[Closed] Seatpost dropperists – lever or remote?

Remote is the only option for me. Charging into a bit of trail as fast as you can then having to remove your hand to play with a lever? Nah

Remote, otherwise it's just a more convenient version of a seat QR.

You've already figured it out, but it's a bigger trade off than you may realise if you've not used one before.

Very very limited using a lever.
Most of the benefits are lost

The number of times I even struggle to get my weight on the saddle to drop it, let alone taking my hand off the bar.

Ive only used a reverb but cant imagine getting on with a non-remote dropper. I love the reverb, all of mine have been excellent, no issues in terms of performance etc but the downside is the remote is very vulnerable and have broken two- mounting under the handlebars doesn't always work to protect them. Repairs are stupidly expensive too, not sure how they can justify the cost but then they're still on my bikes.

Ks lev remote is the neatest solution that I've seen/tried.

As per comment in the other thread - Started non-remote, moved to a remote Reverb and soon realised that my first choice had been very wrong!

Remote.

Lever all the way
no chance of cable gunking up/jamming/freezing etc + no extra clutter or weight.

Remote..... taking your hands off the bars scrabbling about to grab a lever under your seat whilst riding = schoolboy error!!

Bar mounted lever - don't even consider anything else !

My dropper's lever is pulled by my index finger (it looks like a tiny brake lever). I've got it positioned just above the brake lever, so my hand never has to reposition itself on the grips to activate it. And like braking, I barely even need to think about dropping the saddle, it's almost done subconsciously.

If/when I eventually get a dropper it'll be lever. I dont want extra clutter on the bars/extra cables to snag and also I have a short seatpost and seat that I change to when I ride dh so I don't mess up my "good saddle" on a crash, and also i can get it lower than I would with a dropper. Plus it looks better 😛

cable gunking up/jamming/freezing etc + no extra clutter or weight.

Have to disagree with this, been using a reverb for the last 2.5 years, never had to do any maintenance on it and never experienced any of the above?

Dropper post without a remote lever is next to useless, half the time by the time youve realised you want to drop the post, you dont want to be taking your hands off the bars!

Presumably there's 2 ways of using it:

- as something you alter constantly, like shifting gears almost - a remote is a must for this; or
- as something you use basically like a seat QR, but without the associated stopping and tendency to have a faff and a breather - lever is fine for this if you don't want the clutter and maintenance of the cable.

Personally, I've got quite keen on the remote and the first way of using the thing.

Remote.

I tried the lever and as others have said, it just makes it like a slighly more convenient QR.

It's quite funny watching people without remote attempting a Michael Jackson style crotch grab going for the lever as they hurtle at speed into a steep bit of trail!

Remote otherwise I'd rather just use a QR seat clamp but make sure the remote can be positioned so it can be activated with moving your hand position.

I recently swapped from KS LEV to Reverb because the KS was too short. I hurriedly attached the Reverb remote to the bars before a ride. The positioning was rubbish and was too far away for my thumb to reach without moving my hand and I had to look down to see where I was supposed to press. It felt terrible compared to my Lev's remote positioning which I could activate using a simple twitch of the thumb. Positioning is a lot better now and I can activate the Reverb easily.

I can only imagine taking your hand off fully and activating a lever under the seat would be even more of a pain in the arse.

Having a lever is mearly a convenience factor, you can lower your post even quicker than a QR clamp.

Having a remote totally changes the way you can ride. You can seamlessly go from climbing straight into taking a large drop or technical section without pausing even for a split second.

taking your hands off the bars scrabbling about to grab a lever under your seat whilst riding

1, Do you regularly forget where things are?
2, Are you unable to ride one handed?
3, Are you unable to anticipate techy descents before riding down them?
4, Do you like gadgets?
5, Do you always have to have what your friends have?

If you answer yes to any of the above then a remote is what you need.

I suspect there are two ways to use a dropper. There'll be a ploddy traditional XC type rider who will ride everything with their seat up and maybe come to a dead steep bit where they'll reach between their legs, fiddle around for a bit and drop the seat whilst trying not to crash. They may do this a handful of times during a ride.

Then there'll be the type of rider who will adjust their post as often as they change gears (I do), knocking it down an inch on fast, flowy, jumpy stuff, bit more when it gets a bit steeper and then shoving it back up when the trail suddenly heads vertically upwards. You don't want to be doing any of this at speed with a non-remote dropper.

I started with a lever Joplin. Thought it was the best thing ever. Then I got a Reverb and realised I was very wrong about the Joplin and its lever.

That said, I quite fancy the 27.2mm Thomson for my Curtis but thats a totally different type of bike to my Five, one which I probably would leave it up most of the time and only drop it a bit on the descents.

ndthornton - Member
taking your hands off the bars scrabbling about to grab a lever under your seat whilst riding
1, Do you regularly forget where things are?
2, Are you unable to ride one handed?
3, Are you unable to anticipate techy descents before riding down them?
4, Do you like gadgets?
5, Do you always have to have what your friends have?

If you answer yes to any of the above then a remote is what you need.

Are you a dumbarse?

Remote on my big bike,
Lever on my hard tail.

I use my hardtail mainly for local woods and such like where I rarely need to drop the seat apart from some quite long steep steps here and there. Which I wouldn't go down without checking they were clear with no one walking up anyway.

So have plenty of time to use lever, so would rather have less bar clutter but still a lot less faff than a qr.

