[Closed] Who else leaves their seatpost up and just rides.

yup I just ride but my normal rides are just XC round back lanes, rural roads, canals and cycle paths. If I go to Cannock then I drop my seat at 3 places so could probably use a dropper post although the price and the fact that I use a saddle bag for tools and tube puts me off.

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You have been scammed into buying a seat! If you're using a seat you are not riding your bike you are just sitting on it. I ride everywhere standing up.

Yep.

Did most of the Afan trails last weekend & didn't die.

I don't on the bikes which don't have them. But do on the bike that does.

I'm not trolling, just wondering.

Your language certainly implies you were after a nice ballanced thread, not being inflamatory for the sake of getting a reaction.

conned into buying an expensive post so they can drop it at the hint of a small drop?

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Any one here who doesnt use a pointless front wheel or has not been conned into buying an expensive extra wheel so they can use this skill compensator at the hint of a small drop?
I'm not trolling, just wondering.

Nope and haven't for ageas - even before dropper posts I'd always get it out of the way for anything steep or fun. Just feels better to me.

I was pretty anti dropper posts for a long time - too expensive, just another thing to break etc. Then I gave in and bought one and love it.

I'm so old skool I didn't know this was optional. Should I sue my LBS for not telling me? 😉

Me I don't drop mine an I ride some quite steep techs stuff, drop offs, jumps I'll pretty much point my bars down anything. But seat stays put 1 reason is I tried dropping it and I felt I lost some control as I tend to sometimes grip saddle with legs while standing for some reason

Anyone else conned into buying expensive disc brakes and suspension forks and just rides around the trails on their rigid fixie,
not trolling, just being a passive aggressive Luddite

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Any one here who doesnt use a pointless Frame, forks, handle bars and seat or has not been conned into buying most of a bike so they can use this skill compensator at the hint of a small drop?
I'm not trolling, just wondering.

I can't ride the way I want to ride with the saddle brushing my gentleman vegetables.

(Cue predictable pictures of world cup xc racers riding over logs with the saddle up against their sternum)

i just go for a walk these days. it's all to much of a faff otherwise.

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Conned into buying a bike, not trolling, etc

Non-dropper seatpost on my winter hardtail, so despite the qr, I rarely adjust it for whatever the trail might be doing.

Having said that, after riding my FS last summer/autumn with a dropper, if I had the available means, I could be easily parted with my hard earned cash to get one for the winter bike 🙂

On a serious note, this guy:

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Ah, plenty of DH bikes have them on at the PMB DH track.

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I do

But then again I was years behind on
Indexed gearing
Suspension
Disc Brakes and just about any invention that has appeared on a mountain bike that has worked.

I was however first to the party with such great ideas as the Hite Rite - a good idea but I was (and still am 🙂 ) too light to actually make the saddle go down with my own weight- and the Girvin Flexstem.

I'm a proud HighPoster. On my "goto" bike, the seatpost is so long thatI could only drop it about half the exposed shaft before it fouled on the seattube kink anyway

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7832716796_5525f6746f.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7832716796_5525f6746f.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/n_b_t/7832716796/ ]ScandAl[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/n_b_t/ ]Notoriously Bad Typist[/url], on Flickr

2 maybe 3 times a year I will get the Allen key out to put my saddle down. Last time was at Fort William in May last year.

Yup, I have been known to drop it if in some situations where my spuds may become detached but normally it stays up and I hang off. The joys of long legs and gibbon arms.

I do most of the time. But it does depend.

for example if I go to GT on my own I will set it and leave it. Yet with a group where there is some faff anyway and the ride is shorter I'll drop it as it makes a difference and gives me the opportunity to throw my bike around a bit more.

Also when ss I've been known to just drop it at the start of some rides as it is better down for the descents and when climbing Im stood up anyway.

Can see the merits of the dropper posts but they're not more me at there current prices and weights.

