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Took mine apart for the first time today, as it had become a bit slow to pop back up. It's an OEM one of Brand-X design so I followed their manual. In hindsight it didn't seem to be necessary, as it was clean and greased inside, and what made the difference was topping up the air.
Given I'd gone to the trouble of dismantling it, I wiped off the internals and regreased anyway. Took over an hour altogether with shuffling cables through and back, and getting the saddle back how I want it.
I don't see much point doing that again until there's enough play in it to warrant replacing the bushings and keys. The post manufacturers that quote an interval say anything from 50 to 150 hours, but obviously it's very conditions dependent. I run a big rear mudguard so the post rarely gets dirty, and I grease under the collar with SRAM Butter every couple of months.
What do you do, what's your experience? Also interested in whether you run a rear mudguard.
Never serviced my two droppers and they are almost 4 years old
I run rear mudguards which stop the worst of the crap hitting the seatpost
Most i ever do is every 3-4 months ill pop off the sliver springy thing on the seal, then pull the seal out slightly with a zip tie and wipe any gunk off, then with the zip tie inserted in the seal ill pour a few drops of FOX fluid into the post, then work the post up and down a few times
Once a year! I have more than one bike so each post isn't getting loads of use. All Reverbs, every one of them developed a bit of squish from new but this was cured by fitting the SKF seal.
When the forks are serviced, lowers service is 50hrs, which is approximately 4 months riding for me
Not had to service my 7 year old Reverb.
Had my brand x about 3 years now. Not serviced it in over 2,500 miles. Think the cable needs replacing or a lube but the post itself is grand.
Now I've said that it will explode tomorrow 😆
After having a couple of Joplins which needed work almost weekly, i bought a secondhand KS Dropzone from the classifieds in 2013 and was impressed so bought a brand new one the next year and have never serviced either...still work fine and get used regularly with the only work being unscrewing the collar to check for dirt and clean out the activator button that is a bit exposed to dirt being under the sale.
Reverb came on a new bike and that had a bit of squish in first year
I service mine before a big trip just for peace of mind
The Brand X/Canyon ones get a bit of lube under the seal every few weeks but apart from that nothing. My Fox Transfer has had 2 services in its 5 years but after the second one again said it needed a new air shaft the Brand X ones were released and it's cheaper to just buy one of them than pay for another service. Haven't touched the Transfer in 3 years now and it's still fine, just a tiny bit more rotational play. No way of living the seal on it either so just a wipe with Fork Juice after every ride.
The other Brand X one I've got is the oldest one at 4 years old and works perfectly despite being seized solid in a frame I retired 2 years ago!
Oddly I was watching a how to service a Brand X YouTube vid this morning as I think mine would benefit from some tlc. It's not returning to full height which might just be air press pressure. Its not had much use, but some of that was at this year's mildly muddy Stathpuffer so probably wouldn't hurt.
I was thinking about dropper progress and back to the early days - the cost, the play, the unreliability, the cable faff. The Brand X dropper could be nominated as the the product that gave the single biggest function AND vfm improvement in MTB components this century. When you see how simple they are inside it's amazing it took so long to get the formula right with so many early duds from other companies.