If I can just steal CFH's "I suppose you use cable brakess" gambit- I suppose everyone who doesn't think levers are a good idea also has downtube shifters. And everyone who doesn't think droppers are a good idea at all has no shifters, and gets off to change gear 😉

Remote every time. I have a lever only Joplin 3, adjusting it on the go has made for some 'interesting' moments.

I suppose everyone who doesn't think levers are a good idea also has downtube shifters

These still require cables dont they....
...since they do it makes sense to put em on the bars

I can reach my seatpost easily - I cant reach my derailleurs at all

Sometimes its nice to have a lever version so you can swap easily between bikes without having to invest in multiple droppers. But otherwise I feel the bar remote makes it much easier to use 🙂

I went through the same thought process before getting my dropper. I wanted a layback so went for a KS Dropzone. (cheap from Hibike btw)

I didn't really want an extra cable and remote on my bars either so I thought I'd give it a go without and see how I got on. If I was struggling I could always add a remote at a later date. So far I've got on fine with the lever, its dead easy once you've had a few goes at it. I can see the benefits of a remote and I might try one yet, but so far I've been very happy with 1)just having a lever and 2)the KS Dropzone itself

Ask yourself this; would you ditch the weight and clutter of modern shifters in favour of the clean lines of down tube shifters of old? No? Thought not. Remote.

27.2 X-Fusion here, fitted with the lever as I want to be able to easily swap it for a normal post/seat when going out for 'daft' stuff and need my seat all the way out of the way.

Works fine, just drop as and when.

I went through the same though process and went with a remote - its much easier being able to drop the post at the last minute with no need to take my hands off the bar. If you're riding a trail blind, you can't always pre-empt when you'll need to get the post out of the way.

There are plenty of ways to keep the cabel / hose neat too even on frames without dedicated guides.

I dont get what all this talk of down tube shifters has to do with the price of bread?

They were only ever on road bikes not mountain bikes; and mainly because there isn't an obvious place for a shifter on dropper bars. Why would you mount shifters on the down tube on a mountain bike when you have flat or riser handlebars - its just nonsense. To start with you would have to drill a big hole through the down tube and add weight/cost to try and strengthen it sufficiently. Nobody thought that was a good idea back in the 80s!

Once again...

I can reach my seatpost easily - I cant reach my derailleurs at all

I've got a lever on my lardy/winter/training/dog walking bike and remote on my fast bike.

The lever isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'd go as far as saying it's OK. Remote is way better though.

ndthornton - Member

I can reach my seatpost easily - I cant reach my derailleurs at all

And that's exactly what it's got to do with the price of bread- they're both inferior ways of controlling things, where better alternatives are available.

Would you want to take your hands off the bars to change gear? No.
Why would you want to do it to adjust your dropper post?

Back before droppers were popular, I could never work out why, when following my riding buddy he appeared to play with his balls just before every descent, then I realised he had a lever operated dropper 😀

What would be the lever operated dropper of choice then?
I'm thinking of getting a cheap(ish) one to go on the hardtail (already got a reverb on the t'other bike).

The dropzone above and the x-fusion appear to be the cheapest at around £140, any other lever only options?

KSi950 supernatural
Not menu options for us lever fan boys these days I'm afraid.
Fortunately this one is excellent- I have 2
They're also quite cheap if you can find them as not the latest model

Cheers all for the replies.

Lolz at Mad Pierre! Not a look I care to replicate 😀

Food for thought, as they say.

Had a lever on my HiLo for ages, thinking simplicity would win out, recently fitted a remote and would not go back, its just so much easier to operate, which is really the key point, droppers are about convenient operation not minimal complexity... IMO of course.

I raise and lower my seatpost a lot more than I shift the front chainring! I doubt that would be the case with a crotch grab dropper.

Remote is the way to go!

Remote fan, run a reverb upside down on left as usual on the big bike.

I have mine just out of the way so grip-shifter-brake-remote but you keep control while adjusting it. My left thumb's usually pretty free at that point as I'm unlikely to want to shift front.

That bike has downtube mounted bolt on cable tidies so I've routed the extra hydraulic hose through them and up the seat tube.

I'm about to add a dropper to my sensible HT, that's 1x10 so cable routing options are reasonably obvious - that one will be cable as 27.2. I'm still making my mind up about my HHT. If Naughty Bike's getting used like it ended up being last year (it kept becoming my go-to when everything else broke), I want a dropper on it but also want to change a few other things like the triple, so no quick decisions there.

As said, a remote opens possibilities for far more frequent adjustments without disturbing your ride in my opinion, but each to their own.

Lever is cheaper and easier to fit on some posts, but totally not an option on others. For my sensible HT, to be perfectly frank, if RS did a 27.2 Reverb I would be over the moon. As it is I'd sold myself on KS simply for the remote design as opposed to the silly XF stalk. Lev's are expensive though, and Thomson's announcement for May has me wondering as it had a very similar remote and obviously has the 'T' word. I may go for an older KS instead and save money. This will mean I can afford two and have one on my CX also... I've worked out exactly where I want a ks rocker remote on my drops...

I have 3 now, 2 remote and 1 lever. The lever one is on an xc bike which had pain-in-the-bum cabling, otherwise it might still have a remote, but as it is I use it less on that bike anyway so it's not such a chore. Still nothing like as useful as the real thing though.

Rode with a lever on my KS i950 for ages and coped fine - transformed my riding. Could always see the benefit of a remote though, so fitted one today. Bought the bits for the seatpost, Fibrax gear cable and Crank Bros Kronolog remote separately and works great.

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