OK so trolling a little, but a luddite I am not. Disc brakes, Susspension, bigger dia bar clamps/bars, tappered headsets, through axles, tubeless tires, long top tubes matched to short stems, different wheel sizes and all that I get. I even kind of get dropper posts, I wont be buying one though and was just asking who else gets on with out adjusting saddle height.

Welcome the 2011/12 MTB forum, light trolling topic of choice...

Next week we'll go back in time and start complaining about these new fangled "Disc Brakes" I dunno... kids these days 🙄

In a XC race it's post up, dicking about in the woods - dropper

I wonder if those who never drop or see no benefit in dropper posts have their saddles at the optimal height for seated climbing, or in some "compromise" position anyway.

Both my bikes have droppers and both have a short (~1") drop "trail" position then the fully dropped position. I've noticed that I can ride everywhere with it in trail position. As in, I can get up the climbs and down the other side with the saddle in that position. But it's not optimal anywhere. My knees complain less on seated climbs with the saddle that 1" higher and I have more fun going down with it a bit lower.

dont' have a dropper, but if something overly steep and long is coming up, I'll get off and adjust the the Qr an inch or 2.

I just leave mine down most of the time. Dont really ride much xc or anything so down is the default position! Qr/normal post is fine for me tbh, only would consider a dropper if I could afford a nice "enduro" type bike but for my two bikes (blender and a voltage) it wouldn't really make sense as they both pedal and climb like crap anyway.

I guess this means we've exhausted the well of joy that is 650b threads?

I wonder if those who never drop or see no benefit in dropper posts have their saddles at the optimal height for seated climbing, or in some "compromise" position anyway.

Years ago I used to ride with the seatpost in full xcj mode but gradually I've lowered it until I've found a point where it's not in the way but I can still sit down if I have to and winch up hills

Got my post set 'just right' for me and it stays put.

I've followed people with dropper posts along the same trails and don't appear to be at any disadvantage.

Horses for courses I guess, my set up works for me, their set up works for them.

There's no way I can justify the cash a Reverb costs "on a bloody seat post*"! And besides, I'm not going to become Rachel Atherton overnight!

I would happily buy a "leave[s]s[/s] your seatpost up and just ride[s]s[/s]" sticker 😉

*My wife knows just enough lingo to put up a fight!

My seat stays up on the xc bike ,down on the dh bike.Neither ever gets adjusted.

I must be lankey enough to leave my post in a good peadling position and have never found it to be a compromise.

Nor me never felt I compromise I got it to a point for seated peddling then left it an put my arse over the back tyre if I need to get lower than saddle

For me, it's not getting backwards that's the issue with an "up" post, but the ability to properly weight the outside pedal, and keep loose without getting a saddle in my knackers!!

Actually recently experimented with rising with seat high and leaving it there. Apart from one occassion where shorts snagged on the seat, there was no problem on steeper stuff and pedalling efficiency went up masses.

My "dropper" post consists of a weak clamp that allows the seat to drop gracefully and gradually up until my legs start to feel it and I notice!!!

I find a dropper makes my riding more fun, so I use one. Don't really care if it makes me faster or not.

i rode for many years without moving seat up and down, infact on the hardtail it was a bolt job anyway. Natural stuff all over Scotand, various trail centres too, never felt disadvantaged, even on the 5 on bigger stuff.

Sold both bikes last Spring and got a Soul with a reverb - totally transformed things and wouldn't go back, the converted sceptic if there ever was one 🙂

There's generally a jump or two on most of the rides i go on and imo, only a fool would attempt a jumping with the seat at full pedaling height.

Ooohhh you can really spot the mincers in this thread 😉

I've adjusted mine about 2mm downwards to give a more relaxed position, thats it, been stuck like that since I bought it/them.

But then I ride CX & XC.

I can see the need for one if you were bouncing around the Moors or Scotlandshire, but other than that they just add weight and look stupid when down, makes you look like you are a an extra out of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 😉

I never used to bother, it took too long to drop the post then raise it again. I remember riding down a very steep drop at a NEMBA race at Lyme Park, well off the back of the saddle but still in control when all around me people were walking down.

