wrong; it's still doing it, but less so when I released some tension on the cable and the shock was locked out, which leads me to suspect there's an element of user / setup error. Because it's a cable with a small amount of pull I have my suspicions I need to be a little more delicate when setting up the stealth routing - from that point of view the Reverb is arguably better.

Is is as good as / better than a Reverb? At the moment I'd buy either again. Basic maintenance seems a little easier on the KS but hydraulics arguably make a better vehicle for remote activation. Also worth bearing in mind that the KS comes in a 150mm drop in 30.9.

That all said, anything is better than the old KS i900.

hob nob,

Would you like to sell me the lock on compatible old leaver?

The KS lever's my favourite dropper lever tbh, I know not everyone likes it but just thought I'd fire that in for a bit of balance. Haven't had a Lev but my ancient supernatural 150mm is still going strong, and it's the same lever

I know KS ****ed up the original Integra mechanism so there'll still be a lot of bad word of mouth from that (though everyone seems to have forgotten how shit the 1st gen Reverb was...)

I really like my KS Lev, again i use a Southpaw as i am running 1x so everything fits under the bar nicely.

Action has been faultless after a years running. But saying that the only thing i didn't like about my old reverb was the remote and the 3mm side to side play.

They are all pretty good to be honest.

I've a LEV on one bike and a Reverb Stealth on another, in all honesty it's hard to pick between the two.

Southpaw lever is far far better than then Reverb plunger but as said the standard KS remote is crap.

I've had less problems with the cable remote on the LEV than the hydraulic system on the Reverb, saying that it in theory the closed system of the Reverb could be maintenance free (if you were lucky, never damaged it or had to remove it) where as the LEV will need a fresh cable now and again and can suffer a bit in really bad conditions.

When I 1st got the LEV it started to sag almost immediately so stripped, bled and rebuilt it my self (quite straight forward to do at home) and it has been rock solid ever since. My Reverb now drops about 10mm. The LEV has developed a bit of rotational play but hoping to sort that out with some new bushes.

Overall been very impressed by both, though I've a feeling it's still a bit pot luck getting a good one.

hob nob,

Would you like to sell me the lock on compatible old leaver?

Absolutely, it's brand new in the packet - drop me an email if you like.

wouldn't bother with integra again. the cable doesn't move like the reverb, so regard it as a bit pointless really, in hindsight.

Eh?

Think he means the normal one has the fixed cable position so it's not worth the extra for the intergra.

Aaah, gotcha.

Fair point, makes maintenance a bit easier having it external though guess it depends on what cable routing options you've got as to which version you chose.

Got the external, much prefer the integra but no stealth routing. The cable box is a magnet for getting mud and water into the post so having all that hidden away in the frame would be much better

Pridds is it worth trying to seal up the cable box? I've just got one

The plastic ferrule at the bottom is a bit of a weak spot and over time found mine got crushed which, as it is the only thing that really holds the cap on, resulted in a lost cap.

I stuck a load of grease in there, cut a piece of plastic to fit and taped it in place. This did a far better job at keeping crap out of it than the original cover ever did.

Difficult to seal up but just need to clean it out and make sure the pulley wheel in there is running smoothly. I run a zip tie round the cover as mine is one the first ones so doesn't have any other means of keeping it on apart from friction

Absolutely, it's brand new in the packet - drop me an email if you like.

email sent

I have one and its been spot on, more than I can say for the 5 reverbs I have had, nothing but trouble with them, just gave up in the end, wouldn't have another one given me

Got a none intergra one thats been perfect ( 2.5 years & 125mm ) also got an intergra one, went back after 4 rides with warranty issue, since then its been fine, lever got a bit stiff but took it out cleaned greased at activator and now fine ( 1.5 years and 150mm )

Would buy another, probably non intergra if your frame suits, got one in UK and one from Germany.

Another ks user..with southpaw...no problems with mine

Another ks lev user..with southpaw...came with new bike. was gonna put my old reverb on but decided to trial it for a bit and just kept with it. find it does need a little bit of waking up at the start of a ride if its been idle a few days but thats about it. love the extra 25mm too.