The only problem with riding off the back was when your SPDs were a bit loose and suddenly let go, causing you to crash forwards and slam your nads on the saddle. No need for you to ask me how I know this!

I wonder if those who never drop or see no benefit in dropper posts have their saddles at the optimal height for seated climbing, or in some "compromise" position anyway.

cba with dropper. if i did have one, would it even be safe to clamp the bike stand clamp to it?

I never bothered, years of riding 'cross and hardtails meant I felt that something was missing when I dropped the saddle, and I rode worse with it down.

I like dropper posts because they stopped all that stopping at the top to drop then stopping at the bottom to raise from all my mates...

cba with dropper. if i did have one, would it even be safe to clamp the bike stand clamp to it?

Yes

The only problem with riding off the back was when your SPDs were a bit loose and suddenly let go

That and the massively compromised steering from being a mile from the front end

Ooohhh you can really spot the mincers in this thread

Is it the people who "need" a dropper post to be able to ride?

Me. I don't want to stop and drop my post frequently. Nor do I want the expense (or weight, being a bit of an xc weight weenie) of a dropper post on all of my bikes. Could I ride some technical stuff better with a dropper post? Probably, but I'm happy enough just riding with the post at a fixed height.

Yep - infact just bought a new 'normal' seatpost because it was cheap.
Tried a dropper post for s month or so and went back to a standard as it didnt suit the riding I do other than the one or two times a year I visit a Welsh trail centre.

Most of my riding is in the surrey hills, so no need for a dropper. I may invest in a dropper if we decide on a gnar trip abroad.

I think, if my rides didn't involve at least a couple of sections where dropping the post wasn't an advantage, I'd soon get bored of mtb'ing

mashiehood - Member

I may invest in a dropper if we decide on a gnar trip abroad.

FWIW I found my dropper least useful in the alps, and most useful in local uppy-downy XC with occasional techy bits- it spent almost the whole time down in france anyway so might as well have been a standard post. It was watching ChrisL smugly waft his way up and down things at Drumlanrig that sold me on the whole scheme, up til then I thought it was just for big bikes and madness.

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR - Member

I think, if my rides didn't involve at least a couple of sections where dropping the post wasn't an advantage, I'd soon get bored of mtb'ing

No dropper for me. Don't fancy the additional weight, and another complicated piece of kit to look after.

I can see their use, and how they can help, but I think it's rider and where/what you ride that determines the need for one.

The more "do it all" your main bike is, the more a dropper can help.
Clearly for an XC race bike or a full fat DH bike, neither need a dropper. But your trail/AM/Enduro/whatever-it's-called-this-week bike really becomes flexible with a decent dropper imo!

I have a dropper, simply because it means i ride more, and push/walk/carry less. Simples 😉

Don't have one, never tried dropping my saddle, not been an option on my last couple of bikes anyway. Would fit one on a 'trail' type bike for sure, and I expect them to make inroads into XC type bikes too.

I drop my saddle - usually at the same time during the ride that I put on my helmet.

If you don't drop your saddle, why are you bothering to wear a helmet, hmmm? You clearly don't care about your own safety. 😉

Me

The only time in the last year that I dropped my saddle was before the down hill runs at BPW. 5 seconds at the top and 5 seconds at the bottom to raise it again, I'll keep my £200 to spunk on something else I don't need instead thank you

Stays here all the time... but I am in the process of booking a holiday abroad 😐

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The only time in the last year that I dropped my saddle was before the down hill runs at BPW. 5 seconds at the top and 5 seconds at the bottom to raise it again

You could have saved 10 seconds per run by putting your seat down at home and getting on the uplift bus. 😀

BPW is the only place i've not used a dropper post this year.

Well I ride cross country and live in the lakes so does that mean I ride all mountain? But I like riding up mountains and then across them and down them so maybe its enduro. Any way the riding on my doorstep is far from dull.

Trail bike has a dropper, HT has never had the saddle dropped, park bike has never had the saddle up.